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We have performed an analysis of reprocessed GPS/MET data spanning 1995–1997 generated by the COSMIC Data Analysis and Archive Center (CDAAC) in 2007. CDAAC developed modified dual-frequency processing methods for the encrypted data (anti-spoofing (AS)-on) during 1995–1997. We compared the CDAAC data set to the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications-2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis, separately for AS-on and AS-off, focusing on the altitude range 10–30 km. MERRA-2 did not assimilate GPS/MET data in the period 1995–1997. To gain insight into the CDAAC data set, we developed a single-frequency data set for GPS/MET, which is unaffected by the presence of encryption. We find excellent agreement between the more limited single-frequency data set and the CDAAC data set: the bias between these two data sets is consistently less than 0.25 % in refractivity, whether or not AS is on. Given the different techniques applied between the CDAAC and the new data set presented here (designated JPL), agreement suggests that the CDAAC AS-on processing and the single-frequency processing are not biased in an aggregate sense greater than 0.25 % in refractivity, which corresponds approximately to a temperature bias less than 0.5 K. Since the profiles contained in the new single-frequency data set are not a subset of the CDAAC profiles, the combination of the CDAAC data set, consisting of 9579 profiles, and the new single-frequency data set, consisting of 4729 profiles, yields a total number of 11 531 unique profiles from combining the JPL and CDAAC data sets. All numbers are after quality control has been applied by the respective processing activities.

The major objective of the GRACE Follow On (GFO) mission with its two satellites GF1 and GF2 is to obtain precise global and high-resolution models for both the static and the time variable components of the Earth's gravity field. Additional goal is the continuation of the GPS radio occultation (RO) measurements from the predecessor GRACE, successfully performed between 2006 and 2017. The GRACE/GRACE FO data contribute to the global RO dataset consisting of several missions provided by different centres since the pioneering GPS/MET mission in 1995/97. Beside climate applications, GFO data are used for the assimilation in numerical weather forecast models by the leading weather service centres. After several on-board software updates and raw data reader improvements since March 2020 rising occultations from GF1 and since September 2021 setting occultations from GF2 are continuously available. Both satellites provide about 400 atmospheric profiles daily. The RO data are processed based on different measured observables: For different GPS satellites combinations of L1CA/L2P, L1CA/L2C, or L1CA/L5 amplitude and phase measurements are available. In this study results of GFO processing and validation are presented. Bending angle, refractivity, and temperature data are compared with ECMWF operational analyses. The quality of the different measured variables is evaluated for different geographical regions. In addition, GFO data are compared with co-located COSMIC-2 and Spire radio occultations.

GNSS signals are critically important for a wide range of commercial, military, and science applications. Recent studies have identified threats to the performance of GNSS from both intended and unintended sources of radio frequency interference (RFI). Understanding the distribution of the sources of RFI and the nature of the signals they are emitting is critical to determine and mitigate their effects on the measurements made by GNSS receivers. Terrestrial RFI can be substantially detrimental to the received GNSS signals, affecting the interpretation of related science measurements. NASA's Blackjack/TriG GNSS receivers are used for precise-orbit determination and radio occultation measurements, providing a data record spanning most of the Earth’s surface for nearly 20 years. We have developed a highly sensitive detection algorithm which uses variations in the measured signal to noise ratio (SNR), on the order of 10-50 seconds, common to all satellites to identify times and locations subject to RFI. Initial work has focused primarily on detection of the presence of RFI and using the receiver’s orbital solution to record the location of detection events. Our inter-mission analysis creates a unique record of global RFI with the potential for a) rigorous detection of the presence of interfering signals during science measurements, b) geolocation of RFI sources, and c) characterization of the nature of the transmitted signal to better identify intent. Preliminary analysis has shown the presence of RFI is well correlated with regional conflicts and other geopolitical activity.

GNSS signals are critically important for a wide range of commercial, military, and science applications. Recent studies have identified threats to the performance of GNSS from both intended and unintended sources of radio frequency interference (RFI). Understanding the distribution of the sources of RFI and the nature of the signals they are emitting is critical to determine and mitigate their effects on the measurements made by GNSS receivers. Terrestrial RFI can be substantially detrimental to the received GNSS signals, affecting the interpretation of related science measurements. NASA's Blackjack/TriG GNSS receivers are used for precise-orbit determination and radio occultation measurements, providing a data record spanning most of the Earth’s surface for nearly 20 years. We have developed a highly sensitive detection algorithm which uses variations in the measured signal to noise ratio (SNR), on the order of 10-50 seconds, common to all satellites to identify times and locations subject to RFI. Initial work has focused primarily on detection of the presence of RFI and using the receiver’s orbital solution to record the location of detection events. Our inter-mission analysis creates a unique record of global RFI with the potential for a) rigorous detection of the presence of interfering signals during science measurements, b) geolocation of RFI sources, and c) characterization of the nature of the transmitted signal to better identify intent. Preliminary analysis has shown the presence of RFI is well correlated with regional conflicts and other geopolitical activity.

Initial data from the Formosa Satellite-7/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate (FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2, hereafter C2), a recently launched Equatorial constellation of ...

The radio occultation (RO) technique, which makes use of radio signals transmitted by the global positioning system (GPS) satellites, has emerged as a powerful and relatively inexpensive approach for sounding the global atmosphere with high precision, accuracy, and vertical resolution in all weather and over both land and ocean. On 15 April 2006, the joint Taiwan-U.S. Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC)/Formosa Satellite Mission 3 (COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3, hereafter COSMIC) mission, a constellation of six microsatellites, was launched into a 512-km orbit. After launch the satellites were gradually deployed to their final orbits at 800 km, a process that took about 17 months. During the early weeks of the deployment, the satellites were spaced closely, offering a unique opportunity to verify the high precision of RO measurements. As of September 2007, COSMIC is providing about 2000 RO soundings per day to support the research and operational communities. COSMIC RO dat...

The first radio occultation measurements of the CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload) satellite using Global Positioning System (GPS) signals have been performed on February 11, 2001. By the end of April 2001 more than 3000 occultations were recorded. Globally distributed vertical profiles of dry temperature and specific humidity are derived, of which a set of 438 vertical dry temperature profiles is compared with corresponding global weather analyses. The observed temperature bias is less than ∼1 K above the tropopause and even less than 0.5 K in the altitude interval from 12 to 20 km at latitudes >30°N. About 55% of the compared profiles reached the last kilometer above the Earth's surface. In spite of the activated anti-spoofing mode of the GPS system the state-of-the-art GPS flight receiver aboard CHAMP combined with favorable antenna characteristics allows for atmospheric sounding with high accuracy and vertical resolution.

This paper provides an overview of the methodology of and describes preliminary results from an experiment called GPS/MET (Global Positioning System/Meteorology), in which temperature soundings are obtained from a low Earth-orbiting satellite using the radio occultation technique. Launched into a circular orbit of about 750-km altitude and 70° inclination on 3 April 1995, a small research satellite, MicroLab 1, carried a laptop-sized radio receiver. Each time this receiver rises and sets relative to the 24 operational GPS satellites, the GPS radio waves transect successive layers of the atmosphere and are bent (refracted) by the atmosphere before they reach the receiver, causing a delay in the dual-frequency carrier phase observations sensed by the receiver. During this occultation, GPS limb sounding measurements are obtained from which vertical profiles of atmospheric refractivity can be computed. The refractivity is a function of pressure, temperature, and water vapor and thus provides informat...

Atmospheric soundings using signals received in low Earth orbit from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite transmissions are widely recognized as important data for establishing a precise climate record of upper-air temperatures, due to their self-calibrating nature and all-weather acquisition. More recently, advances in retrieval methods using the same GPS data have opened the possibility of new scientific studies related to atmospheric processes and climate change. We will present recent innovations in extracting scientifically useful information from the phase and amplitude of received GPS transmissions, and discuss the technical challenges that need to be overcome to achieve new scientific results. Promising areas being pursued include: remote sensing of the planetary boundary layer from space, important for understanding ocean-atmosphere coupling; retrieving tropopause temperature structure at high vertical resolution, important for understanding troposphere-stratosphere exchange mechanisms and the role of convection; high accuracy and precision of upper altitude (25+ km) retrievals in the stratosphere. Using an end-to-end simulator recently developed at JPL, we will investigate in realistic detail the relationship between the atmospheric state and retrieved scientific parameters, and discuss retrieval research needed to address new scientific applications.

The status of the instruments from the CHAMP Orbit and Gravity Package (GPS Receiver, STAR Accelerometer and Laser Retro Reflector) is reported with respect to technical performance, data availability and possible operational peculiarities. An outlook of upcoming software development and / or modifications in operational modes for both the GPS Receiver and the electrostatic accelerometer is presented.

[1] The paper deals with initial analyzes of radio occultation measurements of the ionosphere carried out on board the CHAMP satellite since 11 April 2001. The accuracy of the operationally retrieved electron density profiles has been estimated by comparing with independent measurements. The derived ionospheric key parameters such as f0F2 and hmF2 agree with a standard deviation of 18 and 13%, respectively. It is shown that the CHAMP data products can essentially contribute to the establishment of operational data sets of the global electron density distribution for developing and improving global ionospheric models and to provide operational space weather information.

This is a system for measuring ocean surface currents from an airborne platform. A radar system having two spaced antennas wherein one antenna is driven and return signals from the ocean surface are detected by both antennas is employed to get raw ocean current data which is saved for later processing. There are a pair of GPS systems including a first antenna carried by the platform at a first location and a second antenna carried by the platform at a second location displaced from the first antenna for determining the position of the antennas from signals from orbiting GPS navigational satellites. This data is also saved for later processing. The saved data is subsequently processed by a ground-based computer system to determine the position, orientation, and velocity of the platform as well as to derive measurements of currents on the ocean surface.