A New Deep-Learning-Assisted Global Water Vapor Stratification Model for GNSS Meteorology: Validations and Applications

Layer precipitable water (LPW), a water vapor product similar to precipitable water vapor (PWV), reports partial moisture content within a specified vertical range. Compared with PWV data, the latest LPW products can describe more refined distributions and variations in water vapor in the troposphere. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs), as a powerful water vapor sensing tool, only provide the opportunity to retrieve all-weather PWV, not LPW products. To this end, we develop the first deep-learning-assisted, global water vapor stratification (GWVS) model to estimate the GNSS LPW within any given vertical range. The proposed model is trained and tested using the global radiosonde data, with the training and testing root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.94 and 1.10 mm for radiosonde LPW, indicating the excellent generalization of the GWVS model. Furthermore, the model is comprehensively validated using the data from the two regional GNSS networks and one global network. The RMSEs of the predicted GNSS LPW from the three GNSS networks compared with the co-located radiosonde LPW are 1.52, 1.80, and 1.54 mm, respectively. To study potential applications, we use the model-derived GNSS LPW products to calibrate Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16) LPW products and improve the GNSS water vapor tomography technique. Results show that the accuracy of three GOES-16 LPW products is improved by 31.3%, 23.3%, and 17.9%, respectively, and the RMSE of the tomography results is reduced from 2.28 to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.67~\text {g}/\text {m}^{3}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Both validation and application results highlight that the GWVS model retrieves the required GNSS LPW products and provides additional value for water-vapor-related studies.