Primary estimation of annual variation of water vapor in the Arctic Ocean between 70–80°N using shipborne GPS data based on kinematic precise point positioning

Abstract:

The measurement of atmospheric water vapor (WV) content and variability is important for meteorological and climatological research. A technique for the remote sensing of atmospheric WV content using ground-based Global Positioning System (GPS)has become available, which can routinely achieve accuracies for integrated WV content of 1–2 kg/m². Some experimental work has shown that the accuracy of WV measurements from a moving platform is comparable to that of (static) land-based receivers. Extending this technique into the marine environment on a moving platform would be greatly beneficial for many aspects of meteorological research, such as the calibration of satellite data, investigation of the air–sea interface, as well as forecasting and climatological studies. In this study, kinematic precise point positioning has been developed to investigate WV in the Arctic Ocean (70–80°N) and annual variations are obtained for 2008 and 2012 that are identical to those related to the enhanced greenhouse effect.