Remote Sensing of Tropospheric Turbulence Using GPS Radio Occultation

Abstract:

The purposes of this abstract are twofold: (i) It presents estimates of tropospheric turbulence strength
(namely, scintillation index) by analyzing radio occultation (RO) observations from the COSMIC
 (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate) satellites.
The availability of global observation worth of several years of COSIMC RO profiles enabled us to calculate global maps
of scintillation measures (such information are both difficult and expensive especially over the oceans)
 revealing the seasonal, latitudinal, and longitudinal characteristics of the turbulent troposphere in greater details,
 and (ii) the manuscript also presents the application of a multiple phase screen (MPS) model
simulation to investigate and quantify the effects of tropospheric turbulence
on L-band communication and navigation signals received in a GPS (Global Positioning System) to a LEO (Low Earth Orbiting)
satellites radio links. The scintillation indices inferred from the MPS simulations are shown to be in a reasonable
 agreement with scintillation measures estimated from COSMIC RO observations.