Forecasting the radiooptical properties of the atmosphere

English Abstract:

The weather forecasting community is both a user and a provider of geodetic products. Numerical weather prediction requires huge amounts of data from a vast number of sources. Most of the traditional measurements are not directly related to geodesy. However, over the last decade, certain highly accurate geodetic products such as Zenith Delay, and particularly satellite radio occultations, have become available in volume and timeliness sufficient to have a significant impact for weather forecast. This is only expected to grow to larger volumes and faster access. We will present the current state of these technologies, plans for the near-term future from the point of view of the meteorological use of these data, and the impact that they have to the accuracy of the weather forecast service.

Also, with the increasing accuracy of meteorological products, as well as with the increasing demands of the geodetic community, the traditional infrastructure and products of meteorology have become relevant for geodesy. Besides certain products that are already used in accurate positioning applications, such as fields of atmospheric pressure load, other quantities such as Zenith Delays, the vertical profile of refractivity, atmospheric horizontal gradients, and atmospheric scintillation are fields that can also be estimated or forecasted, and that can become products for use within the geodetic community. There is therefore place for a two-way relationship between the atmospheric and the geodetic communities.