PROFILING THE ATMOSPHERE WITH AN AIRBORNE GPS RECEIVER SYSTEM

ABSTRACT − Since the GPS/MET mission was launched in 1995, an extensive dataset of space-borne GPS radio occultation (RO) soundings have been derived and compared to in-situ measurements and numerical model analyses. The launch of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) introduces several thousand more profiles daily, which has attracted much wider attention in the atmospheric and space weather communities. However, due to the limited number of available satellites with GPS receivers and their fixed orbits, space-borne RO cannot provide dense sounding measurements in a specific region within a given time range on demand. With a GPS receiver onboard an airplane, the airborne GPS RO technique offers such an opportunity while retaining a high vertical resolution sounding capability. In July 2007, the GNSS Instrument System for Multistatic and Occultation Sensing (GISMOS), developed by Purdue University, was tested on the NCAR HIAPER (High