Observing Atmosphere and Climate with Occultation Techniques – Results from the OPAC-IROWG 2016 Workshop
Observing Atmosphere and Climate with Occultation Techniques – Results from the OPAC-IROWG 2016 Workshop
Editor(s): A. K. Steiner, U. Foelsche, S. Healy, A. Mannucci, A. von Engeln, J. Wickert, and S. A. Buehler
Occultation techniques for observing the Earth’s atmosphere and climate comprise solar, lunar, stellar, navigation, and satellite-crosslink occultation methods, exploiting the electromagnetic spectrum from optical to radio signals via refraction, absorption, scattering, and reflection. Retrieved atmospheric variables range from bending angle, refractivity, pressure, geopotential height, temperature, and water vapour to greenhouse gases and particulate species such as aerosols and cloud liquid water. Information on ionosphere and space weather is also provided.

Occultation methods share the unique properties of self-calibration, high-accuracy and vertical resolution, global coverage, and, if using radio signals, all-weather capability. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation has become particularly successful over the recent decades and provides accurate refraction-based measurements. Occultation data are of high utility in atmospheric physics, meteorology, and climate science. Their application has further broadened in recent years and new satellite missions and observation methods are on the way.

The OPAC-IROWG 2016 Workshop brought together members from the different sub-communities and users of occultation data. The present AMT special issue is dedicated to the results of this conference.

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19 Jun 2018
Orographic and convective gravity waves above the Alps and Andes Mountains during GPS radio occultation events – a case study
Rodrigo Hierro, Andrea K. Steiner, Alejandro de la Torre, Peter Alexander, Pablo Llamedo, and Pablo Cremades
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3523–3539, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3523-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3523-2018, 2018
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04 May 2018
Integrating uncertainty propagation in GNSS radio occultation retrieval: from excess phase to atmospheric bending angle profiles
Jakob Schwarz, Gottfried Kirchengast, and Marc Schwaerz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2601–2631, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2601-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2601-2018, 2018
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26 Apr 2018
Analysis of ionospheric structure influences on residual ionospheric errors in GNSS radio occultation bending angles based on ray tracing simulations
Congliang Liu, Gottfried Kirchengast, Yueqiang Sun, Kefei Zhang, Robert Norman, Marc Schwaerz, Weihua Bai, Qifei Du, and Ying Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2427–2440, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2427-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2427-2018, 2018
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18 Apr 2018
Improved model for correcting the ionospheric impact on bending angle in radio occultation measurements
Matthew J. Angling, Sean Elvidge, and Sean B. Healy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2213–2224, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2213-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2213-2018, 2018
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11 Apr 2018
Evaluating the lower-tropospheric COSMIC GPS radio occultation sounding quality over the Arctic
Xiao Yu, Feiqin Xie, and Chi O. Ao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2051–2066, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2051-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2051-2018, 2018
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06 Apr 2018
A variational regularization of Abel transform for GPS radio occultation
Tae-Kwon Wee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1947–1969, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1947-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1947-2018, 2018
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05 Apr 2018
Information content in reflected signals during GPS Radio Occultation observations
Josep M. Aparicio, Estel Cardellach, and Hilda Rodríguez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1883–1900, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1883-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1883-2018, 2018
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08 Mar 2018
On the distortions in calculated GW parameters during slanted atmospheric soundings
Alejandro de la Torre, Peter Alexander, Torsten Schmidt, Pablo Llamedo, and Rodrigo Hierro
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1363–1375, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1363-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1363-2018, 2018
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06 Mar 2018
Atmospheric QBO and ENSO indices with high vertical resolution from GNSS radio occultation temperature measurements
Hallgeir Wilhelmsen, Florian Ladstädter, Barbara Scherllin-Pirscher, and Andrea K. Steiner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1333–1346, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1333-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1333-2018, 2018
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02 Mar 2018
Comparisons of the tropospheric specific humidity from GPS radio occultations with ERA-Interim, NASA MERRA, and AIRS data
Panagiotis Vergados, Anthony J. Mannucci, Chi O. Ao, Olga Verkhoglyadova, and Byron Iijima
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1193–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1193-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1193-2018, 2018
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01 Mar 2018
Reflected ray retrieval from radio occultation data using radio holographic filtering of wave fields in ray space
Michael E. Gorbunov, Estel Cardellach, and Kent B. Lauritsen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1181–1191, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1181-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1181-2018, 2018
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13 Feb 2018
Evaluation of atmospheric profiles derived from single- and zero-difference excess phase processing of BeiDou radio occultation data from the FY-3C GNOS mission
Weihua Bai, Congliang Liu, Xiangguang Meng, Yueqiang Sun, Gottfried Kirchengast, Qifei Du, Xianyi Wang, Guanglin Yang, Mi Liao, Zhongdong Yang, Danyang Zhao, Junming Xia, Yuerong Cai, Lijun Liu, and Dongwei Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 819–833, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-819-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-819-2018, 2018
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08 Feb 2018
Sensitivity of airborne radio occultation to tropospheric properties over ocean and land
Feiqin Xie, Loknath Adhikari, Jennifer S. Haase, Brian Murphy, Kuo-Nung Wang, and James L. Garrison
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 763–780, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-763-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-763-2018, 2018
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29 Jan 2018
Analysis of reflections in GNSS radio occultation measurements using the phase matching amplitude
Thomas Sievert, Joel Rasch, Anders Carlström, and Mats Ingemar Pettersson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 569–580, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-569-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-569-2018, 2018
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25 Jan 2018
Revisiting internal gravity waves analysis using GPS RO density profiles: comparison with temperature profiles and application for wave field stability study
Petr Pisoft, Petr Sacha, Jiri Miksovsky, Peter Huszar, Barbara Scherllin-Pirscher, and Ulrich Foelsche
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 515–527, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-515-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-515-2018, 2018
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10 Jan 2018
Wave-optics uncertainty propagation and regression-based bias model in GNSS radio occultation bending angle retrievals
Michael E. Gorbunov and Gottfried Kirchengast
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 111–125, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-111-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-111-2018, 2018
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13 Dec 2017
Quality aspects of the Wegener Center multi-satellite GPS radio occultation record OPSv5.6
Barbara Angerer, Florian Ladstädter, Barbara Scherllin-Pirscher, Marc Schwärz, Andrea K. Steiner, Ulrich Foelsche, and Gottfried Kirchengast
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4845–4863, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4845-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4845-2017, 2017
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08 Dec 2017
Correcting negatively biased refractivity below ducts in GNSS radio occultation: an optimal estimation approach towards improving planetary boundary layer (PBL) characterization
Kuo-Nung Wang, Manuel de la Torre Juárez, Chi O. Ao, and Feiqin Xie
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4761–4776, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4761-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4761-2017, 2017
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05 Dec 2017
A global perspective on atmospheric blocking using GPS radio occultation – one decade of observations
Lukas Brunner and Andrea K. Steiner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4727–4745, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4727-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4727-2017, 2017
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