Next Article in Journal
Improve the Performance of SAR Ship Detectors by Small Object Detection Strategies
Previous Article in Journal
Enhancing Remote Sensing Water Quality Inversion through Integration of Multisource Spatial Covariates: A Case Study of Hong Kong’s Coastal Nutrient Concentrations
Previous Article in Special Issue
Seasonal–Longitudinal Variability of Equatorial Plasma Bubbles Observed by FormoSat-7/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate II and Relevant to the Rayleigh–Taylor Instability
 
 
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Assessment of Commercial GNSS Radio Occultation Performance from PlanetiQ Mission

1
Public Works Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
2
Geodynamic Department, National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan 11421, Egypt
3
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200030, China
4
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
5
Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. BOX 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
6
School of Surveying and Land Information Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454003, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Remote Sens. 2024, 16(17), 3339; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173339 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 28 July 2024 / Revised: 30 August 2024 / Accepted: 6 September 2024 / Published: 8 September 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue BDS/GNSS for Earth Observation: Part II)

Abstract

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) provides valuable 3-D atmospheric profiles with all-weather, all the time and high accuracy. However, GNSS RO mission data are still limited for global coverage. Currently, more commercial GNSS radio occultation missions are being launched, e.g., PlanetiQ. In this study, we examine the commercial GNSS RO PlanetiQ mission performance in comparison to KOMPSAT-5 and PAZ, including the coverage, SNR, and penetration depth. Additionally, the quality of PlanetiQ RO refractivity profiles is assessed by comparing with the fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric reanalysis (ERA5) data in October 2023. Our results ensure that the capability of PlanetiQ to track signals from any GNSS satellite is larger than the ability of KOMPSAT-5 and PAZ. The mean L1 SNR for PlanetiQ is significantly larger than that of KOMPSAT-5 and PAZ. Thus, PlanetiQ performs better in sounding the deeper troposphere. Furthermore, PlanetiQ’s average penetration height ranges from 0.16 to 0.49 km in all latitudinal bands over water. Generally, the refractivity profiles from all three missions exhibit a small bias when compared to ERA5-derived refractivity and typically remain below 1% above 800 hPa.
Keywords: radio occultation; GNSS; refractivity; signal-to-noise ratio; PlanetiQ radio occultation; GNSS; refractivity; signal-to-noise ratio; PlanetiQ

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Zhran, M.; Mousa, A.; Wang, Y.; Hasher, F.F.B.; Jin, S. Assessment of Commercial GNSS Radio Occultation Performance from PlanetiQ Mission. Remote Sens. 2024, 16, 3339. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173339

AMA Style

Zhran M, Mousa A, Wang Y, Hasher FFB, Jin S. Assessment of Commercial GNSS Radio Occultation Performance from PlanetiQ Mission. Remote Sensing. 2024; 16(17):3339. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173339

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhran, Mohamed, Ashraf Mousa, Yu Wang, Fahdah Falah Ben Hasher, and Shuanggen Jin. 2024. "Assessment of Commercial GNSS Radio Occultation Performance from PlanetiQ Mission" Remote Sensing 16, no. 17: 3339. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173339

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop