Next Article in Journal
Critical Drought Characteristics: A New Concept Based on Dynamic Time Period Scenarios
Previous Article in Journal
Assessing Carbon Sink Capacity in Coal Mining Areas: A Case Study from Taiyuan City, China
Previous Article in Special Issue
A Refined Atmospheric Weighted Average Temperature Model Considering Multiple Factors in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Region
 
 
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

Evaluation of the Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD) Derived from VMF3_FC and VMF3_OP Products Based on the CMONOC Data

1
College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology—Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
2
Guangzhou Marime Surveying and Mapping Center, Guangzhou 510320, China
3
Hubei Luojia Laboratory, Wuhan 430079, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Atmosphere 2024, 15(7), 766; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15070766
Submission received: 24 April 2024 / Revised: 20 June 2024 / Accepted: 23 June 2024 / Published: 27 June 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue GNSS Meteorology: Algorithm, Modelling, Assessment and Application)

Abstract

Prior tropospheric information, especially zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD), is particularly important in GNSS data processing. The two types of ZTD models, those that require and do not require meteorological parameters, are the most commonly used models, whether the non-difference or double-difference mode is applied. To improve the accuracy of prior tropospheric information, the Vienna Mapping Functions (VMFs) data server provides a gridded set of global tropospheric products based on the ray-tracing technique using Numerical Weather Models (NWMs). Note that two types of gridded tropospheric products are provided: the VMF3_OP for the post-processing applications and the VMF3_FC for real-time applications. To explore the accuracy and adaptability of these two grid products, a comprehensive analysis and discussion were conducted in this study using the ZTD data from 255 stations of the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) as references. The numerical results indicate that both VMF3_FC and VMF3_OP exhibit high accuracy, with RMSE/Bias values of 17.53/2.25 mm and 14.62/2.67 mm, respectively. Both products displayed a temporal trend, with larger RMSE values occurring in summer and smaller values in winter, along with a spatial trend of higher values in the southeast of China and lower values in the northwest of China. Additionally, VMF3_OP demonstrated superior performance to VMF3_FC, with smaller RMSE values for each month and each hour. For the RMSE difference between these two products, 108 stations had a difference of more than 3 mm, and the number of stations with a difference exceeding 1 mm reached 217. Moreover, the difference was more significant in the southeast than in the northwest. This study contributes to the understanding of the differences between the two precision products, aiding in the selection of suitable ZTD products based on specific requirements.
Keywords: GNSS; tropospheric products; zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD); VMF3_FC; VMF3_OP GNSS; tropospheric products; zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD); VMF3_FC; VMF3_OP

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Zhang, H.; Chen, L.; Yang, F.; Ma, J.; Zhang, J.; Sun, W.; Xu, S. Evaluation of the Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD) Derived from VMF3_FC and VMF3_OP Products Based on the CMONOC Data. Atmosphere 2024, 15, 766. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15070766

AMA Style

Zhang H, Chen L, Yang F, Ma J, Zhang J, Sun W, Xu S. Evaluation of the Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD) Derived from VMF3_FC and VMF3_OP Products Based on the CMONOC Data. Atmosphere. 2024; 15(7):766. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15070766

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhang, Haoran, Liang Chen, Fei Yang, Jingge Ma, Junya Zhang, Wenyu Sun, and Shiqi Xu. 2024. "Evaluation of the Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD) Derived from VMF3_FC and VMF3_OP Products Based on the CMONOC Data" Atmosphere 15, no. 7: 766. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15070766

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