Advances of the Satellite-Based GNSS Radio Occultation (RO) Techniques and Associated Improvements in the Description and Modeling of the Atmosphere and the Thermosphere

Dear Colleagues,

Nearly 25 years have passed since the first satellite-based Global Positioning System RO experiment (GPS/MET) that proved the feasibility of sounding the Earth atmosphere and ionosphere by means of RO of low Earth orbit satellites with on-board GPS receivers. Since then, several missions including the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate deployed in 2006 have demonstrated the great importance of RO observations for the study of the atmosphere and the ionosphere, successfully contributing to a better knowledge, characterization and modelling of those systems. Global Navigation Satellite System RO (GNSS RO) has also contributed to the analysis of Earth’s climate, the study of the impact of space weather events in the ionosphere and even to the development of improved tools for weather prediction. Through different studies, different techniques that exploit GNSS RO observations and the products retrieved from them have become standard in the last 20 years. From those “classic” methodologies, new techniques are subsequently emerging, going one step beyond in precision and accuracy of the retrieved products and contributing to a better understanding of the underlying physical processes affecting the atmosphere and the ionosphere.

The aim of this Special Issue of Remote Sensing is to publish original research manuscripts focused in methodologies, techniques and approaches specially developed to increase precision and accuracy of GNSS RO retrievals. Also studies based on these new methodologies and leading to improved understanding and modeling of the atmosphere and the ionosphere are welcomed. Works demonstrating the performance (by means of real data or simulations) of new techniques specially developed for future missions like the FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC constellation are also of interest for this special issue. The scope of this special issue is aimed at covering the large variety of topics that benefit from GNSS RO within the areas of meteorology, atmosphere and space sciences. Including not only tropospheric and ionospheric studies, but also space weather and climate prediction or forecasting or plasmasphere sounding. We encourage submissions from researchers all around the world.

Prof. Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez-Casado
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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