Articles | Volume 10, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1689-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1689-2017
Research article
 | 
05 May 2017
Research article |  | 05 May 2017

EPN-Repro2: A reference GNSS tropospheric data set over Europe

Rosa Pacione, Andrzej Araszkiewicz, Elmar Brockmann, and Jan Dousa

Abstract. The present availability of 18+ years of GNSS data belonging to the EUREF Permanent Network (EPN, http://www.epncb.oma.be/) is a valuable database for the development of a climate data record of GNSS tropospheric products over Europe. This data record can be used as a reference for a variety of scientific applications (e.g. validation of regional numerical weather prediction reanalyses and climate model simulations) and has a high potential for monitoring trends and the variability in atmospheric water vapour. In the framework of the EPN-Repro2, the second reprocessing campaign of the EPN, five Analysis Centres homogenously reprocessed the EPN network for the period 1996–2014. A huge effort has been made to provide solutions that are the basis for deriving new coordinates, velocities and tropospheric parameters for the entire EPN. The individual contributions are then combined to provide the official EPN reprocessed products. This paper is focused on the EPN-Repro2 tropospheric product. The combined product is described along with its evaluation against radiosonde data and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis (ERA-Interim) data.

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Short summary
The use of ground-based GNSS data for climate research is an emerging field. The reprocessing activity under EUREF has been a huge effort, generating homogeneous tropospheric products to be used as a data set for monitoring trends in atmospheric water vapour. EPN-Repro2 data have been evaluated against RS and ERA-Interim data as well as in terms of ZTD trends. The obtained results show that they can be used for ZTD trend detection over Europe in areas where other data are not available.