Articles | Volume 18, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1389-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1389-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Exploring commercial Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) products for planetary boundary layer studies in the Arctic
Manisha Ganeshan
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Climate and Radiation Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR) II, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251, USA
Dong L. Wu
Climate and Radiation Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Joseph A. Santanello
Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Climate and Radiation Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Chi Ao
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Panagiotis Vergados
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Kevin J. Nelson
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
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We combine the ground-based observations and radiative transfer model to quantify the impact of the 2017 solar eclipse on surface shortwave irradiation reduction. We find that the eclipse caused local reductions of time-averaged surface flux of about 379 W m-2 (50 %) and 329 W m-2 (46 %) during the ~ 3 h course of the eclipse at the Casper and Columbia sites, respectively. We estimate that the Moon’s shadow caused a reduction of approximately 7 %–8 % in global average surface broadband SW radiation.
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Short summary
This study explores the potential of two newly launched commercial Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) satellite missions for advancing Arctic lower-atmospheric studies. The products have a good sampling of the lower Arctic atmosphere and are useful to derive the planetary boundary layer (PBL) height during winter months. This research is a step towards closing the observation gap in polar regions due to the decomissioning of Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC-1) GNSS RO mission and the lack of high-latitude coverage by its successor (COSMIC-2).
This study explores the potential of two newly launched commercial Global Navigation Satellite...