Benefits of three frequency ionospheric corrections in Radio Occultation soundings

The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has assessed the potential benefits from using the third transmission frequency of the next generation GNSS systems in the sounding of the atmosphere with Radio Occultation (RO). This research has been performed in the framework of the Ionospheric Effects in GNSS Radio Occultation Data study funded by EUMETSAT. The objective of this study was to analyze the advantages of three frequency soundings as part of the planning of the future EUMETSAT satellite missions. The research has been performed by simulating the three frequency transmissions of the next generation GPS and GALILEO systems with the EGOPS (End-to-end GNSS Occultation Performance Simulator) software package developed by the international EGOPS consortium. EGOPS allows simulations of RO missions by propagating the orbits of the transmitting and receiving satellites, determining the geodetic locations and geometries of the soundings and ray tracings of the signals propagation paths. In the study we have ensured that all specified conditions are met by simulating over 1700 occultation soundings. The simulations included both the GPS and the future GALILEO constellations and signals. A LEO satellite at the orbit of the EUMETSAT Metop-A has been used to simulate an RO receiver. The global distribution of the occultations ensured that all occultation times and geometries of interest have been covered. Three solar activity levels have been used to simulated solar minimum, normal and solar maximum conditions. Two ionospheric correction techniques taking benefit of the third GNSS frequency have been tested in the study. The first tested method was a three-frequency linear combination technique. This method is an expansion of the two frequency linear combination that is currently widely used in GNSS navigation and in RO data processing. The disadvantage of this approach is that the noise level in the retrieved bending angle profile is significantly increased. The second tested methods is an ionospheric ambiguity removal with a combination of widelane (WL) and extra-widelane (EWL) signals. This method does not increase the noise level as much as the linear combination method, but is computationally slightly more complex and requires combining code phase observations with the carrier phase observations. The results of the simulations and the retrievals have been rigorously analyzed both statistically and by investigating selected individual observations. The results indicate that ionospheric correction with three frequencies can significantly reduce the ionospheric error in the neutral atmosphere sounding in the heights of 35 - 60 km. This can potentially increase the useful height range of RO soundings in operational NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) and climate monitoring. This result is very important because very few atmospheric sounding techniques can provide global information from the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere region. This presentation will show the results of the performed study including descriptions of the simulations and the tested ionospheric correction techniques. The bending angle retrieval accuracy benefits will be quantified both statistically and by analysis of selected complex signal propagation cases. Finally, the presentation will also address the potential benefits of three frequency soundings in space weather observations by RO.