Cross-comparison of meteorological parameters and ZTD observations supplied by microwave radiometers, radiosondes, and GNSS services

Water vapour radiometers (WVR) provide information about temperature and humidity in the troposphere, with high temporal resolution when compared to the radiosonde (RS) observations. This technique can provide an additional reference data source for the zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) estimated with the use of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). In this work, the accuracy of two newly installed radiometers was examined by comparison with RS observations, in terms of temperature (T), absolute humidity (AH), and relative humidity (RH), as well as for the ZTD. The impact of cloud covering and heavy precipitation events on the quality of WVR measurements was investigated. Also, the WVR data were compared to the GNSS ZTD estimates. The experiment was performed for 17 months during 2020 and 2021. The results show agreement between RS and WVR data at the level of 2◦C in T and 1 gm-3 in AH, whereas for RH larger discrepancies were noticed (standard deviation equal to 21%). Heavy precipitation increases WVR measurement errors of all meteorological parameters. In terms of ZTD, the comparison of WVR and RS techniques results in bias equal to –0.4 m and a standard deviation of 7.4 mm. The largest discrepancies of ZTD were noticed during the summer period. The comparison between the GNSS and WVR gives similar results as the comparison between the GNSS and RS (standard deviation 7.0–9.0 mm).