GNSS near real-time Zenith Path Delay estimation at ROB: methodology, quality monitoring and performance evaluation

摘要

The EUMETNET GPS water vapour program (E-GVAP) has been setup to collect on the European scale ground-based GNSS tropospheric Zenith Path Delay (ZPD) estimates in near real-time and to provide this information to its EUMETNET partners for operational meteorology. Within E-GVAP, the geodetic community plays an important role by operating GNSS data analysis centres, which provide the tropospheric ZPD estimates to the meteorological community. Among these analysis centres, the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB) provides near real-time ZPD estimates for a regional network of more than 160 stations spread all over Europe. In this paper we present the GNSS analysis methodology developed at ROB and we discuss the recent updated procedures implemented to satisfy the E-GVAP requirements for GNSS meteorology. We outline the strategy developed at ROB to monitor in near real-time the troposphere parameter estimation that is crucial for ensuring a stable, powerful and reliable service. Finally, we evaluate the ROB analysis centre performance based on this monitoring strategy.