Use of remote sensing techniques and navigation data for tropospheric channel assessment

The objective of this contribution is the review of remote sensing and navigation data in order to provide an overview on meteorological parameters important for propagation modelling up to W band. Such data are also useful to assess the accuracy of the propagation models and analyse propagation impairment mitigation techniques (PIMTs). The review will focus on water vapour and cloud properties that can be deduced from observation in various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Both ground measurements and satellite observations are considered which offer various possibilities to capture the spatial distribution of these parameters. For clouds the importance of microphysical properties, e.g., liquid water path and effective radius, is highlighted as they control the signal transfer. Several example of ongoing satellite missions are given.