The slant path atmospheric refraction calibrator: an instrument to measure the microwave propagation delays induced by atmospheric water vapor

Author

Walter, Steven J. ; Bender, Peter L.

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

30

Issue

3

fYear

1992

fDate

5/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

462

Lastpage

471

Abstract

The Slant Path Atmospheric Refraction Calibrator (SPARC) has been developed to measure the water-vapor-induced propagation delay experienced by a radio signal traversing the atmosphere. SPARC measures the difference in the travel times between an optical and a microwave signal propagating along the same atmospheric path. Since the refractivity of dry air is similar for both the microwave and optical signals, the difference in arrival times is a sensitive measure of the water-vapor-induced microwave delay. The instrument is capable of measuring the difference in the optical and microwave travel times with an accuracy of 15 ps or better. SPARC was developed to provide an accurate, independent method for evaluating other techniques used to determine the atmospheric water-vapor-induced delay

Keywords

atmospheric humidity; atmospheric measuring apparatus; atmospheric techniques; radiowave propagation; remote sensing; tropospheric electromagnetic wave propagation; SPARC; atmosphere; delay; humidity; instrument; microwave; microwave propagation; radio signal; radiowave propagation; slant path atmospheric refraction calibrator; transatomspheric path; troposphere; water vapor; Atmosphere; Atmospheric measurements; Instruments; Microwave measurements; Microwave propagation; Optical propagation; Optical refraction; Optical sensors; Propagation delay; Refractive index;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0196-2892

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/36.142924

Filename

142924