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Combination of long time-series of troposphere zenith delays observed by VLBI

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Abstract

Within the International Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS), long time-series of zenith wet and total troposphere delays have been combined at the level of parameter estimates. The data sets were submitted by eight IVS Analysis Centers (ACs) and cover January 1984 to December 2004. In this paper, the combination method is presented and the time-series submitted by the eight IVS ACs are compared with each other. The combined zenith delays are compared with time-series provided by the International Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Service (IGS), and with zenith delays derived from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Before the combination, outliers are eliminated from the individual time-series using the robust BIBER (bounded influence by standardized residuals) estimator. For each station and AC, relative weight factors are obtained by variance component estimation. The mean bias of the IVS ACs’ time-series with respect to the IVS combined time-series is 0.89 mm and the mean root mean square is 7.67 mm. Small differences between stations and ACs can be found, which are due to the inhomogeneous analysis options, different parameterizations, and different treatment of missing in-situ pressure records. Compared to the IGS zenith total delays, the combined IVS series show small positive mean biases and different long-term trends. Zenith wet delays from the ECMWF are used to validate the IVS combined series. Inconsistencies, e.g., long-term inhomogeneity of the in-situ pressure data used for the determination of VLBI zenith delays, are identified.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Vienna University of Technology, Gusshausstr. 27–29, 1040, Vienna, Austria

    R. Heinkelmann, J. Boehm & H. Schuh

  2. Main Astronomical Observatory, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Akademika Zabolotnoho Str. 27, 03680, Kiev, Ukraine

    S. Bolotin

  3. Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG), Karl-Rothe-Str. 10–14, 04105, Leipzig, Germany

    G. Engelhardt

  4. NVI Incorporated and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    D. S. MacMillan

  5. Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy

    M. Negusini

  6. Institute of Applied Astronomy (IAA), nab. Kutuzova, 10, St., Petersburg, 191187, Russia

    E. Skurikhina

  7. Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut (DGFI), Alfons-Goppel-Str. 11, 80539, München, Germany

    V. Tesmer

  8. Geoscience Australia, PO Box 378, Canberra, 2601, Australia

    O. Titov

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  1. R. Heinkelmann
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  9. V. Tesmer
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Correspondence to R. Heinkelmann.

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Heinkelmann, R., Boehm, J., Schuh, H. et al. Combination of long time-series of troposphere zenith delays observed by VLBI. J Geod 81, 483–501 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-007-0147-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-007-0147-z

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