Citation
Abstract
A study of two years’ radiosonde balloon measurement shows that most of the significant seasonal fluctuations in refractivity profiles are due to the variation of the water content in the troposphere. At each of the six weather stations, the long-term seasonal variation in refractivity profile repeats quite well through the two-year span. Based on the two years’ data a new tropospheric range calibration method using monthly mean parameters at each station was developed. The uncertainty of range correction with the new model over one pass is estimated to be 0.30-0.35 m for a 10-deg minimum elevation angle and 0.40-0.50 m for a 6-deg minimum elevation angle. This is below the required accuracy for tropospheric calibration of both Mariner Mars 1971 (MM71) and Viking 1975 missions.
Details
- Volume
- VI
- Published
- December 15, 1971
- Pages
- 67–82
- File Size
- 1.6 MB