ROM SAF Radio Occultation Climate Data Record - COSMIC

This ROM SAF data record is derived from measurements by Radio Occultation (RO) instruments onboard the COSMIC satellites in low-Earth orbit. The RO technique utilizes the bending due to refraction of the GPS radio signals as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere. Each occultation event gives a vertical profile of atmospheric refractivity, from which temperature, pressure, and humidity are retrieved. The data have a global coverage and are insensitive to clouds and the underlying surface.

The data record based on COSMIC data covers the time period from mid-2006 to the end of 2016. They are available as individual atmospheric profiles and as monthly means on a regular latitude-height grid. The atmospheric profiles, and the gridded monthly means, include several geophysical variables: the bending angle of the GPS signals, atmospheric refractivity, temperature and pressure in the so called 'dry' approximation, as well as temperature, pressure, and tropospheric humidity obtained by so called 1D variational retrieval (using background model data as a priori). This retrieval also include surface pressure. In addition, the ROM SAF data record include tropopause heights, both for individual atmospheric profiles and as gridded monthly means.

The bending angle data record constitute an FCDR, while the temperature and humidity data records constitute TCDRs of GCOS Essential Climate Variables (ECVs).