Assessment of the three representative empirical models for zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) using the CMONOC data

Abstract

The precise correction of atmospheric zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) is significant for the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) performance regarding positioning accuracy and convergence time. In the past decades, many empirical ZTD models based on whether the gridded or scattered ZTD products have been proposed and widely used in the GNSS positioning applications. But there is no comprehensive evaluation of these models for the whole China region, which features complicated topography and climate. In this study, we completely assess the typical empirical models, the IGGtropSH model (gridded, non-meteorology), the SHAtropE model (scattered, non-meteorology), and the GPT3 model (gridded, meteorology) using the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) network. In general, the results show that the three models share consistent performance with RMSE/bias of 37.45/1.63, 37.13/2.20, and 38.27/1.34 mm for the GPT3, SHAtropE and IGGtropSH model, respectively. However, the models had a distinct performance regarding geographical distribution, elevation, seasonal variations, and daily variation. In the southeastern region of China, RMSE values are around 50 mm, which are much higher than that in the western region, approximately 20 mm. The SHAtropE model exhibits better performance for areas with large variations in elevation. The GPT3 model and the IGGtropSH model are more stable across different months, and the SHAtropE model based on the GNSS data exhibits superior performance across various UTC epochs.

Keywords

• GNSS
• Zenith tropospheric delay
• Empirical ZTD model
• CMONOC data