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Evaluation of modified Saastamoinen ZTD model using ground-based GPS observation over Iran

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Abstract

Zenith Tropospheric delay (ZTD), as one of the error sources on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal, plays a significant role in determining the moisture field of the earth's atmosphere. This study investigated the statistical quality of four ZTD models (HGPT2, Hopfield, Saastamoinen, and GTrop) in Iran. To do this, ZTD estimates obtained from processing GPS observations at 27 stations were considered reference values. The average Root Mean Squares Error (RMSE) values for one-year ZTD calculated using the Hopfield, HGPT2, GTrop, and Saastamoinen models were achieved at 77 mm, 39 mm, 31.4 mm, and 26 mm, respectively. The lowest mean bias values of ZTD belong to the GTrop model, which was 5.6 mm. Moreover, taking into account the temporal changes in the behavior of the ZTD parameter, the conventional Saastamoinen model was improved. The coefficients of the modified Saastamoinen model for the Iranian region were estimated with the help of GPS_ZTD values in 14 stations. Then, in 13 other stations of the GPS network that were not involved in estimating the model parameters, the modified Saastamoinen model was evaluated. On average, the modified Saastamoinen model has reduced the quantity of bias and RMSE of the calculated tropospheric delay in all the test stations about by 80% and 27%, respectively. Also, the correlation of the ZTD values obtained from the modified Saastamoinen model with GPS_ZTD has increased by 8% compared to the corresponding values obtained from the conventional Saastamoinen model.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study may be made available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for taking the time and effort necessary to review the manuscript. Also, we acknowledge the funding support of Babol Noshirvani University of Technology through Grant program No. P/M/1122.

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  1. Civil Engineering Department, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, P.O. Box484, Shariati Ave, Babol, Mazandaran, 47148-71167, Iran

    Ali Sam-Khaniani & Rohollah Naeijian

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  1. Ali Sam-Khaniani
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  2. Rohollah Naeijian
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The main idea of this project was proposed by Ali Sam-Khaniani. The first draft of the previous studies gathered in the introduction section was prepared by Rohollah Naeijian and finally this article was written by Ali Sam-Khaniani. Both authors contributed to the production of figures and tables. Both authors read the article and corrected the writing errors as much as possible.

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Correspondence to Ali Sam-Khaniani.

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Sam-Khaniani, A., Naeijian, R. Evaluation of modified Saastamoinen ZTD model using ground-based GPS observation over Iran. Earth Sci Inform 16, 2339–2353 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-023-01033-4

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