Region-Specific and Weather-Dependent Characteristics of the Relation between GNSS-Weighted Mean Temperature and Surface Temperature over China

oleh: Minghua Wang, Junping Chen, Jie Han, Yize Zhang, Mengtian Fan, Miao Yu, Chengzhi Sun, Tao Xie

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-03-01

Deskripsi

Weighted mean temperature of the atmosphere, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>m</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, is a key parameter for retrieving the precipitable water vapor from Global Navigation Satellite System observations. It is commonly estimated by a linear model that relates to surface temperature <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>s</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. However, the linear relationship between <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>m</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>s</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> is associated with geographic regions and affected by the weather. To better estimate the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>m</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> over China, we analyzed the region-specific and weather-dependent characteristics of this linear relationship using 860,054 radiosonde profiles from 88 Chinese stations between 2005 and 2018. The slope coefficients of site-specific linear models are 0.35~0.95, which generally reduce from northeast to southwest. Over southwest China, the slope coefficient changes drastically, while over the northwest, it shows little variation. We developed a <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mo>∼</mo><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>m</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> linear model using the data from rainless days as well as a model using the data from rainy days for each station. At half the stations, mostly located in west and north China, the differences between the rainy-day and rainless-day <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>m</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> models are significant and larger than 0.5% (1%) in mean (maximal) relative bias. The regression precisions of the rainy-day models are higher than that of the rainless-day models averagely by 28% for the stations. Radiosonde data satisfying <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>m</mi></msub><mo>−</mo><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mo>></mo><mn>10</mn><mtext> </mtext><mi mathvariant="normal">K</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>s</mi></msub><mo>−</mo><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>m</mi></msub><mo>></mo><mn>30</mn><mtext> </mtext><mi mathvariant="normal">K</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> most deviate from linear regression models. Results suggest that the former situation is related to low surface temperature (<270 K), as well as striking temperature and humidity inversions below 800 hPa, while the latter situation is related to high surface temperature (>280 K) and a distinct humidity inversion above 600 hPa.