Bending Angle and Temperature Climatologies from Global Positioning System Radio Occultations

Figure 1

The GPS RO technique scheme (the proportions are not respected) [1]. Dashed and dotted lines are the satellite orbits (LEO and GPS). The dotted line is the signal transmitted from GPS not crossing the atmosphere. The red and dashed lines are two different signals bended by the atmosphere and received from the LEO satellite. With respect to the red signal, 𝛼 is the bending angle, 𝑎 is the so-called impact parameter, and 𝑟_𝑝 is the tangent radius.