Radio Occultation

[meteorologist]

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/a-marshall-mcluhan-approach-to-weather-forecasting/

 

http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperDownload.aspx?paperID=205

 

[MN Transplant]

I wonder how this differs from COSMIC, which already provides GPS occultation-based soundings for the operational forecast models.

 

edit - answered my own question.  From the planetIQ website:

 

 

Global GPS-RO observations are currently provided by the joint U.S./Taiwan COSMIC mission. COSMIC, which stands for “Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere & Climate,” consists of six small LEO satellites launched in 2006, each carrying a GPS-RO receiver and ionospheric photometer.

 

At the same time, the COSMIC satellites are now degrading and approaching the end of their lifetimes. COSMIC-2, a proposed follow-on system, would not be operational until 2017 at the earliest, would only observe about half of the Earth’s atmosphere, and has encountered delays and funding issues.

 

 

PlanetIQ represents a new model of collaboration between public and private stakeholders, one that leverages private funds to field new observing systems for GPS-RO and other data quickly and at lower cost, in order to sustain and increase collection of the environmental data required for accurate forecasts and informed decisions.