Atmospheric water vapour: invisible for the human eye and nevertheless one the most important atmospheric greenhouse gases. Its contribution to the natural greenhouse effect is approximately 60 per cent, whereby it plays a decisive role in the climate change. In the atmosphere, particularly in the troposphere, a majority of the important processes for our weather and climate takes place. But not only our climate is affected by the occurrences in the atmosphere, also radio signals, which are transmitted by satellites and which afterwards travel through the atmosphere, are strongly affected by the processes taking place there. Besides further factors, which affect the quality of those signals, like ionospheric influences, multipath and loading effects, the tropospheric propagation delay is one of the main error sources in precise satellite point positioning nowadays. For scientific applications which claim an accuracy down to the millimeter or submillimeter, the influence of the wet part of the tropospheric propagation delay (that is the water vapour content) still cannot be modelled with sufficient accuracy. This thesis deals with the determination of the wet part of the tropospheric propagation delay with water vapour radiometers, which represent a direct and independent method therefor, as well as it deals with the effect of tropospheric propagation delays on precise height determination by GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). First, the thesis describes the main aspects of tropospheric propagation delay and thereby commits itself to currently used models and mapping functions in this regard. Apart from modelling, there is the possibility of estimating the tropospheric propagation delays in the context of an adjustment of the available GNSS data for determining position and height coordinates. This kind of determination of tropospheric propagation delays is described, too, and possible approaches for different applications in dependence of the available data records are pointed out.
«Atmospheric water vapour: invisible for the human eye and nevertheless one the most important atmospheric greenhouse gases. Its contribution to the natural greenhouse effect is approximately 60 per cent, whereby it plays a decisive role in the climate change. In the atmosphere, particularly in the troposphere, a majority of the important processes for our weather and climate takes place. But not only our climate is affected by the occurrences in the atmosphere, also radio signals, which are tran...
»