Wet Troposphere Correction

Wet Troposphere Correction

The wet tropospheric correction (WTC) deals with the wet component (i.e., water vapour, cloud liquid water droplets, etc) of atmospheric refraction. In contrast to the dry component, the wet component makes up very little of the atmosphere, and cannot be easily modelled using the laws of ideal gases, making WTC models considerably more complicated.

In order to accurately model WTC, most altimeters are accompanied by microwave radiometers that are sensitive to water absorption features in the microwave spectrum. Sentinel-6 carries a multi-frequency Advanced Microwave Radiometer for Climate (AMR-C) and an experimental High-Resolution Microwave Radiometer (HRMR) for enhanced measurements of atmospheric parameters in the coastal zone. 

Wet Troposphere Correction Uncertainties

A full analysis of the WTC and its uncertainties will come later in the project programme.