Construction of Temperature Climate Data Records in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere Using Multiple RO Missions From September 2006 to July 2023 at NESDIS/STAR

We develop a new monthly zonal mean climatology (MMC) in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere from September 2006 to July 2023 using the dry temperature profiles from multiple global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) missions processed by the GNSS RO Science and Data Center (SDC) at the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR). The multiple RO missions include Formosa Satellite Mission 3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC‐1), SPIRE, and Meteorological Operational satellite (MetOp)‐A, ‐B, ‐C. We compare collocated profiles from multiple STAR‐processed RO missions to ensure the consistency of the data used in the construction of STAR MMC. Because the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate‐2 (COSMIC‐2) contains a noticeable temperature difference compared with other RO missions, we decided not to include it. We validate the robustness of the sampling error correction method through three reanalyses: ERA‐5, MERRA‐2, and JRA‐55. The result shows the uncertainty caused by using different reanalyses is negligible. This STAR MMC is then compared with the ROM SAF MMC and the MMC derived from these three reanalyses, exhibiting general consistency. Various climate signals, including quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO) and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), can be identified from STAR MMC. The global temperature trends from STAR MMC show a prominent warming of 0.310 ± 0.128 K/Decade in the upper troposphere and a robust cooling of −0.295 ± 0.145 K/Decade in the mid‐stratosphere. These results demonstrate that STAR MMC can capture climate signals and monitor long‐term climate change.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

• Publication date

  2025-06-09

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1029/2024JD041295
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Using the Commercial GNSS RO Spire Data in the Neutral Atmosphere for Climate and Weather Prediction Studies

  2023influential reference
• Resolving the 21st century temperature trends of the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere with satellite observations

  2023influential reference
• Solar Cycle Precursors and the Outlook for Cycle 25

  2023cited by this paper
• Mid‐Tropospheric Layer Temperature Record Derived From Satellite Microwave Sounder Observations With Backward Merging Approach

  2023cited by this paper
• Using Radio Occultation Data for Atmospheric Numerical Weather Prediction, Climate Sciences, and Ionospheric Studies and Initial Results from COSMIC-2, Commercial RO Data, and Recent RO Missions

  2022cited by this paper
• Quest over the Sampling Error of COSMIC Radio Occultation Temperature Climatologies

  2021cited by this paper
• Quantifying the Tropical Upper Tropospheric Warming Amplification Using Radio Occultation Measurements

  2021cited by this paper
• Inverting COSMIC-2 Phase Data to Bending Angle and Refractivity Profiles Using the Full Spectrum Inversion Method

  2021cited by this paper
• Variability in QBO Temperature Anomalies on Annual and Decadal Time Scales

  2020influential reference
• The COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 Radio Occultation Mission after 12 Years: Accomplishments, Remaining Challenges, and Potential Impacts of COSMIC-2

  2020cited by this paper
• Consistency and structural uncertainty of multi-mission GPS radio occultation records

  2019influential reference
• Representation of Vertical Atmospheric Structures by Radio Occultation Observations in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere: Comparison to High-Resolution Radiosonde Profiles

  2019cited by this paper
• On the representation of major stratospheric warmings in reanalyses

  2019influential reference
• Variability of temperature and ozone in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere from multi-satellite observations and reanalysis data

  2019influential reference
• Temperature Trends and Anomalies in Modern Satellite Data: Infrared Sounding and GPS Radio Occultation

  2018cited by this paper
• Revisiting the Mystery of Recent Stratospheric Temperature Trends

  2018influential reference
• Comparing Tropospheric Warming in Climate Models and Satellite Data

  2017cited by this paper
• Causes of differences in model and satellite tropospheric warming rates

  2017cited by this paper
• A Satellite-Derived Lower-Tropospheric Atmospheric Temperature Dataset Using an Optimized Adjustment for Diurnal Effects

  2017cited by this paper
• Postmillennium changes in stratospheric temperature consistently resolved by GPS radio occultation and AMSU observations

  2017cited by this paper
• UAH Version 6 global satellite temperature products: Methodology and results

  2017cited by this paper
• Stratospheric influence on tropospheric jet streams, storm tracks and surface weather

  2015influential reference
• Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization

  2015cited by this paper
• Variability of Zonal Mean Tropical Temperatures Derived from a Decade of GPS Radio Occultation Data

  2015cited by this paper
• Influence of changes in humidity on dry temperature in GPS RO climatologies

  2014cited by this paper
• Impact of GPS radio occultation measurements in the ECMWF system using adjoint‐based diagnostics

  2014cited by this paper
• Generation of a bending angle radio occultation climatology (BAROCLIM) and its use in radio occultation retrievals

  2014influential reference
• Revisiting the controversial issue of tropical tropospheric temperature trends

  2013cited by this paper
• Reproducibility of GPS radio occultation data for climate monitoring: Profile‐to‐profile inter‐comparison of CHAMP climate records 2002 to 2008 from six data centers

  2012cited by this paper
• Homogenization of the Global Radiosonde Temperature Dataset through Combined Comparison with Reanalysis Background Series and Neighboring Stations

  2012cited by this paper
• Quantifying uncertainty in climatological fields from GPS radio occultation: an empirical-analytical error model

  2011influential reference
• On the warming in the tropical upper troposphere: Models versus observations

  2011cited by this paper
• Exploring earth's atmosphere with radio occultation: contributions to weather, climate and space weather

  2011cited by this paper
• Atmospheric Climate Change Detection by Radio Occultation Data Using a Fingerprinting Method

  2011cited by this paper
• GPS radio occultation for climate monitoring and change detection

  2011cited by this paper
• Assimilation of Global Positioning System radio occultation data in the ECMWF ERA–Interim reanalysis

  2010cited by this paper
• Estimating the uncertainty of using GPS radio occultation data for climate monitoring: Intercomparison of CHAMP refractivity climate records from 2002 to 2006 from different data centers

  2009influential reference
• Critically Reassessing Tropospheric Temperature Trends from Radiosondes Using Realistic Validation Experiments

  2009cited by this paper
• Toward Elimination of the Warm Bias in Historic Radiosonde Temperature Records—Some New Results from a Comprehensive Intercomparison of Upper-Air Data

  2008cited by this paper
• Observing upper troposphere–lower stratosphere climate with radio occultation data from the CHAMP satellite

  2008cited by this paper
• Local time influence in single‐satellite radio occultation climatologies from Sun‐synchronous and non‐Sun‐synchronous satellites

  2007cited by this paper
• Climate Benchmarking Using GNSS Occultation

  2006cited by this paper
• Discrepancy of mass transport between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres among the ERA‐40, NCEP/NCAR, NCEP‐DOE AMIP‐2, and JRA‐25 reanalysis

  2006cited by this paper
• CHAMP and SAC-C atmospheric occultation results and intercomparisons

  2004cited by this paper
• Analysis of wave fields by Fourier integral operators and their application for radio occultations

  2004cited by this paper
• Statistical significance of trends and trend differences in layer-average atmospheric temperature time series

  2000cited by this paper
• The Effective Number of Spatial Degrees of Freedom of a Time-Varying Field

  1999cited by this paper
• Observing Earth's atmosphere with radio occultation measurements using the Global Positioning System

  1997cited by this paper
• Estimation of the accuracy of the atmospheric refractive index recovery from Doppler shift measurements at frequencies used in the NAVSTAR system

  1994cited by this paper
• Representation of the Equatorial Stratospheric Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in EOF Phase Space

  1993cited by this paper
• Variability and long-term changes of tropical cold point temperature and water vapor

  year unknowncited by this paper

• A multi-criteria based optimal niche analysis of seasonal productivity in the Bay of Bengal using MODIS data

  2025cites this paper