Multi-constellation GNSS interferometric reflectometry for tidal analysis: mitigations for K1 and K2 biases due to GPS geometrical errors

Abstract

It has been observed that when using sea levels derived from GPS (Global Positioning System) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) data to perform tidal analysis, the luni-solar semidiurnal (K2) and the luni-solar diurnal (K1) constituents are biased due to geometrical errors in the reflection data, which result from their periods coinciding with the GPS orbital period and revisit period. In this work, we use 18 months of GNSS SNR data from multiple frequencies and multiple constellations at three sites to further investigate the biases and how to mitigate them. We first estimate sea levels using SNR data from the GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo signals, both individually and by combination. Secondly, we conduct tidal harmonic analysis using these sea-level estimates. By comparing the eight major tidal constituents estimated from SNR data with those estimated from the co-located tide-gauge records, we find that the biases in the K1 and K2 amplitudes from GPS S1C, S2X and S5X SNR data can reach 5 cm, and they can be mitigated by supplementing GLONASS- and Galileo-based sea-level estimates. With a proper combination of sea-level estimates from GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo, SNR-based tidal constituents can reach agreement at the millimeter level with those from tide gauges.