GPSROZPBLA: Global Planetary Boundary Layer Height Climatology, 2006-2015

Global annual average planetary boundary layer (PBL) height climatology derived from GPS radio occultation measurements. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration produced this dataset using data from the COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 and TerraSAR-X satellites between June 2006 and December 2015. Data are binned into 2-degree latitude/longitude grids, providing mean and standard deviation values.

Use Cases

• Modeling global boundary layer depth climatology based on binned 2-degree grid averages.
• Analyzing temporal trends in atmospheric stability using the 2006-2015 time series.
• Comparing PBL height estimation algorithms based on the refractivity gradient method described.
• Studying coastal atmospheric transitions using data with noted land-ocean averaging characteristics.

Strengths

• Data spans nearly a decade, from June 2006 to December 2015.
• Global coverage with measurements distributed across different local times from a six-satellite constellation.
• Vertical resolution of the source refractivity profiles is about 200 meters.
• Algorithm is designed to locate the height of large vertical refractivity change, corresponding to the PBL transition.

Limitations

• Dataset has been superseded by version 2.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Occultations near coasts represent ~100 km horizontal averaging over both land and ocean, requiring careful interpretation.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from GPS radio occultation measurements by COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 and TerraSAR-X satellites using IGOR receivers.

Time Range

June 2006 to December 2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:50:27.209443; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global