Intercomparison of GNSS-RO Quality Control Checks in NWP. Part I: Survey of Methods

Année de publication

2026

While understanding that quality control (QC) processes crucially affect the statistics of the observations compared to short-range numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecasts and the subsequent analyses, we also realize the fact that many centers implement entirely different QC methods from each other in operations. Here, we catalog the QC methods of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) observations used for data assimilation (DA) by NWP centers. The QC methods are categorized into four groups: preliminary checks which often refer to the metadata of the observed profile, background checks where the observation is compared to a short-range forecast, superrefraction checks which attempt to look for the presence of superrefraction in the profile, and miscellaneous checks such as running a one-dimensional variational scheme or using the variational QC method. This survey is the first published catalog of QC checks used in GNSS-RO observations. It also sets up the second part of this paper, where various methods for diagnosing superrefraction are compared. Significance Statement Quality control (QC) procedures play a crucial role in ensuring that Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) data are reliable and consistent with short-term weather forecasts and subsequent analyses. However, numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers around the world use very different QC methods for handling these data. For the first time, this paper sets out a comprehensive survey of the QC methods used by NWP centers across the world.</div>

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