High-Precision Atmospheric Delay Modelling and Applications for GNSS during Extreme Weather Events

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have become an indispensable technology for high-precision positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), providing centimeter to millimeter-level accuracy for geodesy, geophysics, and numerous critical industries. However, the ultimate accuracy of GNSS is fundamentally limited by atmospheric propagation delays, namely the ionospheric and tropospheric delays. Under nominal conditions, these effects can be effectively mitigated using standard models and correction products. Nevertheless, with the advent of Solar Cycle 25, which promises heightened solar activity, and the increasing frequency of extreme terrestrial weather events such as typhoons and heavy precipitation, the highly dynamic and anomalous behavior of the atmosphere poses unprecedented challenges. These severe conditions compromise the performance of conventional atmospheric correction strategies, threatening the reliability and stability of high-precision GNSS services.Standard atmospheric models and products often exhibit insufficient accuracy and latency when confronted with the severe ionospheric disturbances and rapid spatio-temporal variations in water vapor induced by solar storms, typhoons, and torrential rain. This directly degrades the performance of advanced techniques like Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and Real-Time Kinematic (RTK), potentially leading to service disruptions. This Research Topic aims to consolidate the latest breakthroughs in the fine-scale characterization, modeling, and mitigation of atmospheric delays under extreme space and terrestrial weather conditions. We encourage contributions that present innovative theories, algorithms, models, and applications capable of significantly enhancing the accuracy, availability, and integrity of GNSS in these adverse environments. Through this collection, we aspire to catalyze the development of next-generation atmospheric correction techniques, ensuring the all-weather, all-scenario high-precision service capability of GNSS.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:(1) Novel theories, models, and algorithms for atmospheric delay estimation: • Higher-order ionospheric delay models; • Modeling of tropospheric asymmetry; • Novel methodologies for Precise Point Positioning in environments with strong convection or ionospheric scintillation.(2) Refinement and validation of atmospheric products: • Fusion of multi-source data for atmospheric product generation; • Generation and assessment of real-time, high-resolution ionospheric/tropospheric grid products for extreme weather events; • Application of AI for short-term forecasting and anomaly detection of atmospheric delays.(3) GNSS applications and performance assessment under extreme conditions• Impacts of extreme weather on safety-critical applications (e.g., autonomous driving, UAVs);• Monitoring and warning of meteorological hazards (e.g., typhoons, heavy precipitation). Topic editors: Guo Chen, Yaozong Zhou, Ling Huang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77844/high-precision-atmospheric-delay-modelling-and-applications-for-gnss-during-extreme-weather-events