The Continued Operation of COSMIC in Support of Operational and Research Applications for Years 2012-2015

该项目是星座气象、电离层和气候观测系统（COSMIC），涉及研究和数据管理活动，其核心是一种名为全球定位系统（GPS）无线电掩星（RO）的大气测量概念，这是一种相对较新的基于空间的主动探测方法，用于测量大气温度、水蒸气、压力和高度的垂直剖面。GPS无线电波在地球带电大气中传播，然后在中性大气的密度梯度中传播，其弯曲和延迟造成的时间差是最基本的测量方法。测量的优雅和简单与GPS有目的地选择的无线电频率有关；当它们到达地球表面时，尽可能不受中间大气的影响，使它们成为全天候的，不受云、气溶胶等的影响。这一更新项目建立并继续改进由美国国家科学基金会及其美国合作机构NOAA、空军、NASA和海军支持的早期工作，费用由美国和运营COSMIC卫星的台湾均摊。自2006年4月发射以来，COSMIC为科学和业务使用提供了高质量的数据。UCAR COSMIC数据分析和档案中心（CDAAC）目前每天进行1,000至1,500次全球定位系统（GPS）无线电掩星（RO）探测。目前，大多数全球数值天气预报（NWP）中心（包括NOAA国家环境预报中心（NCEP））正在近乎实时地吸收COSMIC数据。自发射以来，COSMIC系统已经产生了近300万个高质量的中性大气和电离层GPS RO剖面和许多其他有价值的数据产品。这些高分辨率的全球分布式数据集被来自55个国家的约1700名注册用户用于推进地球系统科学，这些用户代表了美国和国际主要大学、领先的业务气象中心、研究实验室和几家私营公司。正在进行的工作包括：(i)操作和维护数据处理、质量控制和发布数据中心；（ii）通过改进GPS RO科学有效载荷固件和CDAAC软件处理算法，提高COSMIC数据产品的质量和数量；（iii） COSMIC项目办公室的运作，以支持国家和国际科学界。智力价值：该项目具有很高的智力价值，因为它操作、维护和改进了最先进的COSMIC无线电掩星处理系统，该系统为研究和操作提供全球、连续和全天候的大气和电离层观测。COSMIC系统提供了一个黄金标准的RO数据集。该项目将引领系统运行、GPS信号跟踪、数据处理和反演技术的前沿进步，最大限度地提高其对大气科学的研究价值。更广泛的影响：COSMIC数据由于其数量和质量、完整的全球和日采样以及深入对流层下层的能力，对大气科学的研究和业务具有重大影响。COSMIC数据精度高，垂直分辨率高，不需要卫星间交叉校准，因此非常适合气候研究和仪器验证。COSMIC还为分析和预测空间天气以及其他电离层研究提供急需的电离层观测。这个项目还有一个重要的教育和外联部分。它将让研究生和本科生以及博士后参与科学合作，并将继续组织科学研讨会和支持教育和培训活动。COSMIC数据和处理软件将继续免费提供给广大的大学和用户社区。除了COSMIC之外，这些活动还将对未来RO任务的规划和执行产生积极影响。

This project, the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC), involves research and data management activities centered around an atmospheric measurement concept called Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation (RO), a relatively new space based active limb sounding method for measuring vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, water vapor, pressure and height. The fundamental measurement is a time difference caused by bending and delay of GPS radio waves as they propagate through the Earth's charged atmosphere and then through the density gradients of the neutral atmosphere. The elegance and simplicity of the measurement is related to the GPS's purposefully chosen radio frequencies; as unaffected as possible by the intervening atmosphere as they reach the Earth's surface, making them all weather, unaffected by clouds, aerosols, etc. This renewal project builds and continues to improve on earlier work supported by NSF and its partner U.S. agencies, NOAA, Air Force, NASA and Navy, with costs shared equally by the United States and Taiwan, which operate the COSMIC satellites.Since its launch in April 2006, COSMIC has provided high quality data for science and operational use. The UCAR COSMIC Data Analysis and Archive Center (CDAAC) is currently producing between 1,000 and 1,500 Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) soundings per day. COSMIC data are now being assimilated in near real-time by most global numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers, including the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).Since its launch, the COSMIC system has produced close to 3 million high quality neutral atmospheric and ionospheric GPS RO profiles and many other valuable data products. These high resolution globally distributed data sets are being used to advance Earth system science by approximately 1,700 registered users from 55 countries, representing major U.S. and international universities, leading operational weather centers, research laboratories, and several private companies. The work being conducted includes: (i) operation and maintenance of the CDAAC for data processing, quality control, and dissemination; (ii) improvement of the quality and quantity of COSMIC data products by enhancing the GPS RO science payload firmware and CDAAC software processing algorithms; and, (iii) operation of the COSMIC Program Office to support the national and international science communities. Intellectual Merit: This project has high intellectual merit in that it operates, maintains and improves the state-of-the-art COSMIC radio occultation processing system that provides global, continuous, and all-weather observations of the atmosphere and ionosphere for research and operations. The COSMIC system is providing a gold-standard RO data set. This project will lead to cutting edge advances in system operation, GPS signal tracking, data processing, and inversion techniques to maximize its research value for the atmospheric sciences. Broader Impacts: The COSMIC data have significant impact on research and operations in the atmospheric sciences because of their quantity and quality, complete global and diurnal sampling, and their ability to penetrate deeply into the lower troposphere. The fact that the COSMIC data are of high precision and accuracy, high vertical resolution, and require no inter-satellite cross-calibration, makes them ideally suited for climate research and instrument validation. COSMIC also provides much-needed ionospheric observations for analysis and forecasting of space weather, and other ionospheric research. This project also has a significant education and outreach component. It will involve graduate and undergraduate students as well as postdoctoral fellows in scientific collaborations, and will continue to organize science workshops and support education and training activities. The COSMIC data and the processing software will continue to be made freely available to the broad university and user community. Beyond COSMIC, these activities will also have positive impacts on planning and execution of future RO missions.