Investigation of the Characteristics of Tropopause Height Over China Using Recent RO Measurements

The Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) is a relatively new effective technique for atmospheric sounding and has been routinely used in operational numerical weather prediction models run by major world forecasting centers. The key advantages of using RO data include global coverage, high precision, high vertical resolution, long-term stability and all-weather operation capability and capacity. The latest development in GNSS RO makes it possible to use RO technology for researches on extreme weather events including tropical cyclones and ENSOs phenomena etc. This study is to use the widely used RO processing package (Radio Occultation Processing Package, ROPP) to investigate the tropopause height (TPH) over the Chinese region (70°E–140°E, 0°N–60°N). The data used were from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) during the period 2015–2016, and the algorithm was the temperature lapse rate tropopause (LRT). Results showed that the distribution of the TPH is latitude-dependent. The TPH mainly concentrated in the 15.5–18 km altitude range in the southern part of China (latitude range: 0°N–33°N), whilst the TPH mainly concentrated in the 7–12.5 km altitude range in the northern part of China (34°N–60°N). The TPH did not show the characteristic of variation with longitude. The knowledge on the characteristics of the regional TPH is beneficial for a better understanding of the tropopause in China, and even beyond.