Comparison of three vertical refractivity profiles in the Gulf region

Abstract

In this paper, a set of local radiosonde meteorological data, from 1990 to 2005, have been used to statistically analyze the refractivity gradient, DeltaN, at the lowest 65 m, 100 m and 1 km of the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth in the Gulf region. These three levels are the reference atmospheric layers in which the refractivity gradients have been evaluated by the ITU-R Recommendations P.453-10 and P.452-12The vertical variations of the refractivity profile aredisplayed through the cumulative distributions of the refractivity gradients at the targeted levels. The obtained results are compared for the three layers and also compared with the estimated values in the ITU maps and tables when available. Index Terms – Atmospheric refraction, Refractivity gradient.