Abstract. Tomographic techniques are successfully applied to obtain 4D images of the tropospheric refractivity in a local dense network of global positioning system (GPS) receivers. We show here how GPS data are processed to obtain the tropospheric slant wet delays and discuss the validity of the processing. These slant wet delays are the observables in the tomographic processing. We then discuss the inverse problem in 4D tropospheric tomography making extensive use of simulations to test the system and define the resolution and the impact of noise. Finally, we use data from the Kilauea network in Hawaii for February 1, 1997, and a local 4×4×40 voxel grid on a region of 400 km² and 15 km in height to produce the corresponding 4D wet refractivity fields, which are then validated using forecast analysis from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). We conclude that tomographic techniques can be used to monitor the troposphere in time and space.

Key words: Radio science (remote sensing; instruments and techniques)