Radio-holographic analysis of Microlab-1 radio occultation data in the lower troposphere

[1] The interpretation of radio occultation data in the lower troposphere is a complicated problem due to strong multipath effects. This problem can be solved on the basis of the wave optics. We analyze Microlab-1 radio occultation using two radio-holographic approaches: the radio-optics method, which employs the analysis of the local spatial spectra of the registered wave field, and the canonical transform method, which is based on the principles of the theory of Fourier integral operators. The radio-optics method is a means of data visualizaion, while the canonical transform method must be used for achieving accurate numerical results in processing measurements in multipath areas. The comparison of the results of the application of these two methods is a useful method of data quality control. We show examples of radio occultations with multipath propagation and reflection from the Earth's surface. The application of the radio-holographic methods also allows for the detection of corrupted data caused by phase lock loop failure.