“…The microwave occultation technique using intersatellite centimeter‐ and millimeter‐wave signals between low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites [ Kursinski et al 2002, 2004; Herman et al , 2004; Kirchengast and Hoeg , 2004; Gorbunov and Kirchengast , 2005, 2007], termed LMO hereafter, enables us to jointly retrieve atmospheric profiles of temperature and humidity without auxiliary background information, in addition to profiles of refractivity, pressure, and geopotential height. LMO thus allows retrieval of all fundamental thermodynamic state variables (pressure, temperature, and humidity), as a function of height, and with added dedicated signals also other variables, in particular ozone [ Herman et al , 2004]. This is a key advancement compared to the highly successful radio occultation technique utilizing decimeter‐wave signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) received at LEO satellites [e.g., Ware et al , 1996; Kursinski et al , 1997; Steiner et al , 1999; Wickert et al , 2004; Healy and Thépaut , 2006; Anthes et al , 2008; Ho et al , 2009; Steiner et al , 2009], termed GRO hereafter (up to present the GNSS signals exploited were those from the U.S.…”