The annual variation in quiet time plasmaspheric electron density, determined from whistler mode group delays

1991 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1059-1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Clilverd ◽  
A.J. Smith ◽  
N.R. Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Electron Density ◽  
Annual Variation ◽  
Quiet Time ◽  
Whistler Mode ◽  
Mode Group ◽  
Group Delays

The effect of disturbed-time electric fields on the inner plasmasphere

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 296-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. F. Balmforth ◽  
R. J. Moffett ◽  
A. J. Smith ◽  
G. J. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Electric Field ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Doppler Shift ◽  
Group Delay ◽  
Whistler Mode ◽  
L Value

Abstract. Results from a mathematical model provide a description of the mid-latitude, low L-shell ionosphere and plasmasphere. Variations in the composition and dynamics of the plasmasphere and changes in the nature of the coupling between the plasmasphere and the ionosphere are studied for moderately disturbed conditions. Modelled results are compared to group delay and Doppler shift measurements of whistler mode signals at Faraday, Antarctica (L ≈ 2.5), to investigate the effects of disturbed time electric fields on the inner plasmasphere and ionosphere. The disturbed time electric field causes a rapid outward drifting of the plasma leading to a decrease in modelled plasmaspheric electron density at a fixed L-value, which agrees with experimental observations. During the periods of outward drift, the modelled coupling flux is upwards to the plasmasphere which can lead to a significant depletion of NmF2 values.

scholarly journals The impact of large scale ionospheric structure on radio occultation retrievals

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 2837-2850 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Mannucci ◽  
C. O. Ao ◽  
X. Pi ◽  
B. A. Iijima
Keyword(s):  
Electron Density ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Radio Occultation ◽  
Quiet Time ◽  
Ionospheric Electron Density ◽  
Observation Strategy ◽  
Climatological Model ◽  
Ionospheric Data Assimilation ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. We study the impact of large-scale ionospheric structure on the accuracy of radio occultation (RO) retrievals. We use a climatological model of the ionosphere as well as an ionospheric data assimilation model to compare quiet and geomagnetically disturbed conditions. The presence of ionospheric electron density gradients during disturbed conditions increases the physical separation of the two GPS frequencies as the GPS signal traverses the ionosphere and atmosphere. We analyze this effect in detail using ray-tracing and a full geophysical retrieval system. During quiet conditions, our results are similar to previously published studies. The impact of a major ionospheric storm is analyzed using data from the 30 October 2003 "Halloween" superstorm period. At 40 km altitude, the refractivity bias under disturbed conditions is approximately three times larger than quiet time. These results suggest the need for ionospheric monitoring as part of an RO-based climate observation strategy. We find that even during quiet conditions, the magnitude of retrieval bias depends critically on assumed ionospheric electron density structure, which may explain variations in previously published bias estimates that use a variety of assumptions regarding large scale ionospheric structure. We quantify the impact of spacecraft orbit altitude on the magnitude of bending angle and retrieval error. Satellites in higher altitude orbits (700+ km) tend to have lower residual biases due to the tendency of the residual bending to cancel between the top and bottomside ionosphere. Another factor affecting accuracy is the commonly-used assumption that refractive index is unity at the receiver. We conclude with remarks on the implications of this study for long-term climate monitoring using RO.

scholarly journals Why is there more ionosphere in January than in July? The annual asymmetry in the F2-layer

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 3293-3311 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Rishbeth ◽  
I. C. F. Müller-Wodarg
Keyword(s):  
Electron Density ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Solar Minimum ◽  
Annual Variation ◽  
Solar Maximum ◽  
Lower Atmosphere ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Ion Production ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
June July

Abstract. Adding together the northern and southern hemisphere values for pairs of stations, the combined peak electron density NmF2 is greater in December-January than in June–July. The same applies to the total height-integrated electron content. This "F2-layer annual asymmetry" between northern and southern solstices is typically 30%, and thus greatly exceeds the 7% asymmetry in ion production due to the annual variation of Sun-Earth distance. Though it was noticed in ionospheric data almost seventy years ago, the asymmetry is still unexplained. Using ionosonde data and also values derived from the International Reference Ionosphere, we show that the asymmetry exists at noon and at midnight, at all latitudes from equatorial to sub-auroral, and tends to be greater at solar minimum than solar maximum. We find a similar asymmetry in neutral composition in the MSIS model of the thermosphere. Numerical computations with the Coupled Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Plasmasphere (CTIP) model give a much smaller annual asymmetry in electron density and neutral composition than is observed. Including mesospheric tides in the model makes little difference. After considering possible explanations, which do not account for the asymmetry, we are left with the conclusion that dynamical influences of the lower atmosphere (below about 30 km), not included in our computations, are the most likely cause of the asymmetry.

Validating IRI-2016 for quiet-time F2-region peak electron density height (hmF2) at different latitudes during moderate solar activity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.O. Adeniyi ◽  
B.O. Adebesin ◽  
S.O. Ikubanni ◽  
S.J. Adebiyi ◽  
B.J. Adekoya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Activity ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Quiet Time

scholarly journals Accuracy assessment of the quiet-time ionospheric F2 peak parameters as derived from COSMIC-2 multi-GNSS radio occultation measurements

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Iurii Cherniak ◽  
Irina Zakharenkova ◽  
John Braun ◽  
Qian Wu ◽  
Nicholas Pedatella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Density ◽  
Radio Occultation ◽  
Electron Density Profile ◽  
Equatorial Region ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Quiet Time ◽  
Density Profiles ◽  
Middle Latitudes ◽  
Receiver System ◽  
Electron Density Profiles

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 2 (COSMIC-2) mission was launched into a low-inclination (24°) orbit on June 25, 2019. Six satellites, each with an advanced Tri-GNSS Radio-Occultation Receiver System (TGRS), provide a global and uniform data coverage of the equatorial region with several thousand electron density profiles daily. The COSMIC-2 electron density profiles, and specifically the derived ionospheric F2 peak parameters, are properly validated in this study with reliable “truth” observations. For this purpose, we used manually scaled ionograms from 29 ground-based ionosondes located globally at low and middle latitudes. For this validation campaign, we considered only geomagnetically quiet conditions in order to establish benchmark level of the new mission’s ionospheric observation quality and to evaluate the operational capability of the COSMIC-2 Radio Occultation (RO) payload at the background of normal day-to-day variability of the ionosphere. For reliable colocations between two independent techniques, we selected only COSMIC-2 RO profiles whose F2 peak point coordinates were within 5° of the closest ionosonde. Our comparison of the ionospheric F2 peak height (hmF2) derived from COSMIC-2 RO and ground-based ionosonde measurements showed a very good agreement, with a mean of ~5 and ~2 km at low and middle latitudes, respectively, while RMS error was of ~23 and ~14 km, respectively. That range corresponds to a deviation of only 6–9% from the reference, ionosonde observations. Examination of representative collocation events with multiple (2–5) simultaneous RO tracks near the same ionosonde with different RO geometry, multi-satellite and multi-GNSS combination give us observational evidence that COSMIC-2 RO-based EDPs derived from GPS and GLONAS links show good self-consistency in terms of the ionospheric F2 peak values and electron density profile shape. We can conclude that COSMIC-2 provides high quality data for specification the ionospheric electron density at the F2 peak region.

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