Pecularities of the Total Electron Content and Their Reflections in the Ionospheric Model

The global ionospheric model built by the International Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Service (IGS) using GNSS reference stations all over the world is currently the most widely used ionospheric product on a global scale. Therefore, analysis and evaluation of this ionospheric product’s accuracy and reliability are essential for the practical use of the product. In contrast to the traditional way of assessing global ionospheric models with ground-based static measurements, our study used shipborne kinematic global positioning system (GPS) measurements collected over 18 days to perform a preliminary analysis and evaluation of the accuracy of the global ionospheric models; our study took place in the Arctic Circle. The data from the International GNSS Service stations near the Arctic Circle were used to verify the ionospheric total electron contents derived from the kinematic data. The results suggested that the global ionospheric model had an approximate regional accuracy of 12 total electron content units (TECu) within the Arctic Circle and deviated from the actual ionospheric total electron content value by about 4 TECu.

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A Refinement Method of Real-Time Ionospheric Model for China

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12203354 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (20) ◽

pp. 3354

Author(s):

Yang Wang ◽

Yibin Yao ◽

Liang Zhang ◽

Mingshan Fang

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Total Electron Content ◽

Global Navigation Satellite Systems ◽

Single Frequency ◽

Electron Content ◽

Vertical Total Electron Content ◽

Ionospheric Model ◽

Total Electron ◽

Satellite Systems ◽

Refinement Method

Ionospheric delay is a crucial error source and determines the source of single-frequency precise point positioning (SF-PPP) accuracy. To meet the demands of real-time SF-PPP (RT-SF-PPP), several international global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) service (IGS) analysis centers provide real-time global ionospheric vertical total electron content (VTEC) products. However, the accuracy distribution of VTEC products is nonuniform. Proposing a refinement method is a convenient means to obtain a more accuracy and consistent VTEC product. In this study, we proposed a refinement method of a real-time ionospheric VTEC model for China and carried out experiments to validate the model effectiveness. First, based on the refinement method and the Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) VTEC products, three refined real-time global ionospheric models (RRTGIMs) with one, three, and six stations in China were built via GNSS observations. Second, the slant total electron content (STEC) and Jason-3 VTEC were used as references to evaluate VTEC accuracy. Third, RT-SF-PPP was used to evaluate the accuracy in the positioning domain. Results showed that even if using only one station to refine the global ionospheric model, the refined model achieved a better performance than CNES and the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE). The refinement model with six stations was found to be the best of the three refinement models.

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ANALYSIS OF IONOSPHERIC TEC ANOMALIES DURING SUPER TYPHOONS MEGI AND MERANTI

Meteorologiya i Gidrologiya ◽

10.52002/0130-2906-2021-3-117-126 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 117-126

Author(s):

J. SUN ◽

◽

Z. ZHANG ◽

X. LIU ◽

C. ZHANG ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Total Electron Content ◽

Orbit Determination ◽

Electron Content ◽

Ionospheric Model ◽

Grid Data ◽

Total Electron ◽

Super Typhoon ◽

Ionospheric Total Electron Content ◽

Typhoon Center ◽

Typhoon Event

In this paper, we detected and analyzed ionospheric anomalies during the 2016 super typhoons Megi and Meranti using the sliding interquartile range method applied to the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) grid data from the Global Ionospheric Model (GIM) provided by the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE). We found that ionospheric TEC anomalies occurred 2 days before the origination of super typhoon Megi. The anomalies occurred from 02:00 to 12:00 local time over a period of 10 h, with a maximum outlier of 12 TEC units over the typhoon center. Anomalies occurred in the ionosphere over both the area near the typhoon center and the corresponding equatorial magnetic conjugate region. The anomalies in both areas showed approximately the same trends. It is very likely that the disturbances from the ionospheric anomalies over the typhoon center were one of the precursors for the typhoon event. Similar ionospheric anomalies also occurred in the ionosphere 2 days before the formation and development of super typhoon Meranti...

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