scholarly journals Electron density profiles probed by radio occultation of FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 at 520 and 800 km altitude

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 3069-3074 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Y. Liu ◽  
C. Y. Lin ◽  
H. F. Tsai

Abstract. The FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (F7/C2) will ultimately place 12 satellites in orbit with two launches with 24–28.5° inclination and 520–550 km altitude in 2016 and with 72° inclination and 720–750 km altitude in 2018. It would be very useful for the community to construct the global three-dimensional electron density structure by simultaneously combining the two launch observations for studying ionospheric structure and dynamics. However, to properly construct the global electron density structure, it is essential to know and evaluate differences between the ionospheric electron densities probed by the two launches. To mimic the F7/C2 observations, we examine the electron density probed at the two satellite altitudes 500 and 800 km by means of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3/C) observations at the parking orbit 500 km altitude and mission orbit 800 km altitude, as well as a corresponding observing system simulation experiment (OSSE). Observation and OSSE results show that the sounding geometries by satellite orbiting at 500 and 800 km altitudes can cause the overall differences in the electron density, the F2 peak electron density, and the F2 peak height of about 18–24, 12–28 %, and 7–19 km, respectively. Results confirm that the discrepancies mainly result from the sounding geometry and the grid (contour) bias of the electron density.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuying Wang ◽  
Wanli Cheng ◽  
Zihan Zhou ◽  
Song Xu ◽  
Dehe Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract. CSES is a newly launched electric-magnetic satellite in China; its main scientific objective is to monitor earthquake related disturbances in ionosphere. A GNSS occultation receiver (GOR) is installed on the satellite to inverse electron density related parameters. In order to validate the radio occultation (RO) data from GOR onboard CSES, a comparison between CSES RO and the co-located COSMIC RO data is conducted to check the consistency and reliability of the CSES RO data using measurements from February 12, 2018 to March 31, 2019. CSES RO peak values (NmF2), peak heights (hmF2), and electron density profiles (EPDs) are compared with corresponding COSMIC measurements in this study. The results show that: (1) NmF2s between CSES and COSMIC are in extremely good agreement with a correlation coefficient of 0.9891. The near zero bias between the two sets is 0.01235 × 105/cm3 with a RMSE of 0.3680 × 105/cm3; and the relative bias is 2.14 % with a relative RMSE of 16.40%, which are in accordance with previous studies according to error propagation rules. (2) hmF2s between the two missions are also in very good agreement with a correlation coefficient of 0.9379; the mean difference between the two sets is 0.73 km with a RMSE of 13.02 km, which is within the error limits of previous studies; (3) Co-located EDPs between the two sets are generally in good agreements, but with a better agreement for data above 200 km than that below this altitude. Data at the peak height ranges show the best agreement, and then data above the peak regions; data below the peak regions, especially at the altitude of about the E layer, show relatively large fluctuations. It is concluded that CSES RO data are in good agreement with COSMIC measurements, and the CSES RO data are applicable for most ionospheric-related studies. However, particular attention should be paid to EDP data below peak regions in application.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1025-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuying Wang ◽  
Wanli Cheng ◽  
Zihan Zhou ◽  
Song Xu ◽  
Dehe Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract. CSES (China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite) is a newly launched electric-magnetic satellite in China. A GNSS occultation receiver (GOR) is installed on the satellite to retrieve electron density related parameters. In order to validate the radio occultation (RO) data from the GOR on board CSES, a comparison between CSES RO and the co-located COSMIC RO data is conducted to check the consistency and reliability of the CSES RO data using measurements from 12 February 2018 to 31 March 2019. CSES RO peak values (NmF2), peak heights (hmF2), and electron density profiles (EPDs) are compared with corresponding COSMIC measurements in this study. The results show that (1) NmF2 between CSES and COSMIC is in extremely good agreement, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9898. The near-zero bias between the two sets is 0.005363×105 cm−3 with a RMSE of 0.3638×105 cm−3, and the relative bias is 1.97 % with a relative RMSE of 16.17 %, which are in accordance with previous studies according to error propagation rules. (2) hmF2 between the two missions is also in very good agreement with a correlation coefficient of 0.9385; the mean difference between the two sets is 0.59 km with a RMSE of 12.28 km, which is within the error limits of previous studies. (3) Co-located EDPs between the two sets are generally in good agreement, but with a better agreement for data above 200 km than those below this altitude. Data at the peak height ranges show the best agreement, and then data above the peak regions; data below the peak regions, especially at the altitude of about the E layer, show relatively large fluctuations. It is concluded that CSES RO data are in good agreement with COSMIC measurements, and the CSES RO data are applicable for most ionosphere-related studies considering the wide acceptance and application of COSMIC RO measurements. However, particular attention should be paid to EDP data below peak regions in application as data at the bottom side of the profiles are less reliable than that at the peak and topside regions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 2215-2227 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Limberger ◽  
W. Liang ◽  
M. Schmidt ◽  
D. Dettmering ◽  
U. Hugentobler

Abstract. Understanding the physical processes within the ionosphere is a key requirement to improve and extend ionospheric modeling approaches. The determination of meaningful parameters to describe the vertical electron density distribution and how they are influenced by the solar activity is an important topic in ionospheric research. In this regard, the F2 layer of the ionosphere plays a key role as it contains the highest concentration of electrons and ions. In this contribution, the maximum electron density NmF2, peak height hmF2 and scale height HF2 of the F2 layer are determined by employing a model approach for regional applications realized by the combination of endpoint-interpolating polynomial B splines with an adapted physics-motivated Chapman layer. For this purpose, electron density profiles derived from ionospheric GPS radio occultation measurements of the satellite missions FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC, GRACE and CHAMP have been successfully exploited. Profiles contain electron density observations at discrete spots, in contrast to the commonly used integrated total electron content from GNSS, and therefore are highly sensitive to obtaining the required information of the vertical electron density structure. The spatio-temporal availability of profiles is indeed rather sparse, but the model approach meets all requirements to combine observation techniques implicating the mutual support of the measurements concerning accuracy, sensitivity and data resolution. For the model initialization and to bridge observation gaps, the International Reference Ionosphere 2007 is applied. Validations by means of simulations and selected real data scenarios show that this model approach has significant potential and the ability to yield reliable results.


1973 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 1581-1586
Author(s):  
Michael Anastassiadis ◽  
Georges Moraitis ◽  
Dimitris Matsoukas

Radio Science ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Sojka ◽  
J. V. Eccles ◽  
R. W. Schunk ◽  
S. McDonald ◽  
S. Thonnard ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 2019-2027 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Liu ◽  
W. Wan ◽  
M.-L. Zhang ◽  
B. Ning ◽  
S.-R. Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract. A 30-day incoherent scatter radar (ISR) experiment was conducted at Millstone Hill (288.5° E, 42.6° N) from 4 October to 4 November 2002. The altitude profiles of electron density Ne, ion and electron temperature (Ti and Te), and line-of-sight velocity during this experiment were processed to deduce the topside plasma scale height Hp, vertical scale height VSH, Chapman scale height Hm, ion velocity, and the relative altitude gradient of plasma temperature (dTp/dh)/Tp, as well as the F2 layer electron density (NmF2) and height (hmF2). These data are analyzed to explore the variations of the ionosphere over Millstone Hill under geomagnetically quiet and disturbed conditions. Results show that ionospheric parameters generally follow their median behavior under geomagnetically quiet conditions, while the main feature of the scale heights, as well as other parameters, deviated significantly from their median behaviors under disturbed conditions. The enhanced variability of ionospheric scale heights during the storm-times suggests that the geomagnetic activity has a major impact on the behavior of ionospheric scale heights, as well as the shape of the topside electron density profiles. Over Millstone Hill, the diurnal behaviors of the median VSH and Hm are very similar to each other and are not so tightly correlated with that of the plasma scale height Hp or the plasma temperature. The present study confirms the sensitivity of the ionospheric scale heights over Millstone Hill to thermal structure and dynamics. The values of VSH/Hp tend to decrease as (dTp/dh)/Tp becomes larger or the dynamic processes become enhanced.


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