scholarly journals The very low-frequency transmitter radio wave anomalies related to the 2010 Ms 7.1 Yushu earthquake observed by the DEMETER satellite and the possible mechanism

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 969-981
Author(s):  
Shufan Zhao ◽  
XuHui Shen ◽  
Zeren Zhima ◽  
Chen Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Electric Field ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Lower Ionosphere ◽  
Satellite Observation ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Yushu Earthquake ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
Very Low Frequency

Abstract. Earthquakes may disturb the lower ionosphere through various coupling mechanisms during the seismogenic and coseismic periods. The VLF (very low-frequency) signal radiated from ground-based transmitters will be affected when it penetrates the disturbed ionosphere above the epicenter area, and this anomaly can be recorded by low-Earth orbit satellites under certain conditions. In this paper, the temporal and spatial variation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the VLF transmitter signal in the ionosphere over the epicenter of 2010 Yushu Ms 7.1 earthquake in China is analyzed using DEMETER (Detection of Electro-Magnetic Emission Transmitted from Earthquake Regions) satellite observation. The results show that SNR over the epicenter of the Yushu earthquake especially in the southwestern region decreased (or dropped) before the main shock, and a GPS–TEC (Global Positioning System; total electron content) anomaly accompanied, which implies that the decrease in SNR might be caused by the enhancement of TEC. A full-wave method is used to study the mechanism of the change in SNR before the earthquake. The simulated results show SNR does not always decrease before an earthquake. When the electron density in the lower ionosphere increases by 3 times, the electric field will decrease about 2 dB, indicating that the disturbed-electric-field decrease of 20 % compared with the original electric field and vice versa. It can be concluded that the variation of electron density before earthquakes may be one of the important factors influencing the variation of SNR.

scholarly journals The VLF transmitters' radio wave anomalies related to 2010 Ms 7.1 Yushu earthquake observed by DEMETER satellite and the possible mechanism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shufan Zhao ◽  
Xuhui Shen ◽  
Zeren Zhima ◽  
Chen Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Electric Field ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Lower Ionosphere ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Yushu Earthquake ◽  
Full Wave ◽  
Demeter Satellite ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Coupling Mechanisms

Abstract. Earthquakes may disturb the lower ionosphere through various coupling mechanisms during their seismogenic and coseismic periods. The VLF signal radiated from ground-based transmitters will get affected when it penetrates the disturbed region in the ionosphere above the epicenter area, and this anomaly can be recorded by low earth orbit satellite under certain conditions. In this paper, the temporal and spatial variation of the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of the VLF transmitter signal in the ionosphere over the epicenter of 2010 Yushu Ms 7.1 earthquake in China is analyzed. The results show that the SNR over the epicenter of Yushu earthquake especially in the southwestern region decreased (or dropped)revealed by one satellite revisit period before the main shock, which is consistent with the observed TEC anomaly at same time, implying that the decrease of SNR might be caused by the enhancement of TEC. A full-wave method was used to study the mechanism of the change of SNR before the earthquake. When the electron density in the lower ionosphere increases by four times, the electric field will decrease about 1 dB, indicating that the disturbed electric field decrease 20 % compared with the original electric field and vice versa. It can be concluded that the variation of electron density before earthquakes may be one important factor influence the variation of SNR.

scholarly journals Topside Ionosphere and Plasmasphere Modelling Using GNSS Radio Occultation and POD Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1559
Author(s):  
Fabricio S. Prol ◽  
M. Mainul Hoque
Keyword(s):  
Solar Activity ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Radio Occultation ◽  
Geomagnetic Latitude ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Topside Ionosphere ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
Solar Activity Level

A 3D-model approach has been developed to describe the electron density of the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements onboard low Earth orbit satellites. Electron density profiles derived from ionospheric Radio Occultation (RO) data are extrapolated to the upper ionosphere and plasmasphere based on a linear Vary-Chap function and Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements. A final update is then obtained by applying tomographic algorithms to the slant TEC measurements. Since the background specification is created with RO data, the proposed approach does not require using any external ionospheric/plasmaspheric model to adapt to the most recent data distributions. We assessed the model accuracy in 2013 and 2018 using independent TEC data, in situ electron density measurements, and ionosondes. A systematic better specification was obtained in comparison to NeQuick, with improvements around 15% in terms of electron density at 800 km, 26% at the top-most region (above 10,000 km) and 26% to 55% in terms of TEC, depending on the solar activity level. Our investigation shows that the developed model follows a known variation of electron density with respect to geographic/geomagnetic latitude, altitude, solar activity level, season, and local time, revealing the approach as a practical and useful tool for describing topside ionosphere and plasmasphere using satellite-based GNSS data.

scholarly journals NeQuick-G performance assessment for space applications

GPS Solutions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Montenbruck ◽  
Belén González Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Electron Density ◽  
Total Electron Content ◽  
Thick Layer ◽  
Computational Effort ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Path Delay ◽  
Space Applications ◽  
Total Electron

AbstractOther than traditional single-layer ionosphere models for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers, the NeQuick-G model of Galileo provides a fully three-dimensional description of the electron density and obtains the ionospheric path delay by integration along the line of sight. While optimized for users on or near the surface of the earth, NeQuick-G can thus as well be used for ionospheric correction of single-frequency observations from spaceborne platforms. Based on slant and total electron content measurements obtained in the Swarm mission, the performance of NeQuick-G for users in low earth orbit is assessed for periods of high and low solar activity as well as different orientations of the orbital plane with respect to the sun and the region of high total electron content. A slant range correction performance of better than 70% is achieved in more than 85% of the examined epochs in good accord with the performance reported for terrestrial users. Likewise, the positioning errors can be notably reduced when applying the NeQuick-G corrections in single-frequency navigation solutions. For users at orbital altitudes, it is furthermore shown that vertical total electron predictions from NeQuick-G may be favorably combined with an elevation-dependent thick-layer mapping function to reduce the high computational effort associated with the integration of the electron density along the ray path for each tracked GNSS satellite.

Extraction of electron density profiles with geostationary satellite-based GPS side lobe occultation signals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenwen Li ◽  
Min Li ◽  
Qile Zhao ◽  
Chuang Shi ◽  
Rongxin Fang
Keyword(s):  
Electron Density ◽  
Side Lobe ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Earth Orbit ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Density Profiles ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
Geo Satellite ◽  
Electron Density Profiles

<p>Electron density profiles (EDP) obtained by GNSS radio occultation (RO) technique can improve the primary ionospheric parameters. However, current studies mainly focused on GNSS RO measurements observed by low Earth orbit satellites, which can only estimate EDP at low altitudes typically below 1000 km. We investigated the GPS RO measurements recorded on the geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite TJS-2 (telecommunication technology test satellite II). To improve EDP derivation precision, the total electron content derived from TJS-2 single-frequency excess phase is refined by a moving average filter, which can smooth high-frequency errors and indicate higher precision over the single-difference technique. By comparison with the ground-based digisonde, the IRI 2016 model and the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate satellite (COSMIC) EDPs, the TJS-2 ionospheric EDPs show good agreement with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.8. The TJS-2 average NmF2 differences compared to digisondes and COSMIC results are 12.9% and 1.4%, respectively, while the hmF2 differences are 1.65 km and 1.76 km, respectively. With a GEO satellite such as TJS-2, the side lobe GPS RO signals can also be received, and they are employed to estimate electron densities up to several thousand kilometers in height for the first time in this contribution. Our results also reveal that GEO-based RO signals can estimate EDPs at specific locations with daily repeatability, which makes it a very suitable technique for routinely monitoring EDP variations</p>

scholarly journals Plasmasphere and Topside Ionosphere Reconstruction using METOP Satellite Data during Geomagnetic Storms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabricio dos Santos Prol ◽  
Mainul Hoque ◽  
Arthur Amaral Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Electron Density ◽  
Space Weather ◽  
Geomagnetic Storms ◽  
Tomographic Reconstruction ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Topside Ionosphere ◽  
Reconstruction Technique ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Total Electron

As part of the space weather monitoring, the response of the ionosphere and plasmasphere to geomagnetic storms is typically under continuous supervision by operational services. Fortunately, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers on board low Earth orbit satellites provides a unique opportunity for developing image representations that can capture the global distribution of the electron density in the plasmasphere and topside ionosphere. Among the difficulties of plasmaspheric imaging based on GNSS measurements, the development of procedures to invert the Total Electron Content (TEC) into electron density distributions remains as a challenging task. In this study, a new tomographic reconstruction technique is presented to estimate the electron density from TEC data along the METOP (Meteorological Operational) satellites. The proposed method is evaluated during four geomagnetic storms to check the capabilities of the tomography for space weather monitoring. The investigation shows that the developed method can successfully capture and reconstruct well-known enhancement and decrease of electron density variabilities during storms. The comparison with in-situ electron densities has shown an improvement around 11% and a better description of plasma variabilities due to the storms compared to the background. Our study also reveals that the plasmasphere TEC contribution to ground-based TEC may vary 10 to 60% during geomagnetic storms, and the contribution tends to reduce during the storm-recovery phase

scholarly journals A probabilistic approach to direction-dependent ionospheric calibration

2020 ◽  
Vol 633 ◽  
pp. A77 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Albert ◽  
M. S. S. L. Oei ◽  
R. J. van Weeren ◽  
H. T. Intema ◽  
H. J. A. Röttgering
Keyword(s):  
Gaussian Process ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Gaussian Processes ◽  
Free Electron ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Free Electron Density ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
Unseen Data

Calibrating for direction-dependent ionospheric distortions in visibility data is one of the main technical challenges that must be overcome to advance low-frequency radio astronomy. In this paper, we propose a novel probabilistic, tomographic approach that utilises Gaussian processes to calibrate direction-dependent ionospheric phase distortions in low-frequency interferometric data. We suggest that the ionospheric free electron density can be modelled to good approximation by a Gaussian process restricted to a thick single layer, and show that under this assumption the differential total electron content must also be a Gaussian process. We perform a comparison with a number of other widely successful Gaussian processes on simulated differential total electron contents over a wide range of experimental conditions, and find that, in all experimental conditions, our model is better able to represent observed data and generalise to unseen data. The mean equivalent source shift imposed by our predictive errors are half as large as those of the best competitor model. We find that it is possible to partially constrain the hyperparameters of the ionosphere from sparse-and-noisy observed data. Our model provides an alternative explanation for observed phase structure functions deviating from Kolmogorov’s five-thirds turbulence, turnover at high baselines, and diffractive scale anisotropy. We show that our model performs tomography of the free electron density both implicitly and cheaply. Moreover, we find that even a fast, low-resolution approximation of our model yields better results than the best alternative Gaussian process, implying that the geometric coupling between directions and antennae is a powerful prior that should not be ignored.

scholarly journals Modelling of the Electron Density and Total Electron Content in the Quiet and Solar X-ray Flare Perturbed Ionospheric D-Region Based on Remote Sensing by VLF/LF Signals

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Nina
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Total Electron Content ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Causes Of Errors ◽  
D Region ◽  
The Times

Many analyses of the perturbed ionospheric D-region and its influence on the propagation of ground-based and satellite signals are based on data obtained in ionospheric remote sensing by very low/low frequency (VLF/LF) signals. One of the most significant causes of errors in these analyses is the lack of data related to the analysed area and time period preceding the considered perturbation. In this paper, we examine the influence of the estimation of the quiet ionosphere parameters on the determination of the electron density (Ne) and total electron content in the D-region (TECD) during the influence of a solar X-ray flare. We present a new procedure in which parameters describing the quiet ionosphere are calculated based on observations of the analysed area by a VLF/LF signal at the observed time. The developed procedure is an upgrade of the quiet ionospheric D-region (QIonDR) model that allows for a more precise analysis of the D-region intensively perturbed by a solar X-ray flare. The presented procedure is applied to data obtained in ionospheric remote sensing by the DHO signal emitted in Germany and received in Serbia during 30 solar X-ray flares. We give analytical expressions for the dependencies of the analysed parameters on the X-ray flux maximum at the times of the X-ray flux maximum and the most intense D-region perturbation. The results show that the obtained Ne and TECD are larger than in the cases when the usual constant values of the quiet ionosphere parameters are used.

scholarly journals Behaviour of electron content in the ionospheric D-region during solar X-ray flares

2016 ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Todorovic-Drakul ◽  
V.M. Cadez ◽  
J. Bajcetic ◽  
L.C. Popovic ◽  
D. Blagojevic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Density ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
High Electron ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
D Region

One of the most important parameters in ionospheric plasma research, also having a wide practical application in wireless satellite telecommunications, is the total electron content (TEC) representing the columnal electron number density. The F-region with high electron density provides the biggest contribution to TEC while the relatively weakly ionized plasma of the D-region (60 km { 90 km above Earth's surface) is often considered as a negligible cause of satellite signal disturbances. However, sudden intensive ionization processes, like those induced by solar X-ray flares, can cause relative increases of electron density that are significantly larger in the D-region than in regions at higher altitudes. Therefore, one cannot exclude a priori the D-region from investigations of ionospheric influences on propagation of electromagnetic signals emitted by satellites. We discuss here this problem which has not been sufficiently treated in literature so far. The obtained results are based on data collected from the D-region monitoring by very low frequency radio waves and on vertical TEC calculations from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal analyses, and they show noticeable variations in the D-region's electron content (TECD) during activity of a solar X-ray ?are (it rises by a factor of 136 in the considered case) when TECD contribution to TEC can reach several percent and which cannot be neglected in practical applications like global positioning procedures by satellites.

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