Derivation of metallic plasma layers in Earth's ionosphere (Sporadic E layer) from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites at a global scale
<p>In the past decades, the scintillations of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) measurements have been widely employed to study the occurrence of sporadic E (Es) layers. Recent results indicated that amplitude scintillation index (S4max) observations can be used to study the intensity of global Es layers. In this study, we show a statistical assessment of the hourly ionospheric Es layer measurements between 90 and 130 km from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites. The Es observations from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites are in agreement with those from ground-based ionosonde stations at different latitudes. With the successful launch of FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2, an accurate, high-resolution (< 5&#176; &#215;5&#176;&#215;1 hour) map of Es layers on a global scale is available in the hopeful future.</p>