Accuracy Evaluation of Ionospheric Delay from Multi-Scale Reference Networks and Its Augmentation to PPP during Low Solar Activity

The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) with fast integer ambiguity resolution (PPP-RTK) is feasible only if the solution is augmented with precise ionospheric parameters. The vertical ionospheric delays together with the receiver hardware biases, are estimated simultaneously based on the uncombined PPP model. The performance of the ionospheric delays was evaluated and applied in the PPP-RTK demonstration during the low solar activity period. The processing was supported by precise products provided by Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ) and also by real-time products provided by the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES). Since GFZ provides only precise orbits and clocks, other products needed for ambiguity resolution, such as phase biases, were estimated at the Geodetic Observatory Pecny (GOP). When ambiguity parameters were resolved as integer values in the GPS-only solution, the initial convergence period was reduced from 30 and 20 min to 24 and 13 min when using CNES and GFZ/GOP products, respectively. The accuracy of ionospheric delays derived from the ambiguity fixed PPP, and the CODE global ionosphere map were then assessed. Comparison of ambiguity fixed ionospheric delay obtained at two collocated stations indicated the accuracy of 0.15 TECU for different scenarios with more than 60% improvement compared to the ambiguity float PPP. However, a daily periodic variation can be observed from the multi-day short-baseline ionospheric residuals. The accuracy of the interpolated ionospheric delay from global maps revealed a dependency on the location of the stations, ranging from 1 to 3 TECU. Precise ionospheric delays derived from the EUREF permanent network with an inter-station distance larger than 73 km were selected for ionospheric modeling at the user location. Results indicated that the PPP ambiguity resolution could be achieved within three minutes. After enlarging the inter-station distance to 209 km, ambiguity resolution could also be achieved within several minutes.

Performance analysis of SBAS ephemeris corrections and integrity algorithms in China region

Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBASs) improve the positioning accuracy and integrity by broadcasting to the civil aviation community the corrections and integrity parameters. A snapshot algorithm based on the minimum variance estimation is investigated in this study to calculate the satellite clock and orbit corrections. A chi-square test is performed on the remaining errors in the corrected ephemeris to guarantee the integrity. User Differential Range Error (UDRE) and scaling matrix contained in Message Type 28 are derived using the covariance information based on the assumption that one of the reference stations failed. A software package is developed and applied in the real data collected at 26 stations. International GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Service (IGS) precise clock and orbit products are taken as the references to assess the accuracy of corrections. For both Global Positioning System (GPS) and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), the range accuracy of 0.10 m can be achieved with the employment of the derived corrections. No obvious performance difference between GPS and BDS is found. UDREs for all visible satellites are generated with the maximum index of 12 and minimum index of 3. The geometric range differences calculated with IGS precise products and broadcast ephemeris are employed to assess the integrity of UDRE. It is found that the UDRE is able to bound the residuals with 99.9% confidence which meet the requirement of aviation users. With ionospheric delay corrected by Global Ionosphere Map (GIM), the positioning accuracy of 0.98 m with GPS corrections and 0.80 m with multi-constellation augmentation can be achieved which indicates a significant improvement of GPS standalone results.

Possible Seismo Ionospheric Anomalies before the 2016 Mw 7.6 Chile Earthquake from GPS TEC, GIM TEC and Swarm Satellites

The recent advances in space based ionospheric measurements can help to investigate seismic precursors before earthquake with multi-parameter observations and more dedicated instrumentations. In this paper, seismo ionospheric anomalies before the December 25, 2016, Mw 7.6, Chile earthquake are investigated in Total Electron Content (TEC) and Global Ionosphere Map (GIM). The temporal TEC from GPS stations and GIM show enhancement during 5- 10 days (local daytime) before main shock. Similarly, spatial TEC confirms abnormal dense cloud at LT=12h-14h on December 21, 2016, that lingers over the epicenter of Chile earthquake. On the other hand, the geomagnetic indices show Dst < -50nT of low intensity variation. Similarly, Kp > 3 on December 21, 2016 within 5-10 days before the Mw 7.6. This study emphasizes that the ionosphere anomalies may not be the possible association of earthquakes induced variation but it is due to the active storm conditions (Kp>3).

Investigation of GIM-TEC disturbances before M ≥ 6.0 inland earthquakes during 2003–2017

With the rapid development of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and its wide applications to atmospheric science research, the global ionosphere map (GIM) total electron content (TEC) data are extensively used as a potential tool to detect ionospheric disturbances related to seismic activity and they are frequently used to statistically study the relation between the ionosphere and earthquakes (EQs). Indeed, due to the distribution of ground based GPS receivers is very sparse or absent in large areas of ocean, the GIM-TEC data over oceans are results of interpolation between stations and extrapolation in both space and time, and therefore, they are not suitable for studying the marine EQs. In this paper, based on the GIM-TEC data, a statistical investigation of ionospheric TEC variations of 15 days before and after the 276 M ≥ 6.0 inland EQs is undertaken. After eliminating the interference of geomagnetic activities, the spatial and temporal distributions of the ionospheric TEC disturbances before and after the EQs are investigated and compared. There are no particularly distinct features in the time distribution of the ionospheric TEC disturbances before the inland EQs. However, there are some differences in the spatial distribution, and the biggest difference is precisely in the epicenter area. On the other hand, the occurrence rates of ionospheric TEC disturbances within 5 days before the EQs are overall higher than those after EQs, in addition both of them slightly increase with the earthquake magnitude. These results suggest that the anomalous variations of the GIM-TEC before the EQs might be related to the seismic activities.

Seismo-ionospheric anomalies in ionospheric TEC and plasma density before the 17 July 2006 <i>M</i>7.7 south of Java earthquake

In this paper, we report significant evidence for preseismic ionospheric anomalies in total electron content (TEC) of the global ionosphere map (GIM) and plasma density appearing on day 2 before the 17 July 2006 M7.7 south of Java earthquake. After distinguishing other anomalies related to the geomagnetic activities, we found a temporal precursor around the epicenter on day 2 before the earthquake (15 July 2006), which agrees well with the spatial variations in latitude–longitude–time (LLT) maps. Meanwhile, the sequences of latitude–time–TEC (LTT) plots reveal that the TECs on epicenter side anomalously decrease and lead to an anomalous asymmetric structure with respect to the magnetic equator in the daytime from day 2 before the earthquake. This anomalous asymmetric structure disappears after the earthquake. To further confirm these anomalies, we studied the plasma data from DEMETER satellite in the earthquake preparation zone (2046.4 km in radius) during the period from day 45 before to day 10 after the earthquake, and also found that the densities of both electron and total ion in the daytime significantly increase on day 2 before the earthquake. Very interestingly, O+ density increases significantly and H+ density decreases, while He+ remains relatively stable. These results indicate that there exists a distinct preseismic signal (preseismic ionospheric anomaly) over the epicenter.