PROGRESSES IN IONOSPHERIC RESEARCH, 2000-2002: A BRIEF REVIEW

This brief report reviews the recent developments in ionospheric physics studies made by Chinese scientists. It covers areas from the numerical simulations and theoretical researches on ionospheric properties, ionospheric disturbances, space weather events in the ionosphere to ionospheric obserwtions.     

化学物质释放人工改变电离层

考虑中性气体在电离层高度的扩散过程和相应的电离层离子化学过程，研究了利用主动化学物质释放来改变电离层的方法，理论计算了H2O和SF6两种气体释放后电离层随时间的响应过程，结果表明，在电离层高度上气体的扩散过程非常迅速，电离层F区的电子密度有很大程度的减少，而扩散慢且化学反应快的气体对电离层的影响更大，就更加有利于电离层洞的形成。     

中性气体释放人工产生气辉

电离层中分子性的离子与电子的复合要比氧离子与电子的辐射性复合快得多,因此火箭发动机产生的尾气和空间等离子体主动实验中主动释放的中性气体会对电离层有很大的影响,这么大的电离层扰动现象在过去的实验中经常可以观测到.根据中性气体在热层背景中的扩散方程,考虑电离层F区主要的离子化学反应,研究了H2,H2O和CO2气体在电离层高度上的扩散过程和电离层对所释放气体的响应,计算了气辉的体发射系数和发射强度.结果表明,中性气体在电离层高度上扩散非常迅速,在F区的一些高度上,主要正离子成分由O+转变为其他分子离子,且在释放过程中伴随气辉发射,发射气辉的波长和特征与释放物质的种类有关.      

A Review of the Ionospheric Investigations in China: Progress During 2008—2010

In the ionospheric research, various progresses have been made during the last two years. This paper reviews the recent works of Chinese scientists. For convenience, the contents include: ionospheric storms and space weather; ionospheric irregularities and scintillation; ionospheric variability; ionospheric disturbances; ionospheric response to solar eclipses; ionospheric coupling with atmosphere and lithosphere; ionospheric climatology; ionospheric modeling; and ionospheric prediction and application.      

An annual variation analysis of the ionospheric spatial gradient over a regional area for GNSS applications

An ionospheric spatial gradient represents the ionosphere delay difference between different locations, and its variation over a specific area is important for implementing differential GNSS systems. An estimation method for the ionospheric spatial gradient over a small regional area is proposed. A plate map model is implemented for the direct estimation of the gradients. Nine years of GPS data were processed to figure out the annual variation of the mean gradient at the mid-geomagnetic latitude of 30° N. Gradients along the north–south direction have a mean of 0.65 mm/km and follow solar-cycle variations.     

Fading in the HF ionospheric channel and the role of irregularities

It is well known that the ionosphere affects radio wave propagation especially in the high frequency (HF) range. HF radio waves reflected by the ionosphere can reach considerable distances, often with changes in amplitude, phase, and frequency. The ionosphere is a dispersive in frequency and time, bi-refractive, absorbing medium, in which multipath propagation due to traveling irregularities is very frequent. The traveling irregularities undulate the reflecting ionospheric layer, introducing variations in signal amplitude (fading). In this multipath time variant channel fading is mainly considered, even though it is not the sole effect. Echo signals from a single reflection, as in ionospheric vertical sounding (VIS) techniques, are affected by a certain degree of variability even in quiet ionospheric conditions. In this work the behavior of the ionospheric channel is studied and characterized by observing the power variation of received echoes using the VIS technique. Multipath fading was analyzed quantifying the power variation of the signal echo due to irregularities on a temporal scale from 0.5 to 256 s. An experimental set-up derived from an ionosonde was implemented and the analysis was performed employing a special numerical algorithm operating off-line on the acquired time sequence of the signal. The gain-loss of the irregularity shapes are determined in some special cases.     

释放SF6气体扰动电离层时的人工气辉研究

在电离层高度释放SF₆气体能够显著扰动电离层.根据SF₆分子在电离层中的扩散方程,同时考虑其在电离层中主要的离子化学反应,研究了SF₆气体释放后电离层各粒子浓度的时空变化,计算了产生人工气辉的体发射系数和发射强度.结果表明,SF₆气体在电离层高度释放后,电子和O⁺的密度均有大幅度下降,主要的负离子成分由电子转变成SF₅^-;在释放过程中,主要产生777.4 nm和135.6 nm两种气辉,且前者的气辉强度远小于后者;电离层温度对气辉的强度有很大的影响.本文的数值计算与美国IMS/SF₆实验观测数据进行比较,结果近似,且通过数据比较还能准确推断出实验时当地的电离层温度.     

Near real-time PPP-based monitoring of the ionosphere using dual-frequency GPS/BDS/Galileo data

Ionosphere delay is very important to GNSS observations, since it is one of the main error sources which have to be mitigated even eliminated in order to determine reliable and precise positions. The ionosphere is a dispersive medium to radio signal, so the value of the group delay or phase advance of GNSS radio signal depends on the signal frequency. Ground-based GNSS stations have been used for ionosphere monitoring and modeling for a long time. In this paper we will introduce a novel approach suitable for single-receiver operation based on the precise point positioning (PPP) technique. One of the main characteristic is that only carrier-phase observations are used to avoid particular effects of pseudorange observations. The technique consists of introducing ionosphere ambiguity parameters obtained from PPP filter into the geometry-free combination of observations to estimate ionospheric delays. Observational data from stations that are capable of tracking the GPS/BDS/GALILEO from the International GNSS Service (IGS) Multi-GNSS Experiments (MGEX) network are processed. For the purpose of performance validation, ionospheric delays series derived from the novel approach are compared with the global ionospheric map (GIM) from Ionospheric Associate Analysis Centers (IAACs). The results are encouraging and offer potential solutions to the near real-time ionosphere monitoring.     

Response of the ionosphere to super geomagnetic storms: Observations and modeling

The relative importance of the main drivers of positive ionospheric storms at low-mid latitudes is studied using observations and modeling for the first time. In response to a rare super double geomagnetic storm during 07–11 November 2004, the low-mid latitude (17°–48°N geomag. lat.) ionosphere produced positive ionospheric storms in peak electron density (NmF2) in Japan longitudes (≈125°–145°E) on the day of main phase (MP1) onset (06:30 LT) and negative ionospheric storms in American longitudes (≈65°–120°W) on the following day of MP1 onset (13:00–16:00 LT). The relative effects of the main drivers of the positive ionospheric storms (penetrating daytime eastward electric field, and direct and indirect effects of equatorward neutral wind) are studied using the Sheffield University Plasmasphere Ionosphere Model (SUPIM). The model results show that the penetrating daytime (morning–noon) eastward electric field shifts the equatorial ionisation anomaly crests in NmF2 and TEC (total electron content) to higher than normal latitudes and reduces their values at latitudes at and within the anomaly crests while the direct effects of the equatorward wind (that reduce poleward plasma flow and raise the ionosphere to high altitudes of reduced chemical loss) combined with daytime production of ionisation increase NmF2 and TEC at latitudes poleward of the equatorial region; the later effects can be major causes of positive ionospheric storms at mid latitudes. The downwelling (indirect) effect of the wind increases NmF2 and TEC at low latitudes while its upwelling (indirect) effect reduces NmF2 and TEC at mid latitudes. The net effect of all main drivers is positive ionospheric storms at low-mid latitudes in Japan longitude, which qualitatively agrees with the observations.     

Recent Progresses on Ionospheric Climatology Investigations

The ionosphere varies over multiple time scales, which are classified into two categories: the climatology and weather variations. In this national report, we give a brief summary of recent progresses in ionospheric climatology with focus on (1) the seasonal variations, (2) solar cycle effects, and (3) empirical modeling of the ionosphere. The seasonal variations of the ionosphere have been explored in many works to give a more detailed picture with regional and global features at various altitudes by analyzing the observation data from various sources and models. Moreover, a series of studies reported the response of the ionosphere to solar cycle variations, which revealed some novel and detailed features of solar activity dependence of ionospheric parameters at different altitudes. These investigations have improved our understanding on the states of the ionosphere and underlying fundamental processes, provided clues to future studies on ionospheric weather, and guided ionospheric modeling, forecasting and related applications.