利用COSMIC掩星数据监测电离层的异常变化

分析了COSMIC掩星数据反演电子密度的方法,利用实例研究反演方法的特点,并采用ISR非相干散射雷达获取的电子密度数据进行验证,进而反演了长三角区域SHAO（IGS）站上空在日全食和太阳风暴期间的电子密度廓线图. 通过与平静日期间电离层电子密度进行比较,发现日全食及太阳风暴导致电离层发生的异常变化,从而提出COSMIC掩星数据反演电子密度在监测电离层变化时所具有的优势.      

电离层掩星反演的TEC修正反演法

电离层掩星数据反演的传统方法是采用改正TEC的Abel 变换反演法, 实际电离层的非球对称性会给电子密度的反演结果带来误差. 文中研究了利用TEC修正方法结合背景场来剔除TEC 受电子密度水平变化的影响, 改善球对称假设适用性, 提高反演精度, 并应用此方法于模拟掩星事件的反演. 结果表明, 与传统的Abel 变换反演相比, TEC 修正反演法能够减小反演误差. 用TEC 修正反演法对不同方法获取的背景场的反演结果比较表明, 背景场与实际场吻合的程度越高, 反演效果越好.      

风云三号C星GNOS北斗掩星电离层探测初步结果

利用风云三号卫星C星GNOS掩星探测仪电离层数据,分析了2013年10月FY-3C GNOS探测的北斗掩星电离层廓线分布,将2013年10月1日至2015年10月10日期间FY-3C GNOS观测的F₂层峰值电子密度（N_mF₂）与地面电离层测高仪观测结果进行对比,验证了FY-3C GNOS北斗电离层掩星的探测精度.结果表明,FY3-C GNOS北斗电离层掩星与电离层测高仪探测的N_mF₂数据相关系数为0.96,平均偏差为10.21%,标准差为19.61%.在不同情况下其数据精度有如下特征:白天精度高于夜晚;夏季精度高于分季,分季精度高于冬季;中纬地区精度高于低纬地区,低纬地区精度高于高纬地区; BDS倾斜同步轨道（IGSO）卫星精度高于同步轨道（GEO）卫星和中轨道（MEO）卫星.FY-3C GNOS北斗电离层掩星与国际上其他掩星电离层数据精度的一致性对GNSS掩星探测资料的综合利用具有重大意义.      

基于STK的GPS/LEO无线电掩星技术仿真研究

GPS/LEO无线电掩星技术反演地球大气参数剖面已经具有较高的精度. 国外开展了多个GPS/LEO掩星项目, 但中国还尚未深入进行相关的实验, 这制约了中国掩星技术的发展. 本文提出基于STK进行GPS/LEO掩星技术研究的方法; 根据GPS/LEO掩星的原理, 推导出掩星事件发生的条件和掩星切点的计算公式; 利用STK对掩星过程进行模拟, 得到掩星数据. 在大气球对称假设和大气模型已知的条件下, 反演得到中性大气折射指数. 通过比较模型和反演数据, 表明反演数据精度较高, 验证了利用STK模拟GPS/LEO掩星实验方法的可行性.      

基于电子密度同化的热层大气密度预报方法

采用热层电离层耦合模式TIEGCM和集合卡尔曼滤波同化方法,利用同化COSMIC电离层掩星电子密度数据优化热层电离层参量,并将模式预报的大气密度与CHAMP卫星大气密度数据进行对比,分别开展模拟和实测数据的同化预报实验.在模拟数据同化实验中,状态向量包含温度、风场和离子成分的实验结果表明,仅优化温度即可达到最优的热层大气密度预报效果.在实测数据同化实验中,将温度作为状态向量参数,优化结果表明,循环同化过程中模式预报的大气密度相对偏差的均方根误差在48h内从38%减小到27%,同化稳定时间至少需要30h.预报过程中大气密度预报效果的改善持续时间为34h.这表明电子密度同化能够改善热层大气密度的预报精度,设计的实验方案合理可行,可获得较长的预报时效.      

中俄联合火星电离层星-星掩星探测

中俄联合火星星-星掩星探测是人类首次在火星空间环境进行此类的联合试验。用于探测火星电离层的星-星掩星技术较以前星地间的探测技术相比,有可接收高信噪比信号,反演精度高,可探测火星上太阳天顶角大于43°,或者小于138°的区域电离层等优点。本文介绍了中俄联合火星星-星掩星探测方案、基本原理,给出了主要技术指标、地面模拟测试结果。     

TIEGCM集合卡尔曼滤波同化模型设计及初步试验

选择参数化的电离层热层理论模型TIEGCM作为背景模型,基于COSMIC掩星观测的电子密度廓线数据,应用集合卡尔曼滤波方法建立全球电离层电子密度同化模型,实现了全球电离层的电子密度同化.同化结果表明,该同化模型能将观测资料有效同化到背景模式中,获得全球三维电离层电子密度.与背景模式相比,同化得到的电子密度相对于观测值的偏差显著下降.对于有同化和无同化参与的试验,N_mF₂的标准偏差分别降低约60%和20%.此外,分组同化与同时同化的结果对比显示,平均偏差改善基本一致,同时同化后的标准偏差在峰值高度以上略有减小.      

基于GPS掩星平均弯曲角的折射率反演研究

利用Abel积分变换通过掩星弯曲角计算折射率需要对高层弯曲角进行统计优化.目前由于所使用的背景场资料和具体反演方法不同,导致所发布的掩星大气数据气候统计值存在一定差异.本文使用2008年1,4,7,10月共4个月的COSMIC大气掩星附加相位数据,从纬圈平均弯曲角廓线反演相应月平均折射率,对反演结果进行比较分析.研究表明,利用掩星折射数据进行气候研究时无需逐一对掩星探测廓线进行统计优化,在40 km以下高度基于平均弯曲角的反演方法与传统统计相比能够获得几乎一致的月平均折射率,在50 km以上高度基于平均弯曲角的反演结果更加接近ECMWF资料统计.      

基于最大似然估计的远紫外遥感反演电离层电子密度算法

原子氧135.6 nm夜气辉主要由氧离子O+与电子的辐射复合反应生成,一些星载远紫外遥感观测任务证实135.6 nm夜气辉可用于反演电离层电子密度。针对远紫外临边遥感观测反演电离层电子密度,分析了135.6 nm夜气辉辐射强度与电子密度之间的非线型前向模型,基于离散反演理论设计了从夜间135.6 nm临边观测数据反演电子密度高度分布的反演算法,算法应用最大似然估计通过迭代求解电离层参数的最佳拟合值。通过仿真计算了TIMED卫星上全球紫外成像仪GUVI观测的反演结果,验证了本反演算法的可行性。对GUVI的实际观测数据进行反演,获得了电子密度高度分布。通过与GUVI数据的电离层参数对比分析得出,本文建立的反演模型使N_mF₂被高估,同时使h_mF₂被低估。对于不同的太阳活动强度,N_mF₂和 h_mF₂的系统误差分别在10%和5%以内,能较精确地获得电离层参数。精确获得电离层电子密度信息对于提高空间天气预报及电离层模型的修正具有重要意义。      

GPS电离层反演方法研究及其在地震方面的应用

利用地基GPS数据计算了电离层单球壳模型穿刺点上的垂向总电子含量(VTEC), 根据VTEC和卫星及测站接收机的差分码间偏差DCB的不同时变特性采用了复弧法, 将VTEC作为局部变量(每30 min 一组, 可调), DCB作为一天的全局量进行解算. 在解算的过程中, 充分考虑VTEC的空间分布特性, 利用变异函数通过Kriging插值法建立电离层VTEC的二维格网模型, 并给出了卫星和接收机的差分码间偏差DCB. 通过与IGS结果的比较, 发现其结果可靠, 且时空分辨率和稳定性都有较大提高. 同时, 基于简化的三元样条插值基函数对电离层电子密度进行三维展开, 利用乘型代数重建技术MART算法构建了同批数据的四维层析成像结果, 获得了电离层电子密 度的四维分布. 其结果与CHAMP无线电掩星结果非常一致. 利用上面两种算法又分别对2008年5月长江三角洲地区地基GPS数据进行处理, 简要分析了该时段该地区上空电离层总电子含量和电子密度的变化情况及其对汶川地震的响应.      

A realistic simulation framework to evaluate ionospheric tomography

Observation of the 3-dimensional (3-D) electron density of the ionosphere is useful to study large-scale physical processes in space weather events. Ionospheric data assimilation and ionospheric tomography are methods that can create an image of the 3-D electron density distribution. While multiple techniques have been developed over the past 30 years, there are relatively few studies that show the accuracy of the algorithms. This paper outlines a novel simulation approach to test the quality of an ionospheric tomographic inversion. The approach uses observations from incoherent scatter radar (ISR) scans and extrapolates them spatially to create a realistic ionospheric representation. A set of total electron content (TEC) measurements can then be simulated using real geometries from satellites and ground receivers. This data set, for which the ‘truth’ ionosphere is known, is used as input for a tomographic inversion algorithm to estimate the spatial distribution of electron density. The reconstructed ionospheric maps are compared with the truth ionosphere to calculate the difference between the images and the truth.To demonstrate the effectiveness of this simulation framework, an inversion algorithm called MIDAS (Multi-Instrument Data Analysis Software) is evaluated for three geographic regions with differing receiver networks. The results show the importance of the distribution and density of GPS receivers and the use of a realistic prior conditioning of the vertical electron density profile. This paper demonstrates that when these requirements are met, MIDAS can reliably estimate the ionospheric electron density. When the region under study is well covered by GPS receivers, as in mainland Europe or North America, the errors in vertical total electron content (vTEC) are smaller than 1 TECu (2–4%) . In regions with fewer and more sparsely distributed receivers, the errors can be as high as 20–40%. This is caused by poor data coverage and poor spatial resolution of the reconstruction, which has an important effect on the calibration process of the algorithm.     

Numerical study of traveling ionosphere disturbances with vertical incidence data

High frequency ionosphere vertical sounding, as an important and representative application for detecting the ionosphere and studying the characteristics of radio propagation, can be utilized to monitor the ionosphere continuously variation and to acquire the ionosphere asymmetrical features of diverse scale above the ionosphere vertical sounding stations. This is a first article on real time application of numerical methods to obtain the parameters of traveling ionosphere disturbances (TIDs) using vertical incident ionograms. In this paper, the distribution of ionosphere electron density with TIDs is constructed using a background ionosphere model superimposed a perturbation theory model. The background ionosphere electron density is modelled by the inversion of vertical incident ionograms which are observed before the appearance of the disturbance. Based on the fourth order Adams-Bashforth-Moulton (the so-called ABM) predictor corrector method, instead of Runge-Kutta method, the fast digital ray tracing method is established. According to process of the disturbed trace simulation and parameters inversion, the characteristic parameters of ionosphere disturbance at different detection time can be obtained in real time. The numerical analysis of TIDs is then captured completely.     

Characterization of ionospheric amplitude scintillations using wavelet entropy detrended GNSS data

The extensive monitoring networks of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) ionospheric scintillation have been established to continuously log observation data. Further, the amplitude scintillation index and the phase scintillation index, which are derived from scintillation observations, are anticipated to accommodate the accuracy requirement of both the user level and the monitoring station level. However, raw scintillation observations essentially measure superposed waveform impairments of GNSS signals propagating through ionosphere and troposphere. It implies that fluctuations of raw scintillation observations are caused by multiple factors from the entire radio propagation environment. Hence, it is crucial to characterize ionospheric scintillations from GNSS observation data. And the characterization is implemented through extracting fluctuations of raw observations merely induced by ionospheric scintillations. Designed to address this problem by means of Fourier filtering detrending, the present work investigates the influence of varying detrending cutoff frequencies on wavelet statistical energy and wavelet entropy distributions of scintillation data. It consequently derives criteria on the optimum detrending cutoff frequency for three types of raw amplitude scintillation data, which are classified by their wavelet energy distributions. Results of the present work verify that detrending with specific optimum cutoff frequencies rather than the fixed and universally applicable one renders the validity and credibility of characterizing ionospheric scintillations as the part of GNSS observation fluctuations purely induced by ionosphere electron density irregularities whose scale sizes are comparable with or smaller than the Fresnel scale.     

Electron density retrieval from occulting GNSS signals using a gradient-aided inversion technique

In the coming years, opportunities for remote sensing of electron density in the Earth’s ionosphere will expand with the advent of Galileo, which will become part of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Methods for accurate electron density retrieval from radio occultation data continue to improve. We describe a new method of electron density retrieval using total electron content measurements obtained in low Earth orbit. This method can be applied to data from dual-frequency receivers tracking the GPS or Galileo transmitters. This simulation study demonstrates that the method significantly improves retrieval accuracy compared to the standard Abel inversion approach that assumes a spherically symmetric ionosphere. Our method incorporates horizontal gradient information available from global maps of Total Electron Content (TEC), which are available from the International GNSS Service (IGS) on a routine basis. The combination of ground and space measurements allows us to improve the accuracy of electron density profiles near the occultation tangent point in the E and F regions of the ionosphere.     

Computerized ionospheric tomography with the IRI model

Computerized ionospheric tomography (CIT) is a method to estimate ionospheric electron density distribution by using the global positioning system (GPS) signals recorded by the GPS receivers. Ionospheric electron density is a function of latitude, longitude, height and time. A general approach in CIT is to represent the ionosphere as a linear combination of basis functions. In this study, the model of the ionosphere is obtained from the IRI in latitude and height only. The goal is to determine the best representing basis function from the set of Squeezed Legendre polynomials, truncated Legendre polynomials, Haar Wavelets and singular value decomposition (SVD). The reconstruction algorithms used in this study can be listed as total least squares (TLS), regularized least squares, algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) and a hybrid algorithm where the reconstruction from the TLS algorithm is used as the initial estimate for the ART. The error performance of the reconstruction algorithms are compared with respect to the electron density generated by the IRI-2001 model. In the investigated scenario, the measurements are obtained from the IRI-2001 as the line integral of the electron density profiles, imitating the total electron content estimated from GPS measurements. It has been observed that the minimum error between the reconstructed and model ionospheres depends on both the reconstruction algorithm and the basis functions where the best results have been obtained for the basis functions from the model itself through SVD.     

基于BP神经网络技术的电离层VTEC融合

随着电离层探测技术的不断发展，电离层观测资料也越来越多，只使用单一的观测资料会出现电离层反演精度不高的问题。为了提高电离层的反演精度，使用BP神经网络技术将地基反演和国际参考电离层(international reference ionosphere，IRI)模型的垂直总电子含量（vertical total electron content，VTEC）数据进行有效融合。在温带地区\[35°(N)~45°(N)，60°(E)~80°(E)\]进行电离层反演试验，结果表明基于BP神经网络技术的电离层数据融合和地基反演获得的电离层VTEC精度都比较高，但是基于BP神经网络的电离层数据融合反演精度比地基反演更高，所以基于BP神经网络技术的数据融合能够提高电离层的反演精度。     

Multi-beam sounding ionograms in the polar cap region: Absorption induced by proton precipitations

The simulation of the multi-beam ionograms in the polar cap region, assessing absorption effect is performed. It is reasonable to distinguish among four different mechanisms responsible for absorption: regular absorption due to solar UV illumination, absorption associated with energetic particles precipitation, absorption connected with X-rays flare and additional absorption in Auroral oval area. In this paper the absorption attributed to proton precipitations is envisaged. The computational model of the high-latitude ionosphere with irregularities oriented to application for the high frequency wave propagation problem was elaborated (Zaalov et al., 2005). A number of the quasi-vertical ionograms in the polar cap region were simulated on the basis of this model. A well-known algorithm (Sauer and Wilkinson, 2008) is applied for the absorption effects calculation. The simulated high-latitude ionograms with the absorption effect and the measured ionograms exhibit quite a good resemblance. This paper illustrates the importance of the understanding and taking into account the absorption effect in the presence of the various structural features in the polar ionosphere (in particular, patches of enhanced electron density) in interpreting ionosonde data.     

地基行星大气掩星观测资料流程和数据整理

在中国火星探测萤火一号(YH-1)计划中, 包括了地基掩星观测反演火星大气的科研任务. 观测资料整理是反演流程的第一步. 本文描述了地基火星大气掩星观测处理软件系统的观测数据流程和观测资料整理模块,并详细介绍了观测资料整理模块的结构和功能, 其中包括时间系统转换、历表插值、坐标系变换、信号时延改正以及掩星平面建立. 利用行星数据系统公布的火星快车无线电科学数据和由SPICE得到的地球、火星历表以及火星快车的轨道数据, 结合本文的算法, 得到了一些实验结果.