Response of the EIA ionosphere to the 7-8 May 2005 geomagnetic storm

In this paper, response of low latitude ionosphere to a moderate geomagnetic storm of 7–8 May 2005 (SSC: 1920 UT on 7 May with Sym-H minimum, ∼−112 nT around 1600 UT on 8 May) has been investigated using the GPS measurements from a near EIA crest region, Rajkot (Geog. 22.29°N, 70.74°E, Geomag.14°), India. We found a decrease in total electron content (TEC) in 12 h after the onset of the storm, an increase during and after 6 h of Sym-H deep minimum with a decrease below its usual-day level on the second day during the recovery phase of the storm. On 8 May, an increase of TEC is observed after sunset and during post-midnight hours (maximum up to 170%) with the formation of ionospheric plasma bubbles followed by a nearly simultaneous onset of scintillations at L-band frequencies following the time of rapid decrease in Sym-H index (−30 nT/h around 1300 UT).     

Near-real time monitoring of the TEC fluctuations over the northern hemisphere using GNSS permanent networks

Since the early 1990s, global positioning system measurements have been used to study of the state and rapid changes of the Total Electron Content in the ionosphere. Currently, the increasing number of permanent stations makes it possible to generate maps of the irregularities in the ionosphere for specified regions with sub-daily resolution. The main goal of this work was to apply global navigation satellite system observations to obtain information about ionospheric variability around the North Geomagnetic Pole. In order to detect the ionospheric disturbances, 30-s observation data was used. The Rate of Total Electron Content Index was applied as a measure of the variability in the ionosphere. The first analyses were executed using more than 100 permanent stations. The results show two kinds of products: 2-hour maps in spherical geomagnetic coordinates and daily maps presenting the occurrence of the strong Total Electron Content fluctuations as a magnetic local time function, for the most disturbed days of April 2010. Apart from the main product of the algorithm, the Rate of Total Electron Content time series for individual satellite tracks was presented. The results demonstrated very good sensitivity of the obtained maps, which can detect even quite weak disturbances. The presented algorithm developed at the Geodynamic Research Laboratory of the University of Warmia and Mazury, in cooperation with Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation, will be applied in the near future to create near-real time service of the conditions in the ionosphere based on the Global Navigation Satellite Systems observations.     

Seasonal dependence of TEC and SLAB thickness

Several years of hourly daily GPS measurements of the vertical total electron content (TEC) and of the equivalent slab thickness made at different European locations are analysed by using the linear regression technique to demonstrate the response of these two ionospheric parameters to seasonal variations. It is found that both TEC and slab thickness are highly correlated with season. Analytical relationships are determined expressing the seasonal dependence of the vertical TEC and of the equivalent slab thickness as a function of the seasonal parameter cos χ at noon in each location.     

Latitudinal variation of the topside electron temperature at different levels of solar activity

A database of electron temperature (T_e) measurements comprising of most of the available satellite measurements in the topside ionosphere is used for studying the solar activity variations of the electron temperature T_e at different latitudes, altitudes, local times and seasons. The T_e data are grouped into three levels of solar activity (low, medium, high) at four altitude ranges, for day and night, and for equinox and solstices. We find that in general T_e changes with solar activity are small and comparable in magnitude with seasonal changes but much smaller than the changes with altitude, latitude, and from day to night. In all cases, except at low altitude during daytime, T_e increases with increasing solar activity. But this increase is not linear as assumed in most empirical T_e models but requires at least a parabolic approximation. At 550 km during daytime negative as well as positive correlation is found with solar activity. Our global data base allows to quantify the latitude range and seasonal conditions for which these correlations occur. A negative correlation with solar activity is found in the invdip latitude range from 20 to 55 degrees during equinox and from 20 degrees onward during winter. In the low latitude (20 to −20 degrees invdip) F-region there is almost no change with solar activity during solstice and a positive correlation during equinox. A positive correlation is also observed during summer from 30 degrees onward.     

库仑分析法测定岩矿石中的金

研究了氢醌库仑法测定金含量的方法、条件、考察共存离子的影响，并应用于岩矿石中金的分析。研究表明该法选择及结果都很好。     

商用航空发动机转子部件的电子束焊接

现代商用航空发动机具有长寿命、高可靠性等要求,这对电子束焊接头的设计、制造及检测均提出了更高的要求。介绍了航空发动机转子部件电子束焊接结构及接头设计形式、检测要求,指出了针对商用航空发动机转子电子束焊需开展的研究工作。     

民机飞行结冰参数的模拟与校准

结冰问题的研究对于民用飞机设计十分重要,采用结冰风洞试验是主要的方法之一,欧美国家有很多成熟的结冰风洞用于型号研究。结冰风洞中需要对很多参数进行控制,其中水雾参数精确控制的难度很大,而且一般通过间接方法来进行测试校准,往往误差较大,导致不同结冰风洞试验结果往往有所差异。文章介绍了在意大利宇航中心的IWT 结冰风洞完成的冰风洞校准试验,对结冰风洞水雾参数校准方法进行了阐述,为民机结冰风洞研究提供参考。     

Study of ionospheric D region changes during solar flares using MF radar measurements

During solar flares, the X-ray radiation suddenly increases, resulting in an increase in the electron density of the atmospheric D region and a strong absorption of short-wave radio waves. Based on Langfang medium frequency (MF) radar, this paper analyzed the variation characteristics of D region in the lower ionosphere from 62 km to 82 km. The analysis focused on multiple C-level and M-level solar flare events before and after the large-scale flare event at 11:53 (UT) on September 6, 2017. The results show that it is difficult to detect the electron density over 70 km in Langfang during solar flares, but the electron density value can be obtained as low as 62 km, and the stronger the flare intensity, the lower the detectable electron density height. Besides, the equal electron density height, the received power of X and O waves will also be significantly reduced during the flares, and the reduction of equal electron density height has a weak linear relationship with flare intensity.     

Ionospheric TEC disturbances over China during the strong geomagnetic storm in September 2017

From September 7 to 8, 2017, a G4-level strong geomagnetic storm occurred, which seriously impacted on the Earth’s ionosphere. In this work, the global ionospheric maps released by Chinese Academy of Sciences are used to investigate the ionospheric responses over China and its adjacent regions during the strong storm. The prominent TEC enhancements, which mainly associated with the neutral wind and eastward prompt penetration electric field, are observed at equatorial ionization anomaly crests during the main phase of the storm on 8 September 2017. Compared with those on 8 September, the TEC enhancements move to lower-latitude regions during the recovery phase on 9 September. A moderate storm occurred well before the start of the strong storm causes similar middle-latitude TEC enhancements on 7 September. However, the weak TEC depletion is observed at middle and low latitude on 9–10 September, which could be associated with the prevailing westward disturbance electric field or storm-time neural composition changes. In addition, the storm-time RMS and STD values of the ionospheric TEC grids over China increase significantly due to the major geomagnetic storm. The maximum of the RMS reaches 12.0 TECU, while the maximum of the STD reaches 8.3 TECU at ~04UT on 8 September.     

Evaluation of the IRI-2016 and NeQuick electron content specification by COSMIC GPS radio occultation,ground-based GPS and Jason-2 joint altimeter/GPS observations

We examined performance of two empirical profile-based ionospheric models, namely IRI-2016 and NeQuick-2, in electron content (EC) and total electron content (TEC) representation for different seasons and levels of solar activity. We derived and analyzed EC estimates in several representative altitudinal intervals for the ionosphere and the plasmasphere from the COSMIC GPS radio occultation, ground-based GPS and Jason-2 joint altimeter/GPS observations. It allows us to estimate a quantitative impact of the ionospheric electron density profiles formulation in several altitudinal intervals and to examine the source of the model-data discrepancies of the EC specification from the bottom-side ionosphere towards the GPS orbit altitudes. The most pronounced model-data differences were found at the low latitude region as related to the equatorial ionization anomaly appearance. Both the IRI-2016 and NeQuick-2 models tend to overestimate the daytime ionospheric EC and TEC at low latitudes during all seasons of low solar activity. On the contrary, during high solar activity the model results underestimated the EC/TEC observations at low latitudes. We found that both models underestimated the EC for the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere regions for all levels of solar activity. For low solar activity, the underestimated EC from the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere can compensate the overestimation of the ionospheric EC and, consequently, can slightly decrease the resulted model overestimation of the ground-based TEC. For high solar activity, the underestimated EC from the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere leads to a strengthening of the model underestimation of the ground-based TEC values. We demonstrated that the major source of the model-data discrepancies in the EC/TEC domain comes from the topside ionosphere/plasmasphere system.