Deformation of the ionosphere structure during the space weather events on October–November 2003

We present the spatial maps of the ionosphere–plasmasphere slab thickness τ (ratio of the vertical total electron content, TEC, to the F-region peak electron density, NmF2) during the intense ionospheric storms of October–November 2003. The model-assisted technology for estimate of the upper boundary of the ionosphere, hup, from the slab thickness components in the bottomside and topside ionosphere – eliminating the plasmasphere contribution of τ – is applied at latitudes 35° to 70°N and longitudes −10° to 40°E, from the data of 20 observatories of GPS-TEC and ionosonde networks, for selected days and hours of October and November 2003. The daily–hourly values of NmF2, hmF2 and TECgps are used as the constrained parameters for the International Reference Ionosphere extended to the plasmasphere, IRI-Plas, during the ionospheric quiet days, positive and negative storm phases for estimate of τ and hup. Good correlation has been found between the slab thickness and the upper boundary of the ionosphere for the intense ionospheric storms at October–November 2003. During the negative phase of the ionospheric storm, when the ionospheric plasma density is exhausted, the nighttime upper boundary of the ionosphere is greatly uplifted towards the magnetosphere tail, while the daytime upper boundary of the ionosphere is reduced below 500 km over the Earth.     

Multiple-site investigation of the properties of an HF radio channel and the ionosphere using Digital Radio Mondiale broadcasting

The Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), one of the new digital radio broadcasting standards, has been designed to overcome typical short wave radio channel difficulties, such as the multipath propagation and fast temporal changes of the received signal level, both related to the properties of the ionosphere along the path of propagation. In particular, some of the RF carriers used in the applied COFDM transmission technique serve to estimate the current state of the radio channel to enable the proper demodulation of the received signal.We have been detecting such RF carriers on select frequency channels (standard DRM broadcast) using a network of recording stations located in different parts of Poland in order to collect data on the HF radio channel. We have been also evaluating the usefulness of this procedure in providing information on the current state of the ionosphere in the refraction region between the transmitter and receivers. When the DRM system becomes more widespread, this method can supplement data that comes from the ionosondes, since it does not require much financial resources and the receivers can be easily scattered over a large area. This paper presents a set of experimental data and its analysis.     

Study of GNSS-measured ionospheric total electron content variations generated by powerful HF-heating

The purpose of this work is to report the experimental evidences for the influence of perturbations in the electron density in the dayside mid-latitude ionosphere, that are caused by high-frequency heating of the F2 layer, on the GNSS signals. The experiments were carried out at the Sura heater (Radio Physical Research Institute, N. Novgorod). During the sessions of ionospheric heating with different time modulations of the radiated power the rays linking the navigational satellites with the ground receiver intersected the heated region. Variations in the total electron content (TEC) were studied; these variations are proportional to the reduced phases of navigational signals. It is shown that with the square-wave modulation of the radiated power (with periods of 1, 6, 10 and 15 min), perturbations with periods of the main modulation of heating and its harmonics appear in the spectrum of TEC variations. Examples are presented of identification of the heating-induced variations in TEC, including determination of the amplitudes and time characteristics of these variations.     

On the planetary ionospheric vortex electric fields

The paper presents a physical mechanism of large-scale vortex electric field generation in the ionospheric E- and F-layers. It shows that the planetary-scale, synoptic short-period (from several second to several hours) and fast processes (with propagation velocity higher than 1 km/s) produce a planetary-scale internal vortex electric field. Its value may far exceed that of the dynamo-field generated in the same ionospheric layer by local wind motion. We found, that an ionospheric source of the vortex electric field is spatial inhomogeneity of the geomagnetic field.     

一种电离层TEC格点预测模型

基于分析时间序列数据的门限控制单元（GRU）神经网络模型,利用电离层TEC网格点历史数据、太阳活动指数、地磁活动指数作为预测因子,提出一种高精度电离层TEC格点预测模型.对全球60个网格点的数据进行了模型预测和对比实验,得到北半球平均相对精度的均值为83.96%,高于南半球的73.60%,表明预测模型在北半球的适应性更好,且中低纬地区的适应性优于高纬地区;预测模型在磁扰动期的平均相对精度的均值比磁平静期平均相对精度的均值高,约1.95%;与基于递归神经网络（RNN）、长短时记忆网络（LSTM）和双向长短时记忆网络（Bi-LSTM）的电离层TEC单站预测模型相比,本文预测模型的均方根误差（RMSE）平均为原来的80.8%.     

多GNSS全球电离层建模特性及其精度检验

分别以GPS单系统和融合BDS,GPS,GLONASS三系统两种方案,采用载波相位平滑伪距观测值和球谐函数,构建了全球电离层延迟模型并进行了对比和分析.本文以GPS单系统和融合三系统两种方法反演了2014年1月每日电离层变化过程,解算得出了频间偏差的月综合产品,并对结果进行了对比和分析.事实上,三系统融合不仅增加了可观测的卫星数,而且改善了穿刺点的几何分布.分析结果表明,三系统融合反演全球电离层在精度上优于GPS单系统,均有5~10 TECU的提高.计算得到的频间偏差结果显示,GPS优于GIONASS,BDS稳定性则较次之.