A method for automatic detection and characterization of plasma bubbles using GPS and BDS data

Detecting and characterizing Total Electron Content (TEC) depletion is important for studying the ionospheric threat due to the Equatorial Plasma Bubble (EPB) when applying the Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) at low latitudes. This paper develops a robust method to automatically identify TEC depletion and derive its parameters. The rolling barrel algorithm is used to automatically identify the TEC depletion candidate and its parameters. Then, the depletion candidates are screened by several improved techniques to distinguish actual depletions from other phenomena such as Traveling Ionospheric Disturbance (TID) or abnormal data. Next, based on the depletion signals from three triangular receivers, the method derives EPB parameters such as velocity, width and gradient. The time lag and front velocity are calculated based on cross-correlation using TEC depletions and the geometrical distribution of three triangular receivers. The width and gradient of slope are then determined by using TEC depletion from a single receiver. By comparison, both the station-pair method and proposed method depend on the assumption that the EPB morphology is frozen during the short time when the plasma bubble moves between the receivers. However, our method relaxes the restriction that the baseline length should be shorter than the width of slope required by the station-pair. This relaxation is favorable for studying small-scale slope of depletions using stations of a longer baseline. In addition, the accuracy of the width and gradient is free of impact from hardware biases and small-scale disturbance, as it is based only on the relative TEC variation. The method is demonstrated by processing Global Positioning System (GPS) and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) data on 15 August, 2018, in a solar minimum cycle.     

Longitudinal behaviors of the IRI-B parameters of the equatorial electron density profiles retrieved from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC radio occultation measurements

The electron density profiles in the bottomside F₂-layer ionosphere are described by the thickness parameter B0 and the shape parameter B1 in the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model. We collected the ionospheric electron density (N_e) profiles from the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3/C) radio occultation measurements from DoY (day number of year) 194, 2006 to DoY 293, 2008 to investigate the daytime behaviors of IRI-B parameters (B0 and B1) in the equatorial regions. Our fittings confirm that the IRI bottomside profile function can well describe the averaged profiles in the bottomside ionosphere. Analysis of the equatorial electron density profile datasets provides unprecedented detail of the behaviors of B0 and B1 parameters in equatorial regions at low solar activity. The longitudinal averaged B1 has values comparable with IRI-2007 while it shows little seasonal variation. In contrast, the observed B0 presents semiannual variation with maxima in solstice months and minima in equinox months, which is not reproduced by IRI-2007. Moreover, there are complicated longitudinal variations of B0 with patterns varying with seasons. Peaks are distinct in the wave-like longitudinal structure of B0 in equinox months. An outstanding feature is that a stable peak appears around 100°E in four seasons. The significant longitudinal variation of B0 provides challenges for further improving the presentations of the bottomside ionosphere in IRI.     

Feasibility of developing an ionospheric E-region electron density storm model using TIMED/SABER measurements

We present a new technique for improving ionospheric models of nighttime E-region electron densities under geomagnetic storm conditions using TIMED/SABER measurements of broadband 4.3 μm limb radiance. The response of E-region electron densities to geomagnetic activity is characterized by SABER-derived NO⁺(v) 4.3 μm Volume Emission Rates (VER). A storm-time E-region electron density correction factor is defined as the ratio of storm-enhanced NO⁺(v) VER to a quiet-time climatological average NO⁺(v) VER, which will be fit to a geomagnetic activity index in a future work. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of our technique in two ways. One, we compare storm-to-quiet ratios of SABER-derived NO⁺(v) VER with storm-to-quiet ratios of electron densities measured by Incoherent Scatter Radar. Two, we demonstrate that NO⁺(v) VER can be parameterized by widely available geomagnetic activity indices. The storm-time correction derived from NO⁺(v) VER is applicable at high-latitudes.     

Near real-time assimilation in IRI of auroral peak E-region density and equatorward boundary

The paper describes the method and initial results of assimilating the auroral peak E-region density (NmE) and the auroral equatorward boundary (EB) into the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). The NmE and EB are obtained using a FUV based auroral model or FUV measurements in near real-time. Initial results show that the auroral NmE is often significantly larger than the NmE due to the solar EUV. This indicates the importance of including the contribution of precipitating electrons in IRI. The global equatorial boundary helps to improve the specification of the sub-auroral ionosphere trough in IRI. An IDL software package has been developed to interactively display the IRI parameters with assimilated NmE and EB. It can serve as an operational tool for space weather monitoring.     

Anthropogenic trigger of substorms and energetic particles precipitations

The high-frequency (HF) emission in near-Earth space from various powerful transmitters (radio communications, radars, broadcasting, universal time and navigation stations, etc.) form an integral part of the modern world that it cannot do without. In particular, special-purpose research facilities equipped with powerful HF transmitters are used successfully for plasma experiments and local modification of the ionosphere. In this work, we are using the results of a complex space-ground experiment to show that exposure of the subauroral region to HF emission can not only cause local changes in the ionosphere, but can also trigger processes in the magnetosphere–ionosphere system that result in intensive substorm activity (precipitations of high-energy particles, aurorae, significant variations in the ionospheric parameters and, as a consequence, in radio propagation conditions).     

First results of operational ionospheric dynamics prediction for the Brazilian Space Weather program

It is shown the development and preliminary results of operational ionosphere dynamics prediction system for the Brazilian Space Weather program. The system is based on the Sheffield University Plasmasphere–Ionosphere Model (SUPIM), a physics-based model computer code describing the distribution of ionization within the Earth mid to equatorial latitude ionosphere and plasmasphere, during geomagnetically quiet periods. The model outputs are given in a 2-dimensional plane aligned with Earth magnetic field lines, with fixed magnetic longitude coordinate. The code was adapted to provide the output in geographical coordinates. It was made referring to the Earth’s magnetic field as an eccentric dipole, using the approximation based on International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF-11). During the system operation, several simulation runs are performed at different longitudes. The original code would not be able to run all simulations serially in reasonable time. So, a parallel version for the code was developed for enhancing the performance. After preliminary tests, it was frequently observed code instability, when negative ion temperatures or concentrations prevented the code from continuing its processing. After a detailed analysis, it was verified that most of these problems occurred due to concentration estimation of simulation points located at high altitudes, typically over 4000 km of altitude. In order to force convergence, an artificial exponential decay for ion–neutral collisional frequency was used above mentioned altitudes. This approach shown no significant difference from original code output, but improved substantially the code stability. In order to make operational system even more stable, the initial altitude and initial ion concentration values used on exponential decay equation are changed when convergence is not achieved, within pre-defined values. When all code runs end, the longitude of every point is then compared with its original reference station longitude, and differences are compensated by changing the simulation point time slot, in a temporal adjustment optimization. Then, an approximate neighbor searching technique was developed to obtain the ion concentration values in a regularly spaced grid, using inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation. A 3D grid containing ion and electron concentrations is generated for every hour of simulated day. Its spatial resolution is 1° of latitude per 1° of longitude per 10 km of altitude. The vertical total electron content (VTEC) is calculated from the grid, and plotted in a geographic map. An important feature that was implemented in the system is the capacity of combining observational data and simulation outputs to obtain more appropriate initial conditions to the ionosphere prediction. Newtonian relaxation method was used for this data assimilation process, where ionosonde data from four different locations in South America was used to improve the system accuracy. The whole process runs every day and predicts the VTEC values for South America region with almost 24 h ahead.     

Simulation study on slant-to-vertical deviation in two dimensional TEC mapping over the ionosphere equatorial anomaly

With the rapid increase of GPS/GNSS receivers being deployed and operated in China, real-time GPS data from nearly a thousand sites are available at the National Center for Space Weather, China Meteorology Administration. However, it is challenging to generate a high-quality regional total electron content (TEC) map with the traditional two-dimensional (2-D) retrieval scheme because a large horizontal gradient has been reported over east–south Asia due to the northern equatorial ionization anomaly. We developed an Ionosphere Data Assimilation Analysis System (IDAAS), which is described in this study, using an International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model as the background and applying a Kalman filter for updated observations. The IDAAS can reconstruct a three-dimensional ionosphere with the GPS slant TEC. The inverse slant TEC correlates well with observations both for GPS sites involved in the reconstruction and sites that are not involved. Based on the IDAAS, simulations were performed to investigate the deviation relative to the slant-to-vertical conversion (STV). The results indicate that the relative deviation induced by slant-to-vertical conversion may be significant in certain instances, and the deviation varies from 0% to 40% when the elevation decreases from 90° to 15°, while the relative IDAAS deviation is much smaller and varies from −5% to 15% without an elevation dependence. Compared with ‘true TEC’ map derived from the model, there is large difference in STV TEC map but no obvious discrepancy in IDAAS map. Generally, the IDAAS TEC map is much closer to the “true TEC” than is STV TEC map is.     

Plasmaspheric electron content derived from GPS TEC and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC measurements: Solar minimum condition

The plasmaspheric electron content (PEC) was estimated by comparison of GPS TEC observations and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC radio occultation measurements at the extended solar minimum of cycle 23/24. Results are retrieved for different seasons (equinoxes and solstices) of the year 2009. COSMIC-derived electron density profiles were integrated up to the height of 700 km in order to retrieve estimates of ionospheric electron content (IEC). Global maps of monthly median values of COSMIC IEC were constructed by use of spherical harmonics expansion. The comparison between two independent measurements was performed by analysis of the global distribution of electron content estimates, as well as by selection specific points corresponded to mid-latitudes of Northern America, Europe, Asia and the Southern Hemisphere. The analysis found that both kinds of observations show rather similar diurnal behavior during all seasons, certainly with GPS TEC estimates larger than corresponded COSMIC IEC values. It was shown that during daytime both GPS TEC and COSMIC IEC values were generally lower at winter than in summer solstice practically over all specific points. The estimates of PEC (h > 700 km) were obtained as a difference between GPS TEC and COSMIC IEC values. Results of comparative study revealed that for mid-latitudinal points PEC estimates varied weakly with the time of a day and reached the value of several TECU for the condition of solar minimum. Percentage contribution of PEC to GPS TEC indicated the clear dependence from the time with maximal values (more than 50–60%) during night-time and lesser values (25–45%) during day-time.     

Comparison of model and experimental ionospheric parameters at high latitudes

Modern use and study of the auroral region needs to attract a wider class of models for describing conditions of radio wave propagation in the ionosphere. In this paper the possibilities of the International Reference Ionosphere model, well-proven and widespread in the mid-latitudes, are investigated in the high latitude zone. Model and measured values of the critical frequency foF2 for two mid-latitude stations (Juliusruh and Goosebay) and four high-latitude ones (Loparskaya, Sodankyla, Sondrestrom, Thule) are compared. Deviations of medians, variations from day to day and solar activity trends seemed to be similar for both areas. This similarity is irrespective of the RZ12 index. Special attention is paid to the TEC parameter and its determination using 6 versions of models, a new version of the model IRI2010 (IRI-Plas) among them. It is shown that the IRI-Plas model significantly improves the definition of TEC in contrast to the versions of IRI2007 and the new model NeQuick. The use of the median of the experimental equivalent slab thickness, together with the current values of the TEC, increases by a factor of two the agreement between calculated and measured foF2 values as compared with the variations from day to day. This allows foF2 to be defined in near-real time.