Role of Equatorial Anomaly in Earthquake time precursive features: A few strong events over West Pacific zone

The earthquake (EQ) time coupling processes between equator-low-mid latitude ionosphere are complex due to inherent dynamical status of each latitudinal zone and qualified geomagnetic roles working in the system. In an attempt to identify such process, the paper presents temporal and latitudinal variations of ionization density (foF₂) covering 45°N to 35°S, during a number of earthquake events (M?>?5.5). The approaches adopted for extraction of features by the earthquake induced preparatory processes are discussed in the paper through identification of parameters like the ‘EQ time modification in density gradient’ defined by δ?=?(foF_{2 max}???foF_{2 min})∕τ_mm, where τ_mm – time span (in days) between EQ modified density maximum and minimum, and the Earthquake time Equatorial Anomaly, i.e. EEA, one of the most significant phenomenon which develops even during night time irrespective of epicenter position. Based on the observations, the paper presents the seismic time coupling dynamics through anomaly like manifestations between equator, low and mid latitude ionosphere bringing in the global Total Electron Content (TEC) features as supporting indices.     

Effect of moderate geomagnetic storms on equatorial plasma bubbles over eastern Africa in the year 2012: Evolution and electrodynamics

Equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) are common features of the equatorial and low-latitude ionosphere and are known to cause radio wave scintillation which leads to the degradation of communication and navigation systems. Although these structures have been studied for decades, a full understanding of their evolution and dynamics remains important for space weather mitigation purposes. In this study, we present cases of EPBs occurrences around April and July 2012 geomagnetic storm periods over the African equatorial sector. The EPBs were observed from the Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) and generally correlated well to the ionospheric irregularities observed from the Global Positioning System total electron content (GPS-TEC) measurements (rate of TEC change, ROT). This study revealed that the evolution of the EPBs during moderate storms is controlled by the strength of the daytime equatorial electrojet (EEJ) currents regardless of the strength of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA), the latter is observed during the July storm case in particular. These effects were more evident during the main and part of the early recovery phases of the geomagnetic storm days considered. However, the evening hours TEC gradients between regions of the magnetic equator and ionization crests also played roles in the existence of ionospheric irregularities.     

中国地区MAGSAT卫星标量和矢量磁异常图

使用MAGSAT卫星资料,编绘中国及邻近地区的卫星磁异常图(10°N—60°N,70°E—140°E)。为了提取地壳异常场,必须从观测资料中消除主磁场、磁层场,感应场和电离层场。本文选用GSFC(12/83)地磁场模型,消除主磁场,磁层场和感应场。为了进一步消除电离层场的影响,改善相邻轨道磁异常的一致性,用纬度的二次多项式拟合每一条轨道的初始地壳异常,并从初始地壳磁异常值减去这一拟合值,从而获得最后的地壳异常值(△X,△Y,△Z,△F)。把研究地区分成1°×1°的网格,将每个网格内的磁异常进行平均,以获得网格中心点的异常值。根据这些网点值绘制中国及邻近地区的卫星标量和矢量磁异常图。等值线间隔为2nT。为了检验卫星磁异常图的可靠性,将卫星资料分成黎明组、黄昏组和联合组,分别进行处理和绘制卫星磁异常图。结果表明:根据上述资料绘制的卫星磁异常图有很好的一致性。中国地区的卫星磁异常值位于—10nT—10nT。卫星磁异常与区域构造特征有较好的一致性;塔里木地台、扬子地台和中朝地台是正磁异常区,西藏高原是负磁异常区。卫星磁异常反映出下地壳磁化强度的横向不均匀性。     

弹道导弹制导计算中扰动引力的快速赋值

主动段扰动引力是引起弹道导弹制导方法误差的主要因素。因此,要提高导弹的制导精度,就必须能够在弹上实时计算扰动引力。但现有方法在计算快速性和存储量之间无法得到有效协调。为此,把广义延拓逼近思想引入有限元逼近方法中,将插值单元周围节点的信息也包含到单元内一点扰动引力的计算当中,建立了一种新的数学模型。对所选发射空域,在发射坐标系中进行了直角坐标划分。计算结果表明,这种方法能够更加精确地逼近弹道导弹主动段的扰动引力,在600 km×250 km×6 km的主动段飞行区域内,只需要保存60个节点数据,就能使由逼近误差导致的落点偏差小于10 m,是一般有限元逼近方法精度的4倍以上。     

惯导平台式重力测量技术实现及应用

详细阐述了解析方位双轴惯导平台式重力测量的工作原理,并通过基于方位余弦积的惯导力学编排解决了极区工作问题。在常规平台式重力测量数据处理方法的基础上,针对高动态环境提出了基于Kalman滤波的运动扰动修正方法。在此基础上研制了ZL11-1A型国产惯导平台式海洋重力仪。通过与国外主流重力仪产品海上同船作业比对,结果表明,该型重力仪在高海况下测量精度依然优于1mGal,满足重力测量作业要求。     

Initial nighttime ionospheric observations with advanced ionospheric probe onboard FORMOSAT-5

FORMOSAT-5 satellite was launched into a sun-synchronous orbit at 720 km altitude with 98.28° inclination on 25 August 2017. The onboard scientific payload, Advanced Ionospheric Probe (AIP) is capable of measuring topside ionospheric ion density, cross-track flow velocities, ion composition and temperature, and electron temperature. Initial observations of nighttime midlatitude ionospheric density and vertical flow velocity variations at 2230 LT sector during a few quiet magnetic days in December 2017 are studied here. Longitudinal density variations in the equatorward edge of midlatitude ionospheric trough (MIT) region are noticed. Accompanied with this density variation, the vertical flow velocities also behave differently. Although the density difference has been stated due to zonal wind effect related to the declination of the geomagnetic field lines, the vertical flow velocity variation seems to play the opposite role. All these density and vertical flow observations in the northern winter hemisphere can only be explained by the longitudinal differences in the diffusion velocity coming down from the protonsphere (plasmasphere). In addition, the hemispheric asymmetry in the vertical flow velocity can also be explained by the interaction between the topside ionosphere and the protonsphere. The observed vertical flow variations near MIT at different longitudes should present a new potential tool for the study of MIT formation.     

高能电子对地球同步轨道卫星的影响分析

为了厘清在轨GEO(Geosynchronous Earth Orbit,地球同步轨道)卫星不时出现异常的原因,提高卫星执行任务的可靠性,首先从机理上介绍了空间环境中的地球辐射带及高能电子的情况,引出GEO卫星所处恶劣空间环境的现实;其次基于我国SEPC(Space Environment Prediction Center,国家空间环境预报中心)以及NSMC(National Satellite Meteorological Center,国家卫星气象中心)的空间环境月报资料,结合某GEO环境业务卫星故障的实际数据,经统计归纳,分析得出了地球辐射带中的高能电子是导致GEO卫星发生故障的主要原因;最后按照事例技术分析、常规按需预报和特殊情况下的实时预报等3个层次对高能电子预报方法进行了初步探讨。通过分析可以看出,为提高卫星完成任务的可靠性、降低长期管理风险,需要加强GEO卫星所处空间环境高能电子的预报工作。     

Variation in the ionospheric propagating factor M(3000)F2 at Ouagadougou,Burkina Faso

We use hourly monthly median values of propagation factor M(3000)F2 data observed at Ouagadougou Ionospheric Observatory (geographic12.4°N, 1.5°W; 5.9^o dip), Burkina Faso (West Africa) during the years Januar1987–December1988 (average F10.7 < 130 × 10⁻²² W/m²/Hz, representative of low solar flux conditions) and for January 1989–December1990 (average F10.7 ? 130 × 10⁻²² W/m²/Hz, representative of high solar epoch) for magnetically quiet conditions to describe local time, seasonal and solar cycle variations of equatorial ionospheric propagation factor M(3000)F2 in the African region. We show that that seasonal trend between solar maximum and solar minimum curves display simple patterns for all seasons and exhibits reasonable disparity with root mean square error (RMSE) of about 0.31, 0.29 and 0.26 for December solstice, June solstice and equinox, respectively. Variability Σ defined by the percentage ratio of the absolute standard deviation to the mean indicates significant dissimilarity for the two solar flux levels. Solar maximum day (10–14 LT) and night (22–02 LT) values show considerable variations than the solar minimum day and night values. We compare our observations with those of the IRI 2007 to validate the prediction capacity of the empirical model. We find that the IRI model tends to underestimate and overestimate the observed values of M(3000)F2, in particular, during June solstice season. There are large discrepancies, mainly during high solar flux equinox and December solstice between dawn and local midnight. On the other hand, IRI provides a slightly better predictions for M(3000)F2 between 0900 and 1500 LT during equinox low and high solar activity and equinox high sunspot number. Our data are of great importance in the area of short-wave telecommunication and ionospheric modeling.     

The use of Gaussian equations of motions of a satellite for local gravity anomaly recovery

The orbital elements of a low Earth orbiting satellite and their velocities can be used for local determination of gravity anomaly. The important issue is to find direct relations among the anomalies and these parameters. Here, a primary theoretical study is presented for this purpose. The Gaussian equations of motion of a satellite are used to develop integral formulas for recovering the gravity anomalies. The behaviour of kernels of the integrals are investigated for a two-month simulated orbit similar to that of the Gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer (GOCE) mission over Fennoscandia. Numerical investigations show that the integral formulas have neither isotropic nor well-behaved kernels. In such a case, gravity anomaly recovery is not successful due to large spatial truncation error of the integral formulas. Reformulation of the problem by combining the orbital elements and their velocities leads to an integral with a well-behaved kernel which is suitable for our purpose. Also based on these combinations some general relations among the orbital elements and their velocities are obtained which can be used for validation of orbital parameters and their velocities.