三频信标高精度TEC测量新方法

电子总含量(TEC)是电离层探测的主要参量之一, 作为层析(CT)的输入参量, TEC测量精度直接影响电离层CT成像的结果. 过去主要采用双频信标测量TEC, 由于相位积分常数的求解、系统硬件延迟等误差, 使得TEC测量结果不能满足电离层CT高精度重建成像的要求. 三频相干信标技术的出现, 使得电离层天基测量技术有了新的发展. 提出了基于三频信标的传播时延-相位联合测量反演TEC的方法, 融合三频信标在电子密度随机起伏探测和相位积分常数计算两方面的优势, 进一步提高了TEC的测量精度. 模拟结果显示利用此方法的三频信标TEC测量结果提高了电离层CT的精度.      

电离层的运动与电波频率的变化

本文对从空间缓慢变化电离层反射的回波的多卜勒频移进行了讨论,认为反射面的运动和媒质的运动可以分开,等效镜反射面不一定在偏区.提出了利用寻常波和非寻常波多卜勒频移反演等值面运动速度剖面的方法.      

电离层虚高的高精度测量与分析

为了提高电离层虚高测量精度,介绍了利用电离层回波相位实现高精度虚高测量的方法,并以CADI(Canadian Advanced Digital Ionosonde)电离层数字测高仪为研究平台,进行组合脉冲控制和回波相位测量分析,开展了一系列虚高测量实验,并与传统的利用回波时间延迟的虚高测量方法进行了分析比较.实验结果表明,基于回波相位的测量分析方法与回波时延测量分析方法相比,其虚高测量精度高一个量级以上,这对精确反演电离层峰下电子浓度剖面及研究电离层精细结构具有重要意义.      

火星电离层探测

火星已经成为深空探测的重要目标之一, 登陆火星并在火星生存是人类探测火星的终极目标, 因此电离层是必须了解的火星电磁环境. 火星电离层探测包括直接探测和间接探测. 直接探测精度高, 有较高的空间分辨率, 但是观测时间短, 无法提供长期稳定的探测结果. 对火星电离层的间接探测结果主要来自无线电掩星探测和顶部雷达探测. 无线电掩星探测可实现对火星电离层整个电子密度剖面的长期稳定探测, 但其空间水平分辨率较低, 且可探测的电离层太阳天顶角范围受到地球与火星轨道的限制. 顶部雷达探测对火星电离层的探测具有很高的时间分辨率和空间分辨率, 且同样可进行长期稳定探测, 为火星电离层研究提供了最新的支持. 通过对火星电离层探测的基本方法及典型观测结果的分析, 提出通过几种探测方法适当结合的方式, 同时对火星电离层进行观测, 能够大大推进对火星电离层的研究.      

基于斜向探测最高可用频率反演电离层参数

提出了一种利用斜向探测F₂层最高可用频率及其对应时延反演传播路径中点临界频率f₀F₂和3000km传输因子M（3000）F₂的新方法.该方法从工程实用角度出发,利用射线传播理论直接反演得到临界频率和3000km传输因子.通过对长春-径阳和新乡-赤峰两条斜向探测链路中点电离层参数的反演分析,验证了方法的稳定性;利用反演结果与北京垂直探测数据对比,验证了方法的准确性;通过与Smith方法的对比,验证了方法的实用性.统计分析显示,此方法具有与Smith方法可比的精度,明显优于参考电离层模型给出的结果,其均方误差为0.48MHz,相对误差为10.50%;具有较好的稳定性,对不同距离的探测链路有较好的适应性,反演精度差异为0.03MHz;具有可操作性强,易于实现的特点.本研究成果可用于短波通信频率实时预报、动态频率管理及其相关领域.      

基于小波分解与重构方法研究电离层偶发E层

电离层不规则体对卫星导航、通信、雷达系统等有重要影响.通过数值模拟及与实测数据的对比,论证基于小波分解与重构方法实现利用掩星数据反演电离层不规则体的可行性.以电离层偶发E层为例,利用国际参考电离层(IRI)模拟背景电离层电子密度分布,利用掩星探测的水平电子密度总含量δht反演不规则体信息,并与模拟数据进行比较.对200...     

电离层数字测高仪被动接收观测模式研究

利用CADI(Canadian Advanced Digital Ionosonde)电离层数字测高仪平台,实现了新的电离层数字测高仪被动接收观测模式.利用新开发的观测模式,在观测台站开展了一系列实验观测研究,经过信号处理和信息提取,获得了电离层特征参量f0F2回归方程,高频信道背景噪声分布,电离层D层对电波的吸收等电离层探测信息.实验观测结果表明,所获取的f0F2与主动探测结果相关性在0.84以上,高频信道背景噪声分布以及电离层D层吸收状况与电离层实际分析结果相吻合.     

玉树地震前的电离层异常现象分析

分析了玉树地震前地基电离层探测临界频率、GPS TEC和卫星探测原位等离子体参量等多个参数的扰动变化信息, 研究了不同高度异常变化的时空关联性. 分析发现, 在地震前一天的4月13日, 多个电离层参量出现同步扰动异常, 电离层临界频率f₀F₂异常相对滑动中值增大40%, 异常空间上存在从震中东南向西南漂移的特性; GPS TEC异常增强15TECU (1TECU=1016m-2)左右, 分布于震中南部经度15°范围内, 且有明显的磁共轭效应; DEMETER观测的原位氧离子密度N_i(O+) 4月13日为1-4月中最强的一天, 异常分布偏向赤道区, 但仅局限在30°-50°左右的经度范围内. 综合三个参量的异常特征发现, 无论是空间的局地性还是时间上的密切关联均反映这次电离层扰动可能与玉树地震孕育有关. 结合其他观测信息, 进一步探讨了这次地震孕育过程的地震电离层耦合机理.      

短波返回探测最小时延曲线的反演

提出一个利用短波扫频返回探测最小时延导出电离层结构参数的方法。这个方法不必引入辅助参数,只需给出二个频率点的最小时延数据和相应的斜率数据,即可导出电离层参数。      

不同上边界条件下的极区电离层数值模拟

利用一维自洽的极区电离层模型,研究了沿磁力线方向不同电离层-磁层耦合条件下极区电离层的响应.此模型在110-610km的电离层空间区域内,综合求解描述极区电离层的连续性方程、动量方程和能量方程,以得到电离层数值解.研究发现,上边界条件在200 km以上的高度能显著地影响电离层参量的形态.较高的O+上行速度对应较低的F层峰值和较高的电子温度.不同边界O+上行速度对应的温度高度剖面完全不同.200km以上电子温度高度剖面不但由来自磁层的热流通量所控制,同时还受到场向O+速度的影响.对利用电离层模型研究电离层内部物理过程提出了建议.      

Evaluating the IRI topside model for the South African region: An overview of the modelling techniques

The representation of the topside ionosphere (the region above the F2 peak) is critical because of the limited experimental data available. Over the years, a wide range of models have been developed in an effort to represent the behaviour and the shape of the electron density (Ne) profile of the topside ionosphere. Various studies have been centred around calculating the vertical scale height (VSH) and have included (a) obtaining VSH from Global Positioning System (GPS) derived total electron content (TEC), (b) calculating the VSH from ground-based ionosonde measurements, (c) using topside sounder vertical Ne profiles to obtain the VSH. One or a combination of the topside profilers (Chapman function, exponential function, sech-squared (Epstein) function, and/or parabolic function) is then used to reconstruct the topside Ne profile. The different approaches and the modelling techniques are discussed with a view to identifying the most adequate approach to apply to the South African region’s topside modelling efforts. The IRI-2001 topside model is evaluated based on how well it reproduces measured topside profiles over the South African region. This study is a first step in the process of developing a South African topside ionosphere model.     

Use of varying shell heights derived from ionosonde data in calculating vertical total electron content (TEC) using GPS – New method

The dispersive nature of the ionosphere makes it possible to measure its total electron content (TEC). Thus Global Positioning System, which uses dual-frequency radio signals, is an ideal system to measure TEC. When data from an ionosonde situated in polar region was observed, the height of an approximated thin shell of electrons (shell height) used in GPS studies was seen not to be fixed but rather changing with time. Here we introduce a new method in which we included the varying shell heights derived from the ionosonde to map the slant total electron content from GPS to obtain a more precise vertical total electron content of the ionosphere contrary to some previous methods which used fixed shell heights. In this paper we also compared the ionosonde derived TEC with the GPS derived vertical TEC (vTEC) values. These GPS vTEC values were obtained from GPS slant TEC (sTEC) measurements using both fixed shell height and varying shell heights (from ionosonde measurements). For the polar regions, the varying shell height approach produced better results than the fixed shell height and compared to exponential function, Chapman function seems to be a better function to model the topside ionosphere.     

Adaptation of the bottomside electron density profile of the IRI model to data of topside radiosounding

A method is proposed for reconstructing the electron density profiles N(h) of the IRI model from ionograms of topside satellite sounding of the ionosphere. An ionograms feature is the presence of traces of signal reflection from the Earth's surface. The profile reconstruction is carried out in two stages. At the first stage, the N(h) –profile is calculated from the lower boundary of the ionosphere to the satellite height (total profile) by the method presented in this paper using the ionogram. In this case, the monotonic profile of the topside ionosphere is calculated by the classical method. The profile of the inner ionosphere is represented by analytical functions, the parameters of which are calculated by optimization methods using traces of signal reflection, both from the topside ionosphere and from the Earth. At the second stage, the profile calculated from the ionogram is used to obtain the key parameters: the height of the maximum hmF2 of the F2 layer, the critical frequency foF2, the values of B0 and B1, which determine the profile shape in the F region in the IRI model. The input of key parameters, time of observation, and coordinates of sounding into the IRI model allows obtaining the IRI-profile corrected to real experimental conditions. The results of using the data of the ISIS-2 satellite show that the profiles calculated from the ionograms and the IRI profiles corrected from them are close to each other in the inner ionosphere and can differ significantly in the topside ionosphere. This indicates the possibility of obtaining a profile in the inner ionosphere close to the real distribution, which can significantly expand the information database useful for the IRTAM (IRI Realmax Assimilative Modeling) model. The calculated profiles can be used independently for local ionospheric research.     

昆明上空电离层D区电子密度季节变化的首次观测分析

通过分析2008年8月至2009年7月昆明站(25.6°N, 103.8°E) 中频(MF)雷达观测数据, 研究了太阳活动低年电离层D区电子密度的季节变化特性,发现D区电子密度主要呈现半年变化特征, 即在春秋季电子密度较大, 而在夏冬季则较小, 这与国际参考电离层(IRI)预测的年变化趋势不一致, 但与昆明站电离层测高仪的最低回波频率f_min的观测结果相符. 同时比较了D区电子密度半年变化与纬向风半年变化的关系, 发现二者之间保持了非常一致的变化趋势并对这种一致性的内在原因进行了分析.      

Sensing the Earth’s low ionosphere during solar flares using VLF signals and goes solar X-ray data

An analysis of D-region electron density height profile variations, induced by four isolated solar X-ray flares during period from September 2005 to December 2006, based on the amplitude and the phase delay perturbation of 22.1 kHz signal trace from Skelton (54.72 N, 2.88 W) to Belgrade (44.85 N, 20.38 E), coded GQD, was carried out. Solar flare data were taken from NOAA GOES12 satellite one-minute listings. For VLF data acquisition and recordings at the Institute of Physics, Belgrade, Serbia, the AbsPAL system was used. Starting from LWPCv21 code (Ferguson, 1998), the variations of the Earth-ionosphere waveguide characteristic parameters, sharpness and reflection height, were estimated during the flare conditions. It was found that solar flare events affected the VLF wave propagation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide by changing the lower ionosphere electron density height profile, in a different way, for different solar flare events.     

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.     

Calibration of IRI–ITU-R peak density and height over the oceans with topside sounding data

Accuracy of IRI electron density profile depends on the F2 layer peak density and height converted by empirical formulae from the critical frequency and M3000F2 factor provided by the ITU-R (former CCIR). The CCIR/ITU-R maps generated from ground-based ionosonde measurements suffer from model assumptions, in particular, over the oceans where relatively few measurements are available due to a scarcity of ground-based ionosondes. In the present study a grid-point calibration of IRI/ITU-R maps for the foF2 and hmF2 over the oceans is proposed using modeling results based on the topside true-height profiles provided by ISIS1, ISIS2, IK-19 and Cosmos-1809 satellites for the period of 1969–1987. Topside soundings results are compared with IRI and the Russian standard model of ionosphere, SMI, and grouped to provide an empirical calibration coefficient to the peak density and height generated from ITU-R maps. The grid-point calibration coefficients maps are produced in terms of the solar activity, geodetic latitude and longitude, universal time and season allowing update of IRI–ITU-R predictions of the F2 layer peak parameters.     

A global survey of COSMIC ionospheric peak electron density and its height: A comparison with ground-based ionosonde measurements

With a network of ground-based ionosondes distributed around the world, the ionospheric peak electron density and its height measured by FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites in terms of GPS radio occultation technique are extensively examined in this article. It is found that, in spite of the latitude, the mean values of the peak electron density measured by COSMIC satellites are systematically smaller than those observed by ground-based ionosondes. The discrepancy between them is dependent on the latitude, namely, it is small in low and mid-latitudes and large in high-latitude region. Moreover, statistical analysis shows that the slopes of the regression line that is best fitted to the scatter diagram of occultation-retrieved peak electron density (ordinate axis) versus ionosonde-observed peak density (abscissa axis) are universally less than one. This feature is believed to be the result of path average effect of non-uniform distribution of the electron density along the GSP ray during the occultation. A comparison between COSMIC-measured peak height and ionosonde-derived peak height hmF2 indicates that the former is systematically higher than the latter. The difference in the two can be as large as 20% or more in equatorial and low-latitude regions. This result implies that the peak height hmF2 derived from the virtual height through true height analysis based on Titheridge method seems to underestimate the true peak height. The correlation between COSMIC and ionosonde peak electron densities is analyzed and the result reveals that correlation coefficient seems to be dependent on the fluctuation of the occultation-retrieved electron density profile. The correlation will be higher (lower) for the electron density profiles with smaller (larger) fluctuations. This feature suggests that the inhomogeneous distribution of the electron density along the GPS ray path during the occultation plays an important role affecting the correlation between COSMIC and ionosonde measurements.     

An analysis of the topside ionosphere parameters based on the long-duration Irkutsk incoherent scatter radar measurements

The topside ionosphere parameters are studied based on the long-duration Irkutsk incoherent scatter radar (52.9N, 103.3E) measurements conducted in September 2005, June and December 2007. As a topside ionosphere parameter we chose the vertical scale height (VSH) related to the gradient of the electron density logarithm above the peak height. For morphological studies we used median electron density profiles. Besides the median behavior we also studied VSH disturbances (deviations from median values) during the magnetic storm of September 11th 2005. We compared the Irkutsk incoherent scatter radar data with the Millstone Hill and Arecibo incoherent scatter radar observations, the IRI-2007 prediction (using the two topside options) and VSH derived from the Irkutsk DPS-4 Digisonde bottomside measurements.