Quantitative analyses of complexity and nonlinear trend of radio refractivity gradient in the troposphere

In this paper, the complexity and nonlinear trends of Radio Refractivity Gradient (RRG) in the troposphere over selected locations in Nigeria are analyzed and discussed extensively. The RRG is an important parameter in estimating path clearance and propagation effects such as ducting, surface reflection and multi-path on terrestrial line of-sights links. Also, radio wave signal propagating in the troposphere is affected by unpredictability of a weather condition which includes the variations of meteorological parameters such as temperature, pressure and relative humidity. The complex state of the atmosphere, which is the medium for the transmission of radio signals tend to have very strong influence such as scintillation and ducting on the quality of the radio signal, amplitude and phase. Variations in the meteorological parameters also induce variations in the refractive index of the atmosphere which in-turn results in the effect known as radio refractivity. For effective prediction and modeling of radio signal propagation, one should be able to characterize the nature and predictability of the computed RRG information. Chaotic Quantifiers (CQ) such as Phase Plot Reconstruction (PPR), Average Mutual Information (AMI), False Nearest Neighbor (FNN), Recurrence Plot (RP) and Recurrence Quantification Analyses (RQA) are used to assess the RRG. The information reveal, however, is based on the prediction techniques, design and frequency planning of microwave networks which may be useful for optimum performances during atmospheric turbulence.     

基于EFPI-FBG结构的光纤复合传感器研究

研究了一种基于非本征型Fabry-Perot干涉仪(EFPI)和光纤Bragg光栅(FBG)串联结构构成的EFPI-FBG光纤复合传感器,用于实现对压力和温度信号的同步测量。传感器选用熔融石英作为压力敏感材料,利用飞秒激光焊接技术实现传感器探头结构的封装。对传感器的工作原理进行了分析,制作并封装传感器工程样机,搭建测试系统,对传感器的性能进行了灵敏度及交叉敏感性分析。结果表明,该传感器在0.8 MPa范围内的灵敏度约为-0.729μm/MPa,在50℃~200℃范围的温度灵敏度为0.009 nm/℃,传感器压力测量最大允许误差为±4.12%FS。该EFPI-FBG复合传感器有望应用于压力—温度双参数测量需求的技术领域。     

Seasonal variation of gravity wave sources from satellite observation

Recent high-resolution satellite observations of gravity waves in the middle atmosphere have shown correlations with the strength of the stratospheric jet stream, surface topography, and tropical convection. Seasonal variations of wave-induced stratospheric radiance variances are often the manifestations of modulations of these sources and refractive influences. In this paper, we focus on the seasonal climatology of gravity waves observed by the UARS MLS, while also showing some new results from GPS and AMSU instruments. Our analysis is aided by MWFM modeling of mountain waves at high latitudes and CMAP precipitation indices in the subtropics to provide a clearer picture of global gravity wave dynamics.     

Change in refractivity of the atmosphere and large variation in TEC associated with some earthquakes,observed from GPS receiver

The present study reports the analysis of GPS based TEC for our station Surat (21.16°N, 72.78°E) located at the northern crest of equatorial anomaly region in India at times close to some earthquake events (M ? 5) during the year 2009 in India and its neighbouring regions. The TEC data used in the study are obtained from GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitoring (GISTM) system. The TEC data has been analysed corresponding to 11 earthquakes in low solar activity period and quiet geomagnetic condition. We found that, out of 11 cases of earthquakes (M > 5) there were seven cases in which enhancement in TEC occurred on earthquake day and in other four cases there was depletion in TEC on earthquake day. The variation in refractivity prior to earthquake was significant for the cases in which the epicentre lied within a distance of 600 km from the receiving station. By looking into the features on temporal enhancement and depletion of TEC a prediction was made 3–2 days prior to an earthquake (on 28 October 2009 in Bhuj – India). The paper includes a brief discussion on the method of potentially identifying an impending earthquake from ionospheric data.     

参量型空气折射率传感系统

本系统分别利用传感器测出空气的温度、气压和湿度三个参量,把测量值用一个通用于不同机型的接口电路连接到微机进行数据处理并计算出空气折射率值。文中叙述了传感器及其检测电路的设计原理,给出了检测和接口电路框图、计算公式和程序流程图。整个系统已通过联机调试和初步的对比试验。     

ROPP反演软件算法及其精度分析

介绍了ROPP反演软件中无线电掩星反演的算法与精度分析. 采用COSMIC卫星2008年1 月1日全天的附加相位数据, 反演得到折射率、温度、压强与湿度等参数, 并与CDAAC 相应结果进行对比. 实验结果表明, 在30km高度以下, 折射率、压强和湿度的相对 误差在2%以内, 温度误差不超过2K.     

压力传感器膜片表面温度的测量和分析计算

用红外热成象技术测量应变式压力传感器工作时的膜片温度分布,以判断由于电阻应变片工作时温度变化对测量准确性的影响。测量中为获得应变片的真实温度,作了表面喷黑处理。对于实用的3MPa和0.6MPa的压力传感器,在不同工作介质(空气和变压器油)及工作电压条件下进行了测量,其结果表明:应变片表面温度随工作电压增高而加大,且不均匀。以空气为介质的温度高于以变压器油为介质的温度。据此可以确定对压力测量准确度的影响。还用有限差分方法对压力传感器膜片表面温度作了数值分析计算。     

北京地区大气温度及重力波活动的季节变化

利用瑞利激光雷达观测数据,分析了北京地区35~70km高度范围内大气温度和重力波活动的季节变化.发现北京地区30~70km高度范围内的大气温度有明显的年周期变化：平流层顶最高温度出现在6,7月份,大约为270K;中间层70km高度最低温度也出现在6,7月份,大约为200K.以2014年10月14日晚数据为例,分析重力波势能密度,发现50km以下重力波势能存在耗散,而在50km以上重力波近乎无耗散地向上传播.通过对比35~50km高度范围内的平均势能密度,对北京地区重力波活动强弱的季节变化进行了研究.研究结果表明,北京上空重力波活动强度具有明显的年周期变化,冬季平均势能密度为18J·kg^-1,夏季为8J·kg^-1,且冬季重力波活动强度约为夏季的两倍.此外,还分析了春夏秋冬四个季节重力波势能密度随高度的变化.结果表明,不同季节和不同高度的重力波势能密度不同.     

用温度梯度法测量壁面高温的研究

直接测量液体火箭发动机燃烧室的内壁温度是十分困难的。提出了温度梯度法,即通过测量冷却通道中肋片上的温度梯度来推算出内壁面温度的方法。理论分析和数值计算表明,燃烧室冷却肋片中心截面的温度分布可以用一个三次方程来表示。用最小二乘法拟合测试数据可以推算出内壁面温度。     

Using GPS-TEC data to calibrate VTEC computed with the IRI model over Nigeria

This paper presents the development of a Total Electron Content (TEC) map for the Nigerian ionosphere. In this work, TEC measurements obtained from the AFRL-SCINDA GPS (Air Force Research Laboratory-Scintillation Network Decision Aid, Global Positioning System) equipment installed at Nsukka (6.87°N, 7.38°E) are used to adapt the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model for the Nigerian Ionosphere. The map is being developed as a computer program (implemented in the MATLAB programming language) that shows spatial and temporal representations of TEC for the Nigerian ionosphere. The method is aimed at showing how the IRI model can be used to estimate VTEC over wide areas by incorporating GPS measurements. This method is validated by using GPS VTEC data collected from a station in Ilorin (8.50°N, 4.55°E).     

Thermospheric winds over Abuja during solar minimum period

Monthly variations of averaged nighttime thermospheric winds have been investigated over Abuja, Nigeria (Geographic: 9.06°N, 7.5°E; Geomagnetic: 1.60°S). The reports are based on Fabry-Perot interferometer measurements of Doppler shifts and Doppler broadening of the 630.0 nm spectral emission. The results were obtained during a period of weak solar activity with the solar flux (F10.7) typically below 70 solar flux units. Inspection of the average monthly thermospheric winds from October 2017 to December 2017 found December meridional winds to be more equatorward than the October and November winds. Zonal winds are eastward with pre-midnight maximum speeds going above 100 m/s. Compared to Jicamarca zonal winds in the Peruvian sector for the same month of October, the magnitude of maximum Abuja zonal wind speed is weaker. We compare the observed diurnal variation with the recently updated Horizontal wind model (HWM 14). Most of the observational features of thermospheric wind diurnal variation are captured in the model variation. The HWM14 generally showed good agreement with the Abuja October and November zonal wind observations but overestimates the December meridional winds. Expected longer period analysis of the results from Abuja will stimulate a better understanding of wind climatology over the West African sector.     

烧蚀模型表面温度分布测量

介绍了一维表面温度分布的非接触测量仪器——扫描光电高温计的基本原理、结构、性能以及实用情况。扫描光电高温计的研制成功,使烧蚀模型表面温度测量从点温度测量拓展到一维温度分布测量,解决了突缩管壁面热分布的研究问题,测量了各种材料烧蚀模型驻点区温度分布曲线和不同材料平板模型在烧蚀试验中沿射流流向和径向的温度分布,并利用弓型导管装置对不同开槽型的石墨平板模型和喷有氧化锆隔热涂层的平板试件进行了温度场的测量。同时,还介绍了偏转装置与扫描光电高温计配合使用,一次开车试验可以测量不同位置上一维温度分布。     

Study of seasonal variation of winds in upper stratosphere over Hyderabad

A predictability of the stratospheric zonal winds above 38 km during the turnaround is an essential parameter for planning of the high-altitude scientific balloon flights. This information is more relevant in the case of Hyderabad balloon facility which is closer to equator and has much more unstable wind reversal patterns which appears to have changed enormously during the last decade probably in correlation with the global warming. With a majority of our flights reaching the altitudes of 38–42 km and the requirement of long float durations, a prior knowledge of wind pattern during the summer and winter turnaround seasons is highly desirable. Furthermore, the flight operation corridor for balloon flights from Hyderabad is limited to 400 km and though in the west direction there are flat lands, in all other three directions, the landscape is dotted by water bodies, reserve forests and hilly terrain, and therefore need of such a data is essential. In order to establish the climatology of the stratospheric winds and study their inter-annual variability over Hyderabad for the turnaround periods, we have made a detailed analysis of the United Kingdom Meteorological office data between 2000 and 2007, to derive average wind parameters (magnitude, direction) at different ceiling altitudes above 38 km. These results can be used only as general trend of stratospheric wind and should not be the limitation of the UKMO Data.     

Low latitude ionospheric TEC responses to dynamical complexity quantifiers during transient events over Nigeria

In this study, the values of chaoticity and dynamical complexity parameters for some selected storm periods in the year 2011 and 2012 have been computed. This was done using detrended TEC data sets measured from Birnin-Kebbi, Torro and Enugu global positioning system (GPS) receiver stations in Nigeria. It was observed that the significance of difference (SD) values were mostly greater than 1.96 but surprisingly lower than 1.96 in September 29, 2011. The values of the computed SD were also found to be reduced in most cases just after the geomagnetic storm with immediate recovery a day after the main phase of the storm while the values of Lyapunov exponent and Tsallis entropy remains reduced due to the influence of geomagnetic storms. It was also observed that the value of Lyapunov exponent and Tsallis entropy reveals similar variation pattern during storm period in most cases. Also recorded surprisingly were lower values of these dynamical quantifiers during the solar flare event of August 8th and 9th of the year 2011. The possible mechanisms responsible for these observations were further discussed in this work. However, our observations show that the ionospheric effects of some other possible transient events other than geomagnetic storms can also be revealed by the variation of chaoticity and dynamical complexity.     

Meteor radar temperatures over Collm (51.3°N, 13°E)

The method of obtaining absolute temperature estimates by measuring the ambipolar diffusion coefficient with meteor radars in the mesopause region is basically well known. However, there is still a need to refine and adjust the background temperature gradient model which is necessary to calculate the temperature values. Therefore, a detailed comparison with independent temperature measurements is necessary to evaluate the performance of the method and to obtain more information about the temperature gradient. Recent studies provide some evidence that the impact of the gradient model on temperature estimates affects the absolute temperatures, but that it is of minor importance for wave analysis. This paper focuses on a detailed evaluation of the meteor radar temperatures by comparing them with SABER satellite and OH-emission mesopause region temperatures. The seasonal variation of the observed temperatures is well reproduced by the COMMA general circulation model.     

Seasonal variability of atmospheric aerosol over the North Indian region during 2005–2009

The Indo-Gangetic basin (IGB) extends 2000 km in length along NW–SE and has 400 km width, in the north the basin is bounded by towering Himalaya. High aerosol optical depth (AOD) is observed over the IGB throughout the year. The Himalaya restricts the transport of aerosols across Tibet and China. We have used ground based Kanpur and Gandhi College Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) stations and Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra level-3 AOD products for the years 2005–2009 to study the variability of aerosol over the Indo-Gangetic (IG) plains. An increase in both satellite-derived as well as ground observed aerosol loading during 2005–2009 has been found over major cities located in the IG plains. The correlation coefficients between AERONET and MISR data are found to be 0.70, 0.36 0.82, in contrast the correlation coefficients between AERONET and MODIS 0.49, 0.68, and 0.43, respectively during summer, winter and monsoon seasons. The AOD estimation using MISR is found to be close to AERONET data during summer and monsoon seasons, in contrast MODIS estimation is better during winter season.     

Tomographic reconstruction of wet and total refractivity fields from GNSS receiver networks

One of the most attractive scientific issues in the use of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) signals, from a meteorological point of view, is the retrieval of high resolution tropospheric water vapour maps. The real-time (or quasi real-time) knowledge of such distributions could be very useful for several applications, from operative meteorology to atmospheric modelling. Moreover, the exploitation of wet refractivity field reconstruction techniques can be used for atmospheric delay compensation purposes and, as a very promising activity, it could be applied for example to calibrate SAR or Interferometric-SAR (In-SAR) observations for land remote sensing. This is in fact one of the objectives of the European Space Agency project METAWAVE (Mitigation of Electromagnetic Transmission errors induced by Atmospheric Water vapour Effects), in which several techniques are investigated and results were compared to identify a strategy to remove the contribution of water vapour induced propagation delays in In-SAR products. Within this project, the tomographic reconstruction of three dimensional wet refractivity fields from tropospheric delays observed by a local GNSS network (9 dual frequency GPS receivers) deployed over Como area (Italy), during 12–18 October, 2008, was performed. Despite limitations due to the network design, internal consistency tests prove the efficiency of the adopted tomographic approach: the rms of the difference between reconstructed and GNSS observed Zenith Wet Delays (ZWD) are in the order of 4 mm. A good agreement is also observed between our ZWDs and corresponding delays obtained by vertically integrating independent wet refractivity fields, taken by co-located meteorological analysis. Finally, during the observing period, reconstructed vertical wet refractivity profiles evolution reveals water vapour variations induced by simple cloud covering. Even if our main goal was to demonstrate the effectiveness in adopting tomographic reconstruction procedures for the evaluation of propagation delays inside water vapour fields, the actual water vapour vertical variability and its evolution with time is well reproduced, demonstrating also the effectiveness of the inferred 3D wet refractivity fields.     

Development and performance evaluation of tropospheric scintillation model on Ku-band satellite link over Akure,Nigeria

Existing amplitude scintillation prediction models often perform less satisfactorily when deployed outside the regions where they were formulated. This necessitates the need to evaluate the performance of scintillation models developed in one region using data data from other regions while documenting their relative errors. Due to its variation with elevation angle, frequency, other link parameters and meteorological factors, we employed three years (January 2016 to December 2018) of concurrently measured satellite radio beacons and tropospheric weather parameters to develop a location-based amplitude scintillation prediction model over the Earth-space path of Akure (7.17^oN, 5.18^oE), South-western Nigeria. The satellite beacon measurement used Tektronix Y400 NetTek Analyzer at 1 s integration time while meteorological parameters, namely; temperature, pressure and relative humidity were measured using Davis Vantage Vue weather station at 1 min integration time. Comparative study of the model’s performance with nine (9) existing scintillation prediction models indicates that the best and worst performing models, in terms of root mean square error (RMSE), are the Statistical Temperature and Refractivity (STN) and direct physical and statistical prediction (DPSP) models with values 11.48 and 51.03 respectively. Also, worst month analysis indicates that April, with respective enhancement and fade values of 0.88 and 0.90 dB for 0.01% exceedance, is the overall worst calendar month for amplitude scintillation.     

武汉突发E层的季节变化及其与中层风的关系

通过对2018年武汉站（114.61°E,30.53°N）数字测高仪记录的数据统计分析,研究武汉地区突发E层的特征。研究发现：2018年武汉地区电离层突发E层的临界频率在夏季最高,在冬季有一个次增强现象,在春秋季较低;在正午前最大,在日落后出现小幅度提升,在日出前最低。利用指定动态全球大气气候扩展模型SD-WACCM-X模拟出2018年武汉上空90～140 km高度的平均风场,探讨突发E层与背景风之间的关系,揭示突发E层的形成机制。结果表明,半日潮汐分量可能诱导突发E层临界频率的半日变化,周日潮汐分量诱导突发E层临界频率的周日变化;突发E层的强度可能与纬向风场120 km高度处的风剪切有关。     

Seasonal variation of total electron content at crest of equatorial anomaly station during low solar activity conditions

The variability of total electron content (TEC) over the crest of equatorial anomaly station Bhopal has been studied during the low solar activity period (2005–2006) using global positioning system (GPS) data. Diurnal variation of TEC is studied for different seasons. Interesting features like the winter anomaly, semiannual anomaly and noon bite out in TEC have been reported. GPS derived TEC is then compared with International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2001 model and the difference between predictions and observation is being studied. Using the variability index we have also studied the TEC variability for different seasons and also during quiet and disturbed conditions. A higher variability is observed on quiet days as compared to disturbed days during daytime and nighttime hours.