基于北斗卫星的纳秒级全球授时系统

北斗三号系统的基础服务可以为全球用户提供精度优于20ns的信号,更高精度的时间同步应用,需要如GNSS共视、全视、PPP或卫星双向时频传递等专用方法,成本高,并且需要专业维护,只适合小范围应用。在研究了各种高精度时间比对技术的基础上,基于国家授时中心的标准时间UTC(NTSC),提出了基于北斗卫星实时共视、实时全视和实时PPP多种技术互补融合的纳秒级全球授时方法。结合时延绝对标定与分段标定组合的设备时延标定,以及振荡器动态驯服等技术,建立了标准时间远程复现系统,由服务端和用户端两部分组成。服务端由国家授时中心维护,用户仅需要安装一台标准时间复现设备,并通过互联网或北斗短报文信道自动持续从服务端获取服务数据,即可在本地恢复出溯源至标准时间UTC(NTSC)的时间频率信号。系统可为全球用户提供与UTC(NTSC)偏差小于5ns的1PPS信号,以及万秒频率稳定度优于5×10^-13、相对频偏小于5×10^-14的10MHz信号,授时A类不确定度优于2ns。目前已经为多个行业提供服务。     

Schumann resonance frequency and conductivity in the nighttime ionosphere of Mars: A source for lightning

We have solved the Maxwellian equations of electromagnetic waves which oscillate within the cavity formed in the lower ionosphere of Mars between 0 and 70?km. The electrical conductivity and Schumann Resonance (SR) frequencies are calculated in the lower ionosphere of Mars, in the presence of a major dust storm that occurred in Martian Year (MY) 25 at low latitude region (25°–35°S). It is found that the atmospheric conductivity reduced by one to two orders of magnitude in the presence of a dust storm. It represents a small dust layer at about 25–30?km altitudes where lightning can occur. We also found that the SR frequencies peak at?～18?km with values 19.9, 34.5 and 48.8?Hz for the modes l?=?1, 2 and 3, respectively, in the non-homogeneous medium. Our results indicate that practical or measurable values of SR are dependent on the altitudes.     

Inter-agency comparison of TanDEM-X baseline solutions

TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement) is the first Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mission using close formation flying for bistatic SAR interferometry. The primary goal of the mission is to generate a global digital elevation model (DEM) with 2 m height precision and 10 m ground resolution from the configurable SAR interferometer with space baselines of a few hundred meters. As a key mission requirement for the interferometric SAR processing, the relative position, or baseline vector, of the two satellites must be determined with an accuracy of 1 mm (1D RMS) from GPS measurements collected by the onboard receivers. The operational baseline products for the TanDEM-X mission are routinely generated by the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) and the German Space Operations Center (DLR/GSOC) using different software packages (EPOS/BSW, GHOST) and analysis strategies. For a further independent performance assessment, TanDEM-X baseline solutions are generated at the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) on a best effort basis using the Bernese Software (BSW).     

Can an impulsive variation of the solar wind plasma pressure trigger a plasma bubble? A case study based on CSES,Swarm and THEMIS data

During the August 25, 2018 geomagnetic storm, the new borne CSES-01 satellite and the Swarm A satellite detected a really large equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) in the post-midnight sector over western Africa. We investigated the features of this deep ionospheric plasma depletion using data from the Langmuir probes on-board CSES-01 and Swarm A satellites, and data from the high-precision magnetometer and the electric field detector instruments on-board CSES-01. Using also plasma and magnetic field data from THEMIS-E satellite we found that, during the passage of the magnetic cloud that drove the geomagnetic storm, an impulsive variation lasting about ten minutes characterized the solar wind (SW) pressure. The analysis of the delay time, between the occurrence of such impulsive variation and the detection of the plasma bubble, suggests a possible link between the SW pressure impulsive variation as identified by THEMIS-E and the generation of the EPB as detected by CSES-01 and Swarm A. We put forward the hypothesis that the SW pressure impulsive variation might have triggered an eastward prompt penetrating electric field that propagated from high to equatorial latitudes, overlapping in the nightside region to the zonal westward electric field, causing either a reduction or an inversion, at the base of the EPB triggering.     

Characterisation of residual ionospheric errors in bending angles using GNSS RO end-to-end simulations

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) is an innovative meteorological remote sensing technique for measuring atmospheric parameters such as refractivity, temperature, water vapour and pressure for the improvement of numerical weather prediction (NWP) and global climate monitoring (GCM). GNSS RO has many unique characteristics including global coverage, long-term stability of observations, as well as high accuracy and high vertical resolution of the derived atmospheric profiles. One of the main error sources in GNSS RO observations that significantly affect the accuracy of the derived atmospheric parameters in the stratosphere is the ionospheric error. In order to mitigate the effect of this error, the linear ionospheric correction approach for dual-frequency GNSS RO observations is commonly used. However, the residual ionospheric errors (RIEs) can be still significant, especially when large ionospheric disturbances occur and prevail such as during the periods of active space weather. In this study, the RIEs were investigated under different local time, propagation direction and solar activity conditions and their effects on RO bending angles are characterised using end-to-end simulations. A three-step simulation study was designed to investigate the characteristics of the RIEs through comparing the bending angles with and without the effects of the RIEs. This research forms an important step forward in improving the accuracy of the atmospheric profiles derived from the GNSS RO technique.     

Semiempirical Models of the Slow and Fast Solar Wind

Coronal holes can produce several types of solar wind with a variety of compositional properties, depending on the location and strength of the heating along their open magnetic field lines. High-speed wind is associated with (relatively) slowly diverging flux tubes rooted in the interiors of large holes with weak, uniform footpoint fields; heating is spread over a large radial distance, so that most of the energy is conducted outward and goes into accelerating the wind rather than increasing the mass flux. In the rapidly diverging open fields present at coronal hole boundaries and around active regions, the heating is concentrated at low heights and the temperature maximum is located near the coronal base, resulting in high oxygen freezing-in temperatures and low asymptotic wind speeds. Polar plumes have a strong additional source of heating at their bases, which generates a large downward conductive flux, raising the densities and enhancing the radiative losses. The relative constancy of the solar wind mass flux at Earth reflects the tendency for the heating rate in coronal holes to increase monotonically with the footpoint field strength, with very high mass fluxes at the Sun offsetting the enormous flux-tube expansion in active region holes. Although coronal holes are its main source, slow wind is also released continually from helmet streamer loops by reconnection processes, giving rise to plasma blobs (small flux ropes) and the heliospheric plasma sheet.     

Signs of Müller cell gliotic response found in the retina of newts exposed to real and simulated microgravity

The effects of real and simulated microgravity on the eye tissue regeneration of newts were investigated. For the first time changes in Müller glial cells in the retina of eyes regenerating after retinal detachment were detected in newts exposed to clinorotation. The cells divided, were hypertrophied, and their processes were thickened. Such changes suggested reactive gliosis and were more significant in animals exposed to rotation when compared with desk-top controls. Later experiments onboard the Russian biosatellite Bion-11 showed similar changes in the retinas that were regenerating in a two-week spaceflight. In the Bion-11 animals, GFAP, the major structural protein of retinal macroglial cells, was found to be upregulated. In a more recent experiment onboard Foton-M3 (2007), GFAP expression in retinas of space-flown, ground control (kept at 1 g), and basal control (sacrificed on launch day) newts was quantified, using microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and digital image analysis. A low level of immunoreactivity was observed in basal controls. In contrast, retinas of space-flown animals showed greater GFAP immunoreactivity associated with both an increased cell number and a higher thickness of intermediate filaments. This, in turn, was accompanied by up-regulation of stress protein (HSP90) and growth factor (FGF2) expressions. It can be postulated that such a response of Müller cells was to mitigate the retinal stress in newts exposed to microgravity. Taken together, the data suggest that the retinal population of macroglial cells could be sensitive to gravity changes and that in space it can react by enhancing its neuroprotective function.     

Dependence of the F-region peak electron density (foF2) on solar activity observed in the equatorial ionospheric anomaly region in the Brazilian sector

The long-term (solar cycle) changes in the Sun and how it affects the ionospheric F-region observed at São José dos Campos (23.2° S, 45.9° W), Brazil, a location under the southern crest of the equatorial ionospheric anomaly, have been investigated in this paper. The dependence of the F-region peak electron density (foF2) on solar activity during the descending phase of the 23rd solar cycle for the periods of high, medium, and low solar activity has been studied. The ionospheric F-region peak electron densities observed during high and medium solar activity show seasonal variations with maxima close to the equinox periods, whereas during the low solar activity the maxima during the equinox periods is absent. However, during the low solar activity only change observed is a large decrease from summer to winter months. We have further investigated changes in the different ionospheric F-region parameters (minimum virtual height of the F-region (h′F), virtual height at 0.834foF2 (hpF2), and foF2) during summer to winter months in low solar activity periods, 2006–2007 and 2007–2008. Large changes in the two ionospheric parameters (hpF2 and foF2) are observed during summer to winter months in the two low solar activity periods investigated.     

On the spatial extent of the proton radiation belt from solar cell output variation of the Akebono satellite

Output current of silicon solar cells of Akebono satellite orbiting in the inner magnetosphere decreased from 13 A in 1989 to about 7 A in 2009, due to accumulated damage by energetic particles. A fair correlation between the monthly decrease rate of solar cell output current and trapped proton flux was found between 1989 and 1992, indicating that trapped energetic protons are responsible for the solar cell degradation. Simple variation from month to month was dominated by a fluctuation with one-year period and the correlation was not discernible after 1993. On the other hand, during orbiting the earth, another kind of decrease of output current emerged at low altitude above the sub-solar point, i.e., in the midst of sunlit condition. The decrease was larger in later years. The fact indicates more prominent temperature effect in the later years because of progress of the degradation. By removing data affected by the orbit condition above, variation from the same month in the previous year shows a clear oscillation due to orbit precession correlated with trapped energetic proton flux up to 1996. The amplitude of the annual variation oscillation tends to be larger than that expected from a degradation model based on energetic proton distribution of the NASA’s AP8 model. The larger oscillation amplitude suggests that the proton radiation belt was more sharply localized than given by the AP8 model throughout the early half of 1990s.