Characterization of GNSS scintillations over Lagos,Nigeria during the minimum and ascending phases (2009–2011) of solar cycle 24

This study characterizes equatorial scintillations at L-band frequency over Lagos, Nigeria during the minimum and ascending phases of solar cycle 24. Three years (2009–2011) of amplitude scintillation data were used for the investigation. The data were grouped on daily, monthly, seasonal, and yearly scales at three levels of scintillation (weak (0.3 ? S₄ < 0.4), moderate (0.4 ? S₄ < 0.7), and intense (S₄ ? 0.7)). To ensure reliable statistical inferences, three data cut-off criteria were adopted. Scintillations were observed to have a daily trend of occurrence during the hours of 1900–0200 LT, and higher levels of scintillations were localized within the hours of 2000–2300 LT. On monthly basis, September and October recorded the highest occurrences of scintillation, while January recorded the least. Scintillations were recorded during all the months of 2011, except January. Surprisingly, pockets of scintillation events (weak levels) were also observed during the summer months (May, June, and July). Seasonally, equinoxes recorded the highest occurrences of scintillation, while June solstice recorded the least occurrences. Scintillation activity also increases with solar and geomagnetic activity. On a scintillation active day, the number of satellites available to the receiver’s view reduces as the duration of observation reduces. These results may support the development of future models that could provide real-time predictability of African equatorial scintillations, with a view to supporting the implementation of GNSS-based navigation for aviation applications in Africa.     

Thermal and TEC anomalies detection using an intelligent hybrid system around the time of the Saravan,Iran, (Mw = 7.7) earthquake of 16 April 2013

A powerful earthquake of M_w = 7.7 struck the Saravan region (28.107° N, 62.053° E) in Iran on 16 April 2013. Up to now nomination of an automated anomaly detection method in a non linear time series of earthquake precursor has been an attractive and challenging task. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) have revealed strong potentials in accurate time series prediction. This paper presents the first study of an integration of ANN and PSO method in the research of earthquake precursors to detect the unusual variations of the thermal and total electron content (TEC) seismo-ionospheric anomalies induced by the strong earthquake of Saravan. In this study, to overcome the stagnation in local minimum during the ANN training, PSO as an optimization method is used instead of traditional algorithms for training the ANN method. The proposed hybrid method detected a considerable number of anomalies 4 and 8 days preceding the earthquake. Since, in this case study, ionospheric TEC anomalies induced by seismic activity is confused with background fluctuations due to solar activity, a multi-resolution time series processing technique based on wavelet transform has been applied on TEC signal variations. In view of the fact that the accordance in the final results deduced from some robust methods is a convincing indication for the efficiency of the method, therefore the detected thermal and TEC anomalies using the ANN + PSO method were compared to the results with regard to the observed anomalies by implementing the mean, median, Wavelet, Kalman filter, Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) methods. The results indicate that the ANN + PSO method is quite promising and deserves serious attention as a new tool for thermal and TEC seismo anomalies detection.     

Some ionospheric storm effects at equatorial and low latitudes

In this paper, the response of the equatorial and low latitude ionosphere to three intense geomagnetic storms occurred in 2002 and 2003 is reported. For that, critical frequency of F2-layer foF2 and the peak height hmF2 hmF2 for the stations Jicamarca (11.9°S), Ascension Is (7.92°S) and Tucuman (26.9°S) are used. The results show a “smoothing” of the Equatorial Anomaly structure during the development of the storms. Noticeable features are the increases in foF2 before the storm sudden commencement (SC) at equatorial latitudes and the southern crest of the Equatorial Anomaly. In some cases nearly simultaneous increases in foF2 are observed in response to the storm, which are attributed to the prompt electric field. Also, positive effects observed at equatorial and low latitudes during the development of the storm seem to be caused by the disturbance dynamo electric field due to the storm-time circulation. Increases in foF2 above the equator and simultaneous decreases in foF2 at the south crest near to the end of a long-duration main phase are attributed to equatorward-directed meridional winds. Decreases in foF2 observed during the recovery phase of storms are believed to be caused by composition changes. The results indicate that the prompt penetration electric field on the EA is important but their effect is of short lived. More significant ionospheric effects are the produced by the disturbance dynamo electric field. The role of storm-time winds is important because they modify the “fountain effect” and transport the composition changes toward low latitudes.     

Comparing TOPEX TEC measurements with IRI predictions

TEC values obtained from TOPEX satellite were compared with the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2001 model estimates. The present work also shows results of the IRI model with the option of a new topside electron density distribution (NeQuick model). TOPEX TEC measurements, which include years of high and middle to low solar activity (2000 and 2004), were analyzed by binning the region covered by the satellite (±66°) every five degrees of modip. In general, there is good agreement between IRI predictions and Topex measurements. Cases with large disagreements are observed at low and high latitudes during high solar activity. Comparing the model predictions using the default IRI2001 model and the NeQuick topside option show that the default IRI 2001 version represents the observed data in a more realistic way, but appears to be less reliable at high and low latitudes in some cases.     

Ionosphere tomography based on spaceborne SAR

Two models of ionosphere tomography based on spaceborne SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) are proposed. For HF-SAR the signal with sweeping frequency lower than the characteristic frequency of ionosphere will be scatted during the ionosphere propagation and completely reflected at a corresponding height. The ionospheric electron density isolines looked as series of random surfaces can be reconstructed from the HF-SAR echoes by using the inverse scattering technique for layered rough surfaces and the method of moment (MoM). The numerical simulation show that due to the MoM can provide a full wave solution, the ionosphere tomography with high resolution can be obtained as long as enough sampling data of HF-SAR echoes are used. For VHF/UHF/P/L-band SAR the TEC (Total Electron Content) can be obtained from the SAR echoes scattered by some strong point targets (such as the calibrators, etc.) appeared in the SAR imaged ground region, and the ionosphere tomography can be performed by CT technique.     

新疆于田7.2 级地震前的电离层电磁扰动

利用法国DEMETER 卫星观测的电磁、等离子体等参量的观测数据分析了2008 年3 月21日新疆于田7.2 级地震前离子温度Ti、离子密度Ni、甚低频(VLF) 磁场等出现的异常变化. Ti分析显示震中区上空出现的突变信号在更大空间多次重复出现, 作为地震异常的信度不高. 通过多次重访轨道对比发现H+ 离子密度整体变化形态一致, 但夏秋季节的峰值变化幅度是冬春季节的1 倍. 通过把2008 年的数据与2007 年和2006 年同期的重访轨道数据进行对比, 发现2008 年在于田地震前1 个月左右Ni 在峰值区呈现了显著增强的变化趋势, 并一直持续到地震前, 2008 年2 月以后的峰值幅度是其他两年同期的~1 倍多. 对于磁场频谱数据, 抽取了震中区域上空2000 km 范围内多个轨道的单频(400 Hz)信息, 并在研究区域统一纬度空间(0~60°N) 进行了时间序列对比, 结果发现地震前2 日内震中区域上空400 Hz 谱密度增加了近一个数量级, 反映空间存在明显的VLF 电磁辐射现象. 对于3 月20 日极低频段(ELF) 三分量电磁场的矢量分析显示观测时段内存在一些左旋极化电磁信号, 反映了空间电离层离子密度变化伴随ELF 电磁辐射信息. 综合分析认为, 这次地震前各参量的变化过程与目前地震孕育及电离层耦合机理相吻合.      

GPS single-frequency orbit determination for low Earth orbiting satellites

The determination of high-precision orbits for Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites (e.g., CHAMP, GRACE, MetOp-A) is based on dual-frequency tracking data from on-board GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers. The two frequencies allow it to eliminate the first order ionosphere effects. Data screening and precise orbit determination (POD) procedures are optimized under the assumption of the availability of two frequencies.     

A new technique for direction of arrival estimation for ionospheric multipath channels

A novel array signal processing technique is proposed to estimate HF channel parameters including number of paths, their respective direction of arrivals (DOA), delays, Doppler shifts and amplitudes. The proposed technique utilizes the Cross Ambiguity Function (CAF), hence, called as the CAF-DF technique. The CAF-DF technique iteratively processes the array output data and provides reliable estimates for DOA, delay, Doppler shift and amplitude corresponding to each impinging HF propagated wave onto an antenna array. Obtained results for both real and simulated data at different signal to noise ratio (SNR) values indicate the superior performance of the proposed technique over the well known MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) technique.     

Diurnal and seasonal variation of F2-layer ionospheric parameters at equatorial ionization anomaly crest region and their comparison with IRI-2001

Diurnal and seasonal variations of critical frequency of ionospheric F2-region ‘foF2’ and the height of peak density ‘hmF2’ are studied using modern digital ionosonde observations of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) crest region, Bhopal (23.2°N, 77.6°E, dip 18.5°N), during solar minimum period 2007. Median values of these parameters are obtained at each hour using manually scaled data during different seasons and compared with the International Reference Ionosphere-2001 model predictions. The observations suggest that on seasonal basis, the highest values of foF2 are observed during equinox months, whereas highest values of hmF2 are obtained in summer and lowest values of both foF2 and hmF2 are observed during winter. The observed median and IRI predicted values of foF2 and hmF2 are analyzed with upper and lower bound of inter-quartile range (IQR) and it is find out that the observed median values are well inside the inter-quartile range during the period of 2007. Comparison of the recorded foF2 and hmF2 values with the IRI-2001 output reveals that IRI predicted values exhibit better agreement with hmF2 as compared to foF2. In general, the IRI model predictions show some agreement with the observations during the year 2007. Therefore it is still necessary to implement improvements in order to obtain better predictions for EIA regions.     

利用热力学与统计物理方法研究电离层E层的形成

将太阳光子作为反应物引入电离层化学反应中, 运用化学热力学方法, 获得低电离层光化学反应的反应度及其化学平衡常数, 进而得到低电离层的电子密度, 并通过统计物理方法推导出相应的化学平衡常数. 结果显示, 运用热力学方法得到的低电离层电子密度与Chapman理论几乎完全一致, 表明利用热力学方法研究电离层的形成是可行的. 分别用热力学方法和统计物理方法得到的平衡常数之间存在一定的差异, 分析表明, 这是因为光化学过程中并非所有光子能量都转化成了电离能, 其中有一部分能量转化为热能或使粒子处于激发态, 这种差异的存在使利用统计物理方法推导电离层等离子体温度成为可能.