Seismogenic ionospheric anomalies associated with the strong Indonesian earthquake occurred on 11 April 2012 (M = 8.5)

Ionospheric perturbations in possible association with a major earthquake (EQ) (M?=?8.5) which occurred in India-Oceania region are investigated by monitoring subionospheric propagation of VLF signals transmitted from the NWC transmitter (F?=?19.8?kHz), Australia to a receiving station at Varanasi (geographic lat. 25.3°N, long 82.99°E), India. The EQ occurred on 11 April 2012 at 08:38:35?h UT (magnitude?≈?8.5, depth?=?10?km, and lat.?=?2.3°N, long.?=?93.0°E). A significant increase of few days before the EQ has been observed by using the VLF nighttime amplitude fluctuation method (fixed frequency transmitter signal). The analysis of total electron contents (TEC) derived from the global positioning system (GPS) at three different stations namely, Hyderabad (latitude 17.38°N, longitude 78.48°E), Singapore (latitude 1.37°N, longitude 103.84°E) and Port Blair (latitude 11.62°N, longitude 92.72°E) due to this EQ has also been presented. Significant perturbation in TEC data (enhancements and depletion) is noted before and after the main shock of the EQ. The possible mechanisms behind these perturbations due to EQ have also been discussed.     

Statistical analysis of the ionospheric ion density recorded by DEMETER in the epicenter areas of earthquakes as well as in their magnetically conjugate point areas

Results of a statistical variation of total ion density observed in the vicinity of epicenters as well as around magnetically conjugated points of earthquakes are presented in this paper. Two data sets are used: the ion density measured by DEMETER during about 6.5?years and the list of strong earthquakes (M_W?≥?4.8) occurring globally during this period (14,764 earthquakes in total). First of all, ionospheric perturbations with 23–120?s observation time corresponding to spatial scales of 160–840?km are automatically detected by a software (64,287 anomalies in total). Second, it is checked if a perturbation could be associated either with the epicenter of an earthquake or with its magnetically conjugated point (distance?<?1500?km and time?<?15?days before the earthquake). The index Kp?<?3 is also considered in order to reduce the effect of the geomagnetic activity on the ionosphere during this period. The results show that it is possible to detect variations of the ionospheric parameters above the epicenter areas as well as above their conjugated points. About one third of the earthquakes are detected with ionospheric influence on both sides of the Earth. There is a trend showing that the perturbation length increases as the magnitude of the detected EQs but it is more obvious for large magnitude. The probability that a perturbation appears is higher on the day of the earthquake and then gradually decreases when the time before the earthquake increases. The spatial distribution of perturbations shows that the probability of perturbations appearing southeast of the epicenter before an earthquake is a little bit higher and that there is an obvious trend because perturbations appear west of the conjugated point of an earthquake.     

低密度高亚声速引射风洞设计及性能研究

研究以火星表面大气条件和火星飞行器飞行速度为基础，设计一个低密度高亚声速引射风洞，并运用ANSYS FLUENT 15.0对多喷嘴引射风洞的性能进行了数值计算分析。首先对计算进行了网格无关性验证，在保证计算精度和减少时间与计算资源的基础上，通过研究发现：多喷嘴引射器作为风洞动力系统可满足试验段马赫数达到0.77的高亚声速马赫数要求，并且对试验段上下壁面采用各1°的扩张角可有效降低试验段边界层对压力的影响，从而使试验段静压基本维持不变；提高引射膨胀比是提高试验段雷诺数的一个有效措施，但是会降低引射系数，同时会增加试验段的静压梯度，影响试验段的气流品质。因此低密度引射风洞设计过程中必须综合考虑试验段扩张角，引射膨胀比等因素。     

Evaluation of the improvement of IRI-2016 over IRI-2012 at the India low-latitude region during the ascending phase of cycle 24

This paper investigated the performance of the latest International Reference Ionosphere model (IRI-2016) over that of IRI-2012 in predicting total electron content (TEC) at three different stations in the Indian region. The data used were Global Positioning System (GPS) data collected during the ascending phase of solar cycle 24 over three low-latitude stations in India namely; Bangalore (13.02°N Geographic latitude, 77.57°E Geographic longitude), Hyderabad (17.25°N Geographic latitude, 78.30°E Geographic longitude) and Surat (21.16°N Geographic latitude, 72.78°E Geographic longitude). Monthly, the seasonal and annual variability of GPS-TEC have been compared with those derived from International Reference Ionosphere IRI-2016 and IRI-2012 with two different options of topside electron density: NeQuick and IRI01-corr. It is observed that both versions of IRI (i.e., IRI-2012 and IRI-2016) predict the GPS-TEC with some deviations, the latest version of IRI (IRI-2016) predicted the TEC similar to those predicted by IRI-2012 for all the seasons at all stations except for morning hours (0500 LT to 1000?LT). This shows that the effect of the updated version is seen only during morning hours and also that there is no change in TEC values by IRI-2016 from those predicted by IRI-2012 for the rest of the time of the day in the Indian low latitude region. The semiannual variations in the daytime maximum values of TEC are clearly observed from both GPS and model-derived TEC values with two peaks around March-April and September-October months of each year. Further, the Correlation of TEC derived by IRI-2016 and IRI-2012 with EUV and F10.7 shows similar results. This shows that the solar input to the IRI-2016 is similar to IRI 2012. There is no significant difference observed in TEC, bottom-side thickness (B0) and shape (B1) parameter predictions by both the versions of the IRI model. However, a clear improvement is visible in hmF2 and NmF2 predictions by IRI-2016 to that by IRI-2012. The SHU-2015 option of the IRI-2016 gives a better prediction of NmF2 for all the months at low latitude station Ahmedabad compare to AMTB 2013.     

卫星高功能密度综合电子系统设计

微小卫星综合电子系统承载了卫星大部分功能，是卫星任务处理和控制的中心，未来新的智能化应用、星群应用、通信服务等需求也将由卫星执行，对综合电子系统提出了新的要求。分析了国外典型小卫星综合电子系统，具有功能综合度高、多数功能集中在一台计算机中、卫星功能软件化的特点。设计了基于软件定义的综合电子系统一体化结构，硬件采用高度集成的模块化设计，软件采用分层和组件化设计，将系统功能进行分层，通过软件定义组件的方式实现各层功能和业务。高功能密度综合电子系统由一个通用化的高性能硬件平台和各种可加载的APP软件组成，除传统功能外，还可扩展自主任务管理、星间组网和载荷管理等功能，不仅使卫星的集成度和功能密度大幅提升，还能实现卫星功能重构，达到一星多用、一星多能的目的，有利于紧急时期卫星系统快速构建与应用，对于未来星座组网应用也具有一定意义。     

Inter-satellite calibration of FengYun 3 medium energy electron fluxes with POES electron measurements

We perform an L-shell dependent inter-satellite calibration of FengYun 3 medium energy electron measurements with POES measurements based on rough orbital conjunctions within 5?min?×?0.1?L?×?0.5 MLT. By comparing electron flux data between the U.S. Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) and Chinese sun-synchronous satellites including FY-3B and FY-3C for a whole year of 2014, we attempt to remove less reliable data and evaluate systematic uncertainties associated with the FY-3B and FY-3C datasets, expecting to quantify the inter-satellite calibration factors for the 150–350?keV energy channel at L?=?2–7. Compared to the POES data, the FY-3B and FY-3C data generally exhibit a similar trend of electron flux variations but more or less underestimate them within a factor of 5 for the medium electron energy 150–350?keV channel. Good consistency in the flux conjunctions after the inter-calibration procedures gives us certain confidence to generalize our method to calibrate electron flux measurements from various satellite instruments.     

一种新型铁电移相器材料的第一性原理计算

铁电薄膜移相器是基于铁电材料的新型移相器,被广泛应用于相控阵天线中。对于这类移相器组成材料的性能改进一直是雷达系统在军事、航天等领域的研究热点之一。基于第一性原理密度泛函理论,综合分析了ABi₂Nb₂O₉(A=Ba, Pb, Sr, Ca)材料的电子属性、化学键和极化属性。结果表明:这种体系有着类似的铁电性起源；Nb—O和Bi—O间的杂化对于系统的畸变和铁电相的稳定起着重要作用；随着A位离子半径的增大,体系的畸变参数也随之增大,导致材料有更大的自发极化,增强了铁电移相器的性能。实验结果验证了理论计算的正确性,为新型铁电移相器的研发奠定了基础。     

Analysis of electron content variations over Japan during solar minimum: Observations and modeling

Comparative analysis of GPS TEC data and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC radio occultation measurements was carried out for Japan region during period of the extremely prolonged solar minimum of cycle 23/24. COSMIC data for different seasons corresponded to equinox and solstices of the years 2007–2009 were analyzed. All selected electron density profiles were integrated up to the height of 700 km (altitude of COSMIC satellites), the monthly median estimates of Ionospheric Electron Content (IEC) were retrieved with use of spherical harmonics expansion. Monthly medians of TEC values were calculated from diurnal variations of GPS TEC estimates during considered month. Joint analysis of GPS TEC and COSMIC data allows us to extract and estimate electron content corresponded to the ionosphere (its bottom and topside parts) and the plasmasphere (h > 700 km) for different seasons of 2007–2009. Percentage contribution of ECpl to GPS TEC indicates the clear dependence from the time and varies from a minimum of about 25–50% during day-time to the value of 50–75% at night-time. Contribution of both bottom-side and topside IEC has minimal values during winter season in compare with summer season (for both day- and night-time). On average bottom-side IEC contributes about 5–10% of GPS TEC during night and about 20–27% during day-time. Topside IEC contributes about 15–20% of GPS TEC during night and about 35–40% during day-time. The obtained results were compared with TEC, IEC and ECpl estimates retrieved by Standard Plasmasphere–Ionosphere Model that has the plasmasphere extension up to 20,000 km (GPS orbit).     

The quiet nighttime low-latitude ionosphere as observed by TIMED/GUVI

In this paper, we examine the nighttime ionosphere climatology structure in the low latitude region and discrepancies between Global Ultraviolet Imager (GUVI) observations and the IRI model predictions using (1) the magnetic zonal mean of electron number density as a function of altitude and magnetic latitude, (2) vertical electron density profiles at various levels of F10.7 index, (3) nighttime descent and magnitude decrease of the ionosphere, (4) point-to-point comparisons of F-peak height (hmF2) and density (NmF2), and (5) the magnetic longitudinal variations of hmF2 and NmF2. The data collected from the Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics, and Dynamics (TIMED) mission since its launch in December 2001 have provided great opportunities for many scientific investigations of the ionosphere. In this analysis, we investigate the climatology of the nighttime low-latitude ionosphere under low geomagnetic activity (kp ? 4) using the electron density profiles inferred from the airglow measurements obtained by the GUVI aboard the TIMED spacecraft and compared with the results obtained from IRI (International Reference Ionosphere) model-2001. The observed climatology is an essential tool for further understanding the electrodynamics in the low-latitude region and improving the model’s prediction capability. The time range of the GUVI data used in this study is from 2002 (day 053) to 2006 (day 304), and the IRI model predictions were produced at every GUVI location. The ionosphere observed is generally of greater density than what IRI predicts throughout the night for all four seasons for low and moderate solar activity while the model over-predicts the electron density near the F-region peak at high solar activity before midnight. Observations show that the height of the F-region peak has a steep descent from dusk to midnight and near midnight the height of layer is insensitive to solar conditions, significantly different than what is predicted by IRI. Longitudinal features shown in GUVI data are present in the low-latitude ionosphere after sunset and continue through to midnight after which the low-latitude ionosphere is largely zonally symmetric.