Unusual nighttime impulsive foF2 enhancements at low latitudes: Phenomenology and possible explanations

This paper is focused on unusual nighttime impulsive electron density enhancements that are rarely observed at low latitudes on a wide region of South America, under quiet and medium/high geomagnetic conditions. The phenomenon under investigation is very peculiar because besides being of brief duration, it is characterized by a pronounced compression of the ionosphere. The phenomenon was studied and analyzed using both the F2 layer critical frequency (foF2) and the virtual height of the base of the F region (h′F) values recorded at five ionospheric stations widely distributed in space, namely: Jicamarca (−12.0°, −76.8°, magnetic latitude −2.0°), Peru; Sao Luis (−2.6°, −44.2°, magnetic latitude +6.2°), Cachoeira Paulista (−22.4°, −44.6°, magnetic latitude −13.4°), and São José dos Campos (−23.2°, −45.9°, magnetic latitude −14.1°), Brazil; Tucumán (−26.9°, −65.4°, magnetic latitude −16.8°), Argentina. In a more restricted region over Tucumán, the phenomenon was also investigated by the total electron content (TEC) maps computed by using measurements from 12 GPS receivers. A detailed analysis of isoheight ionosonde plots suggests that traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) caused by gravity wave (GW) propagation could play a significant role in causing the phenomenon both for quiet and for medium/high geomagnetic activity; in the latter case however a recharging of the fountain effect, due to electric fields penetrating from the magnetosphere, joins the TID propagation and plays an as much significant role in causing impulsive electron density enhancements.     

在电离层飞行的航天器近尾迹内电子数密度渐近解

本文讨论了航天器近尾迹流场电子数密度分布,给出无碰撞假设下等离子体绕带电圆盘流动的近尾迹流场渐近解。用匹配渐近展开法求解实际可能现出的三种情形的电子数密度分布。所得的摄动解对近尾迹流动的理论和数值研究有指导意义。     

Higher order ionospheric propagation effects on GPS radio occultation signals

With the increasing number of remote sensing satellites using the GPS radio occultation technique for atmospheric sounding, the estimation of higher order ionospheric effects and their mitigation have become relevant and important. Due to long ionospheric limb paths, GPS signals are strongly affected by ionospheric refraction during radio occultation. Standard dual-frequency GPS measurements may be used to estimate the first order term of the refractive index. However, non-linear terms such as the second and third order ionospheric terms and ray path bending effects are not considered in occultation measurements so far. Analysing selected CHAMP–GPS occultation events different higher order ionospheric terms are estimated and their effects on dual-frequency range estimation and total electron content (TEC) estimation are discussed. We have found that the separation between the GPS L1 and L2 ray paths exceeds the kilometer level during occultation for a vertical TEC level of more than 160 TEC units. Corresponding errors in the GPS dual-frequency range estimation and TEC estimation are found to exceed the meter and 10 TEC units level, respectively.     

太阳活动低年广州地区地磁扰动与电离层闪烁的统计特征分析

基于肇庆地磁台的地磁监测数据和广州气象卫星地面站建立的华南地区GPS电离层闪烁监测网的监测数据, 统计分析了2008年7月至2010年7月太阳活动低年期间广州地区地磁扰动与电离层闪烁的关系. 用肇庆台地磁水平分量H的变化量换算出肇庆地磁指数K, 以此来代表广州地区地磁扰动情况.分析结果表明, 磁暴/强地磁扰动对广州地区电离层闪烁的发生总体表现为抑制作用, 电离层闪烁主要发生在低K值期间, 而在K ≥ 4时电离层闪烁的发生呈下降趋势. 电离层闪烁发生率随季节和地磁活动的变化规律表现在, 春季的弱闪烁发生率、夜间中等以上闪烁发生率和夏季中等以上闪烁的发生率明显与地磁活动指数K相关, 即随$K$指数的增大而减小; 在秋季和冬季闪烁发生率与K指数变化无明显关系. 同时还综合分析了地磁与太阳活动的变化对电离层活动的影响, 广州地区闪烁主要发生在太阳活动较低的磁静日期间.      

电磁波在电离层中的传输建模分析

电磁波从宇宙空间对地传输过程中,不可避免需要穿过地球电离层,并受到电离层折射、反射、穿透等影响。为研究电离层中电磁波的传播路径,利用IRI2016电离层模型和NRLMSISE-00模型的数据,基于射线追踪算法,综合利用龙格-库塔法,并采用变步长实现了电磁波在电离层多层空间复杂等离子体中的传输计算。同时,还研究了不同频率和纬度的电磁波在电离层的传播途径。研究表明较高频率的电磁波受到电离层的干扰较少,在100MHz时,电磁传播的偏移角度仅为0.795度;电离层的非均匀层状结构决定了电磁波在其中的传输存在多模现象,并受到了光照的影响,在日间和中纬均受电离层的强烈干扰,偏移角度均大于2.2度,较夜间和低、高纬地区的传输偏移更大。     

非线性大气重力波产生的行进电离层扰动

本文导出了大气重力波的非线性方程,研究了重力波的非线性性质。利用等离子体的连续性方程,计算了电离层对重力波的非线性响应,讨论了非线性电离层扰动(TID)的形态。结果表明,非线牲效应使TID表现为多种不规则形态。      

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。      

1984年4月份兰州地区电离层行波扰动的观测结果及初析

１９８４年４月份兰州地区电离层行波扰动的观测结果及初析张秀菊（中国电波传播研究所,新乡,４５３００３）关键词高频返回探测,多普勒频率,电离层行波扰动１９８４年４月我们利用高频返回探测系统在新乡一西北（反射点在兰州地区）电路上多次测到电离Ｆ层的行波扰动...     

Refinement of global ionospheric coefficients for GNSS applications: Methodology and results

We developed the methodology for the optimal estimation of global ionospheric coefficients of the current Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs), including the eight- and ten-parameter Klobuchar-like as well as NeQuick models. The ionospheric coefficients of those correction models are calculated from two sets of globally distributed tracking stations of the International GNSS Services (IGS). Performance of the re-estimated Klobuchar-like and NeQuick coefficients are validated during 2002–2014 over the continental and oceanic areas, respectively. Over the continental areas, GPS TECs derived from 40 ground GPS receivers are selected as reference. The eight-, ten-parameter Klobuchar-like and NeQuick models can mitigate the ionospheric delay by 65.8, 67.3 and 75.0%, respectively. Over the global oceans, the independent TECs derived from Jason-1&2 altimeters are used as reference. The re-estimated ionospheric correction models can mitigate 56.1–66.7% of the delay errors. Compared to the original GPS Ionospheric Correction Algorithm (ICA), performance of those eight-, ten-parameter Klobuchar-like and NeQuick models has improved 3.4, 5.9 and 13.4% during the whole test period, respectively. The methodology developed here takes the advantage of high-quality ionospheric TECs derived from the global network of GNSS receivers. The re-estimated ionospheric coefficients can be used as precise ionospheric products to monitor and assess GNSS broadcast ionospheric parameters and to improve the performance of various single-frequency GNSS applications.