Limb Viewing Hyper Spectral Imager (LiVHySI) for airglow measurements onboard YOUTHSAT-1

The Limb Viewing Hyper Spectral Imager (LiVHySI) is one of the Indian payloads onboard YOUTHSAT (inclination 98.73°, apogee 817 km) launched in April, 2011. The Hyper-spectral imager has been operated in Earth’s limb viewing mode to measure airglow emissions in the spectral range 550–900 nm, from terrestrial upper atmosphere (i.e. 80 km altitude and above) with a line-of-sight range of about 3200 km. The altitude coverage is about 500 km with command selectable lowest altitude. This imaging spectrometer employs a Linearly Variable Filter (LVF) to generate the spectrum and an Active Pixel Sensor (APS) area array of 256 × 512 pixels, placed in close proximity of the LVF as detector. The spectral sampling is done at 1.06 nm interval. The optics used is an eight element f/2 telecentric lens system with 80 mm effective focal length. The detector is aligned with respect to the LVF such that its 512 pixel dimension covers the spectral range. The radiometric sensitivity of the imager is about 20 Rayleigh at noise floor through the signal integration for 10 s at wavelength 630 nm. The imager is being operated during the eclipsed portion of satellite orbits. The integration in the time/spatial domain could be chosen depending upon the season, solar and geomagnetic activity and/or specific target area. This paper primarily aims at describing LiVHySI, its in-orbit operations, quality, potential of the data and its first observations. The images reveal the thermospheric airglow at 630 nm to be the most prominent. These first LiVHySI observations carried out on the night of 21st April, 2011 are presented here, while the variability exhibited by the thermospheric nightglow at O(¹D) 630 nm has been described in detail.     

Earthquake induced dynamics at the ionosphere in presence of magnetic storm

The modifications induced in the dynamics of the ionosphere by the major Japan earthquake (EQ) of March 11, 2011 (epicenter at 38.322°N, 142.369°E, M = 8.9) in presence of a magnetic storm are examined by mapping latitudinal variations of F-layer ionization density (NmF2) from 22 stations covering the epicenter zone. The changes forced into the Total Electron Content (TEC) by the major EQ in the magnetic storm ambiance are also examined from the GPS data collected at Guwahati (26° 10′ N, 91° 45’ E), situated in the major fault system of East Asia. The contributions of pre-seismic electric field as well as of magnetic storm time electric field in the observed density variations are brought into the ambit of discussion. The influence of lower atmosphere in shaping TEC features during the study case is highlighted. The effects of solar activity on density variations during such complex ambiances are also addressed.     

Ionospheric disturbances under low solar activity conditions

The paper is focused on ionospheric response to occasional magnetic disturbances above selected ionospheric stations located at middle latitudes of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere under extremely low solar activity conditions of 2007–2009. We analyzed changes in the F2 layer critical frequency foF2 and the F2 layer peak height hmF2 against 27-days running mean obtained for different longitudinal sectors of both hemispheres for the initial, main and recovery phases of selected magnetic disturbances. Our analysis showed that the effects on the middle latitude ionosphere of weak-to-moderate CIR-related magnetic storms, which mostly occur around solar minimum period, could be comparable with the effects of strong magnetic storms. In general, both positive and negative deviations of foF2 and hmF2 have been observed independent on season and location. However positive effects on foF2 prevailed and were more significant. Observations of stormy ionosphere also showed large departures from the climatology within storm recovery phase, which are comparable with those usually observed during the storm main phase. The IRI STORM model gave no reliable corrections of foF2 for analyzed events.     

Transient variations of vertical total electron content over some African stations from 2002 to 2012

This paper presents the vertical total electron content vTEC variations for three African stations, located at mid-low and equatorial latitudes, and operating since more than 10 years. The vTEC of the middle latitude GPS station in Alexandria, Egypt (31.2167°N; 29.9667°E, geographic) is compared to the vTEC of two others GPS stations: the first one in Rabat/Morocco (33.9981°N; 353.1457°E, geographic), and the second in Libreville/Gabon (0.3539°N; 9.6721°E, geographic). Our results discussed the diurnal, seasonal, and solar cycle dependences of vTEC at the local ionospheric conditions, during different phases of solar cycle in the light of the classification of Legrand and Simon. The vTEC over Alexandria exhibits the well-known equinoctial asymmetry which changes with the phases of the solar cycle; the spring vTEC is larger than that of autumn during the maximum, decreasing and minimum phases of solar cycle 23. During the increasing phase of solar cycle 24, it is the contrary. The diurnal variation of the vTEC presents multiple maxima during the equinox from 2005 to 2008 and during the summer solstice from 2006 to 2012. A nighttime vTEC enhancement and winter anomaly are also observed. During the deep solar minimum (2006–2009) the diurnal variation of the vTEC observed over Alexandria is similar to the diurnal variation observed during quiet magnetic period at equatorial latitudes. We observed also that the amplitude of vTEC at Libreville is larger than the amplitude of vTEC observed at Alexandria and Rabat, indeed Libreville is near the southern crest of the Equatorial Ionization anomaly. Finally, the correlation coefficient between vTEC and the sunspot number Rz is high and changes with solar cycle phases.     

Ionospheric response to the storm-time disturbance of 29 May, 2010

The Ionospheric F2-layer peak parameters response to a magnetic storm had been investigated over Ilorin, Nigeria (Lat. 8:53°N, Long. 4.5°E, dip angle, −2.96°), Jicamarca, Peru (11.95°S, 76.87°W, dip angle, 0.8°) and Hermanus, South Africa (34.42°S, 19.22°E, dip angle, −60.77°), using percentage enhancement/depletion values. Our results showed an enhancement in NmF2 at all of these stations. Averagely, pre-noon and post-noon peaks are highest at Ilorin during quiet time. The similar pattern observed for quiet condition between Ilorin and Jicamarca was due to their latitudinal positions. For disturbed NmF2 condition, Jicamarca and Ilorin recorded higher peaks at nighttime than during the daytime for the storms main phase, and the reverse over Hermanus. The nighttime and daytime increases were observed respectively at Ilorin and Hermanus during the recovery period. The hmF2 variation recorded higher enhancement at Jicamarca during the daytime and at Hermanus at nighttime during the main phase. During the recovery phase, the highest enhancement was recorded during the daytime at Jicamarca, and over Hermanus at nighttime. These observations find their explanation in the magnetospheric current, solar wind and E × B drift.     

Doppler utilised Kalman estimation (DUKE) of ionospheric delay for satellite navigation

The ionospheric delay experienced by the satellite navigation signals depends upon the Total Electron Content (TEC) and needs to be corrected. While the single frequency receivers always use parametric models to correct this delay, dual frequency receivers, when suffers a loss of lock of one of its signal, also has to resort to these models. Here, an alternative method, based on Doppler, surrogated by range rate variation, has been attempted to estimate the ionospheric delay using a Kalman filter. GPS data have been used for all visible satellites over four days selected around the equinox and solstice with nominal geomagnetic conditions and estimations done in continuous and calibrated modes. Results of continuous estimation, obtained for a mid latitude station, showed moderate accuracy while it was significantly better for the calibrated mode with no seasonal dependence. Estimations done for station within the extent of equatorial anomaly, has not only resulted in relative deterioration in performance, but also shown seasonal dependence. Compared with estimates of Klobuchar model, the Calibrated estimation showed superior performance, conspicuously in the mid latitude station. However, for the continuous mode, performance was at par with the model at higher latitudes but inferior to it in regions within the extent of the equatorial anomaly.     

2009年7月22日日全食电离层效应观测

首次利用廊坊中频雷达和武汉、嘉兴、廊坊等三站GPS对2009年7月22日日全食电离层效应进行了观测．日食期间,中频雷达D层78km高度上电子密度减小了约67％,电子密度为200cm^-3的高度上升了近10km,GPS／TEC减小了1TECU左右,其变化的最大相位与日食最大相位几乎同步;日食后,观测到周期为2个多小时的电离层扰动现象．     

乌鲁木齐地区电离层环境长期变化特性研究

电离层环境变化对电子信息系统具有重要影响,其可能引起短波通信质量下降甚至中断,导致导航信号闪烁和误差增加等. 研究电离层环境特性对于评估空间环境对通信、雷达及导航装备的影响具有重要意义. 本文根据乌鲁木齐电波环境观测站50余年数据,研究了乌鲁木齐地区电离层F层临界频率、F层底高、Es层临界频率的日变化、季节变化和长期变化情况,同时根据HWM07高空风场模型研究了乌鲁木齐地区高空风场的昼夜和季节变化特性.     

Neutral atmosphere and crustal magnetization as factors determining differences in plasma convection and magnetic fields distribution in the ionospheres of Mars and Venus

The pattern of the magnetic field/plasma convection can be, to some extent, recovered from the magnetic field measurements by employing either theoretical or numerical models. We use the MAG/ER day-time measurements of the magnetic field at the altitudes from 90 to 180 km during the elliptical orbits of MGS. Analysis of the altitude variation of the characteristics of the large-scale magnetic fields, which were measured some distance away from strong crustal magnetic anomalies, is summarized. The low density of the Martian atmosphere together with the crustal magnetization result in critical differences in plasma convection which are followed by remarkable differences of the magnetic field features within the ionosphere of Venus and Mars (even in its northern hemisphere where the crustal magnetization is, on the average, low) and distribution of currents.     

Precursors of Equatorial Spread F observing GPS TEC data from different GAGAN stations in India

Occurrence of Spread F is more or less a daily phenomenon in the equatorial and low latitudinal stations during high to moderate sunspot number years. In this paper efforts have been made to identify possible precursors of Equatorial Spread F (ESF) using the Total Electron Content (TEC) data of seven GAGAN (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation) stations in India during the two equinoxes of moderate sunspot number year 2004. Large Scale Periodic Structures found prior to TEC bite out can be taken as possible precursors to ESF. A threshold value of the peak to peak amplitude of this wave structure is chosen 2.6 TEC unit above which there is a possibility of ESF or TEC bite out with S4 > 0.26.