Identification

Title

An improved inversion for FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC ionosphere electron density profiles

Abstract

An improved method to retrieve electron density profiles from Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) data is presented and applied to Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) observations. The improved inversion uses a monthly grid of COSMIC F region peak densities (NmF2), which are obtained via the standard Abel inversion, to aid the Abel inversion by providing information on the horizontal gradients in the ionosphere. This lessens the impact of ionospheric gradients on the retrieval of GPS RO electron density profiles, reducing the dominant error source in the standard Abel inversion. Results are presented that demonstrate the NmF2 aided retrieval significantly improves the quality of the COSMIC electron density profiles. Improvements are most notable at E region altitudes, where the improved inversion reduces the artificial plasma cave that is generated by the Abel inversion spherical symmetry assumption at low latitudes during the daytime. Occurrence of unphysical negative electron densities at E region altitudes is also reduced. Furthermore, the NmF2 aided inversion has a positive impact at F region altitudes, where it results in a more distinct equatorial ionization anomaly. COSMIC electron density profiles inverted using our new approach are currently available through the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research COSMIC Data Analysis and Archive Center. Owing to the significant improvement in the results, COSMIC data users are encouraged to use electron density profiles based on the improved inversion rather than those inverted by the standard Abel inversion.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d77h1m26

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-10-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact