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© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

In this work, a dedicated campaign by MetOp-A satellite is conducted to monitor the ionosphere based on radio-occultation (RO) measurements provided by the onboard GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding (GRAS). The main goal is to analyze the capabilities of the collected data to represent the bending angle and scintillation profiles of the ionosphere. We compare the MetOp-A products with those generated by other RO missions and explore the spatial/temporal distributions sensed by the MetOp-A campaign. Validation of dual frequency bending angles at the RO tangent points, S4 index, and Rate of the Total electron content Index (ROTI) is performed against independent products from Fengyun-3D and FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 satellites. Our main findings constitute the following: (1) bending angle profiles from MetOp-A agree well with Fengyun-3D measurements; (2) bending angle distributions show a typical S-shape variation along the altitudes; (3) signatures of the sporadic E-layer and equatorial ionization anomaly crests are observed by the bending angles; (4) sharp transitions are observed in the bending angle profiles above ~200 km due to the transition of the daytime/nighttime in addition to the transition of the bottom-side/top-side; and (5) sporadic E-layer signatures are observed in the S4 index distributions by MetOp-A and FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2, with expected differences in magnitudes between the GPS (Global Positioning System) L1 and L2 frequencies.

Details

Title
Study of Ionospheric Bending Angle and Scintillation Profiles Derived by GNSS Radio-Occultation with MetOp-A Satellite
Author
Prol, Fabricio S 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hoque, M Mainul 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hernández-Pajares, Manuel 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Yuan, Liangliang 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Olivares-Pulido, Germán 3 ; Axel von Engeln 4 ; Marquardt, Christian 4 ; Notarpietro, Riccardo 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Navigation and Positioning, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI), National Land Survey of Finland (NLS), Vuorimiehentie 5, 02150 Espoo, Finland; German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Kalkhorstweg 53, 17235 Neustrelitz, Germany 
 German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Kalkhorstweg 53, 17235 Neustrelitz, Germany 
 Department of Mathematics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya—IOnospheric Determination and Navigation Based on Satellite and Terrestrial Systems (UPC-IonSAT), E08034 Barcelona, Spain 
 European Operational Satellite Agency for Monitoring Weather (EUMETSAT), Am Kavalleriesand 31, 64295 Darmstadt, Germany 
First page
1663
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20724292
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2791712672
Copyright
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.