학술논문

Study of Ionospheric Bending Angle and Scintillation Profiles Derived by GNSS Radio-Occultation with MetOp-A Satellite
Document Type
Academic Journal
Source
Remote Sensing. March, 2023, Vol. 15 Issue 6
Subject
Cellular transmission equipment
Telecommunications equipment
Communications equipment
Ionosphere
Artificial satellites
Atmosphere, Upper
Language
English
ISSN
2072-4292
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.
Author(s): Fabricio S. Prol (corresponding author) [1,2,*]; M. Mainul Hoque [2]; Manuel Hernández-Pajares [3]; Liangliang Yuan [2]; Germán Olivares-Pulido [3]; Axel von Engeln [4]; Christian Marquardt [4]; Riccardo Notarpietro [4] [...]