A new method for probing the spatial and temporal features of the topside ionosphere is presented. The Vary‐Chap model given by linear functions was used to discover and report features of the topside scale height and its gradient. Based on the global coverage of the radio occultation data, spherical harmonic functions were applied to detect some spatial features of the estimated topside. In addition, a Fourier time‐dependent method was applied in 10 consecutive years to both estimate and predict the temporal evolution of the topside. As a result, the temporal variation of the peak height showed high correlation with the scale height. And on the other hand, the electron density peak showed a strong anticorrelation with the gradient of the scale height. This suggests that the equatorial topside was mainly controlled by the E × B equatorial vertical drift, which increases the scale height in the equatorial region, and the diffusion of the electrons along the geomagnetic field lines, which reduces the gradient of the scale height. Also, a 1 year prediction with a reasonable accuracy showed that the proposed model can be considered a practical and useful tool for predicting features of the topside ionosphere, which may have special interest for the development of climatological models.

No abstract

No abstract

Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) measurements have become an outstanding data source for ionospheric studies using total electron content (TEC) estimation procedures. Many methods for TEC estimation had been developed over recent decades, but none of them is capable of providing high accuracy for the single-frequency precise point positioning (PPP). We present an analysis of the performance of a new TEC calibration procedure when applied to PPP. TEC estimation is assessed by calculating the improvements obtained in single-frequency PPP in kinematic mode. A total of 120 days with six distinct configurations of base and rover stations was used, and the TEC performance is assessed by applying the estimated TEC from the base station to correct the ionospheric delay in a nearby rover receiver. The single-frequency PPP solution in the rover station reached centimeter accuracy similar to the ionospheric-free PPP solution. Further, the TEC calibration method presented an improvement of about 74% compared to the PPP using the global ionospheric maps. We, therefore, confirm that it is possible to estimate high-precision TEC for accurate PPP applications, which enables us to conclude that the principal challenge of the GNSS community developing ionospheric models is not the differential code bias or the temporal variation of the ionosphere, but the development of methods for accurate spatial interpolation of the slant TEC.

Total electron content measurements given by the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) have successfully presented results to capture the signatures of equatorial plasma bubbles. In contrast, the correct reproduction of plasma depletions at electron density level is still a relevant challenge for ionospheric tomographic imaging. In this regard, this work shows the first results of a new tomographic reconstruction technique based on GNSS and radio-occultation data to map the vertical and horizontal distributions of ionospheric plasma bubbles in one of the most challenging conditions of the equatorial region. Twenty-three days from 2013 and 2014 with clear evidence of plasma bubble structures propagating through the Brazilian region were analyzed and compared with simultaneous observations of all-sky images in the 630.0 nm emission line of the atomic oxygen. The mean rate of success of the tomographic method was 37.1%, being more efficient near the magnetic equator, where the dimensions of the structures are larger. Despite some shortcomings of the reconstruction technique, mainly associated with ionospheric scintillations and the weak geometry of the ground-based GNSS receivers, both vertical and horizontal distributions were mapped over more than 30° in latitude, and have been detected in instances where the meteorological conditions disrupted the possibility of analyzing the OI 630 nm emissions. Therefore, the results revealed the proposed tomographic reconstruction as an efficient tool for mapping characteristics of the plasma bubble structures, which may have a special interest in Space Weather, Spatial Geodesy, and Telecommunications.

One of the largest sources of error in positioning and navigation with GNSS is the ionosphere, and the associated error is directly proportional to the TEC and inversely proportional to the square of the signal frequency that propagates through the ionosphere. The equatorial region, especially in Brazil, is where the highest spatial and temporal value variations of the TEC are seen, and where these various features of the ionosphere, such as the equatorial anomaly and scintillation, can be found. Thus, the development and assessments of ionospheric models are important. In this paper, the quality of the TEC was evaluated, as well as the systematic error in the L1 carrier and the inter-frequency biases of satellites and receivers estimated with the Mod_Ion, observable from GPS and integration with the GLONASS, collected with dual frequency receivers.

No abstract

The Amazonian coast consists of extensive flood plains and plateaus characterized by a high discharge of water and sediment from the Amazon River. This wide landscape occurs under a tropical climate with heavy rains and high cloud cover, making it unsuitable for conventional mapping based on optical images. Additionally, the flat relief and vegetation structure of the Brazilian Amazon coast define an incoherent to partially coherent behavior for the microwave signal, rendering radargrammetric models more suitable for the three-dimensional mapping of its surface. This study aimed to assess the digital surface models (DSMs) provided by Cosmo-SkyMed (CSK) and TerraSAR-X (TSX) Stripmap datasets throughout the radargrammetric models from SARscape and Toutin. The DSMs were generated from SAR (synthetic aperture radar) data with an acquisition geometry that addressed the need for a compromise between the intersection angles and low temporal decorrelation. The radargrammetric SARscape and Toutin's models were developed from different amounts of stereo ground control points (SGCP). The generated DSMs were evaluated considering a set of 40 independent checkpoints (ICP) measured by GNSS in the field, in their entirety and disaggregated by coastal environment. The vertical accuracy was based on the estimation of the discrepancies, bias and precision (standard deviation and root mean square error -RMSE), and the Taylor and Target diagrams were used for a more comprehensive comparison. In the vertical accuracy analysis using all ICPs measured in situ, the DSM obtained by the SARscape's model from the CSK SAR data resulted in the lowest RMSE (4.34 m) and mean discrepancy (0.05 m), but Toutin's model had the lowest standard deviation (2.58 m) of the discrepancies. The Taylor and Target diagrams showed fluctuations in accuracy that alternated the DSMs generated from the two types of SAR data, indicating that TSX produced more stable models and CSK produced better vertical accuracy. The Amazon Coastal Plateau and Fluvial Marine Terrace environments defined three-dimensional representations with lower RMSEs (better than 7.8 and 8.9 m, respectively), regardless of the type of SAR data or the radargrammetric model used. The worst performance, which was for the Fluvial Marine Plain, was influenced by the specific characteristics of this coastal environment, such as the structure of the mangrove vegetation and the shoreline. In general, the high resolution and good ability to revisit the SAR data used, together with the radargrammetric models, allowed for the accurate mapping of the flat relief of the Amazon coastal environments, providing detailed spatial information that can be acquired in severe rainfall conditions in a region of intense morphological dynamics.