Preliminary study of topside ionospheric variations using SWARM satellites over the Malaysia Region

Abstract

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a satellite constellation mission called Swarm in 2013. The Swarm satellites named A, B and C are equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers which can be used to study the topside of the ionosphere. In Malaysia, the use of ionospheric data from the Swarm satellites is still new as most researchers previously used GPS receivers on the Earth. This paper presents the preliminary result of topside-ionosphere parameter, Total Electron Content (TEC) over Malaysia using the Swarm satellite data. TEC from the Swarm data were analyzed during quiet and disturbed geomagnetic days. The results showed that the Swarm satellites passed through Malaysia twice in 24 hours and the variations of TEC over Malaysia ranged from 2 to 20 TECU. Analysis of the topside ionosphere during a geomagnetic storm showed a sudden decreased of TEC compared to the quiet days. The findings indicate that the variations of topside TEC using Swarm are in agreement with those found in previous studies.