A Comparison of Sporadic-E Occurrence Rates Using Ionosonde and GPS Radio Occultation Measurements

Abstract

Sporadic-E (Es) occurrence rates from Global Position Satellite radio occultation (GPS-RO) measurements have shown to vary by nearly an order of magnitude between studies, motivating a comparison with ground-based measurements. In an attempt to find an accurate GPS-RO technique for detecting Es formation, occurrence rates derived using five previously developed GPS-RO techniques are compared to ionosonde measurements over an eight-year period from 2010-2017. GPS-RO measurements within 170 km of a ionosonde site are used to calculate Es occurrence rates and compared to the ground-truth ionosonde measurements. Each technique is compared individually for each ionosonde site and then combined to determine the most accurate GPS-RO technique for binary (present or absent) Es measurements. Overall, the Yu et al. (2020) S4 method showed the closest agreement with ionosonde measurements between 2010-2017and is the recommended technique for future GPS-RO based Es climatologies.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 26, 2021
Accession Number
AD1129105

Entities

People

  • Rodney A. Jr Carmona

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Department Of Defense
  • Diffraction
  • Electron Density
  • Electrons
  • Engineering
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Governments
  • Ground Based
  • Information Science
  • Ionograms
  • Ionosphere
  • Low Earth Orbits
  • Measurement
  • Networks
  • Observatories
  • Spacecraft
  • Standards
  • Statistical Analysis
  • United States
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Computer Vision.

Technology Areas

  • Space