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Sounding of the topside ionosphere/plasmasphere based on GPS measurements from CHAMP: Initial results
Author(s) -
Heise S.,
Jakowski N.,
Wehrenpfennig A.,
Reigber Ch.,
Lühr H.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2002gl014738
Subject(s) - plasmasphere , ionosphere , global positioning system , tec , remote sensing , orbit determination , geodesy , radio occultation , electron density , depth sounding , total electron content , geology , geophysics , physics , electron , computer science , magnetosphere , plasma , telecommunications , oceanography , quantum mechanics
Beside the GPS radio occultation measurements of the troposphere and ionosphere, the CHAMP satellite tracks presently up to 8 GPS satellites simultaneously for navigation. The received dual frequency GPS signals provide valuable information on the ionization state of the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere. This paper briefly describes a new developed model assisted technique to improve the three dimensional electron density estimation above the CHAMP orbit from these GPS measurements. Application of this assimilation algorithm provides a 2‐D electron density slice of the ionosphere/plasmasphere system within the CHAMP orbit plane from the CHAMP altitude up to GPS orbit heights. We estimate the accuracy of the GPS TEC calibration and perform a first validation by comparing the retrieved electron density of the ionosphere/plasmasphere slice at CHAMP altitude to simultaneous electron density measurements of the Langmuir Probe onboard CHAMP.