Comparisons of ionospheric electron density distributions reconstructed by GPS computerized tomography, backscatter ionograms, and vertical ionograms. Issue 12 (29th December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhou, Chen; Lei, Yong; Li, Bofeng; An, Jiachun; Zhu, Peng; Jiang, Chunhua; Zhao, Zhengyu; Zhang, Yuannong; Ni, Binbin; Wang, Zemin; Zhou, Xuhua
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 120:Issue 12(2015:Dec.)
• Page Start: 11, 032
• Page End: 11, 047
• Publication Date: 2015-12-29
• Subjects: ionospheric electron density -- ionospheric tomography -- backscatter radar; Magnetospheric physics -- Periodicals; Space environment -- Periodicals; Cosmic physics -- Periodicals; Planets -- Atmospheres -- Periodicals; Heliosphere (Astrophysics) -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 523.01
• DOI: 10.1002/2015JA021855
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-9380

Abstract

Abstract: Global Positioning System (GPS) computerized ionosphere tomography (CIT) and ionospheric sky wave ground backscatter radar are both capable of measuring the large‐scale, two‐dimensional (2‐D) distributions of ionospheric electron density (IED). Here we report the spatial and temporal electron density results obtained by GPS CIT and backscatter ionogram (BSI) inversion for three individual experiments. Both the GPS CIT and BSI inversion techniques demonstrate the capability and the consistency of reconstructing large‐scale IED distributions. To validate the results, electron density profiles obtained from GPS CIT and BSI inversion are quantitatively compared to the vertical ionosonde data, which clearly manifests that both methods output accurate information of ionopsheric electron density and thereby provide reliable approaches to ionospheric soundings. Our study can improve current understanding of the capability and insufficiency of these two methods on the large‐scale IED reconstruction. Key Points: Ionospheric electron density is important GPS CIT and BSI inversion can provide reliable IED and show good consistency Bias and deficiency of both methods need improvement