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Ground and Space-Borne Multi-Instrumental Radio-Wave-Based Research of Ionospheric Irregularities and Structures

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 May 2023) | Viewed by 7247

Special Issue Editor

Space Radio-Diagnostics Research Centre, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: Space weather; ionosphere; magnetosphere; satellite geodesy; LOFAR
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, we have observed an increasing interest in ionospheric research coming from different parts of the scientific community. Not only are there the people interested in the traditional sense of this branch of science using increasingly more diverse instrumentation, but also radio astronomers are seeking insight into the ionosphere as it directly impacts their observations. We also can observe a shift from scientific interest in TEC depiction of the ionosphere state at a given time towards detailed descriptors of the dynamics of the ionosphere changes over time, especially short periods.

The methods for ionospheric research are many and well established, each giving an insight into a different aspect of the ionospheric state and dynamics. This Special Issue of Sensors is devoted to such multi-instrumental insight into the conductive layer of our atmosphere and is intended to give a broad view of current methods and fields-of-use of such research. Hence, state-of-the-art review, as well as result, papers are welcome for the issue. Of special interest are papers describing novel usage and methods for GNSS, radio occultation, ionosonde, in situ and radioastronomical observations as well as other techniques of ionospheric dynamic radio measurements.

Prof. Dr. Andrzej Krankowski
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • ionosphere
  • irregularities
  • scintillations
  • GNSS
  • radio occultation
  • ionosonde
  • radioastronomy
  • in situ measurements

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6481 KiB  
Article
Morphological and Spectral Features of Ionospheric Structures at E- and F-Region Altitudes over Poker Flat Analyzed Using Modeling and Observations
by Pralay Raj Vaggu, Kshitija B. Deshpande, Seebany Datta-Barua, Gary S. Bust, Donald L. Hampton, Aurora López Rubio and James P. Conroy
Sensors 2023, 23(5), 2477; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s23052477 - 23 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1163
Abstract
Electron density irregularities in the ionosphere modify the phase and amplitude of trans-ionospheric radio signals. We aim to characterize the spectral and morphological features of E- and F-region ionospheric irregularities likely to produce these fluctuations or “scintillations”. To characterize them, we use a [...] Read more.
Electron density irregularities in the ionosphere modify the phase and amplitude of trans-ionospheric radio signals. We aim to characterize the spectral and morphological features of E- and F-region ionospheric irregularities likely to produce these fluctuations or “scintillations”. To characterize them, we use a three-dimensional radio wave propagation model—“Satellite-beacon Ionospheric scintillation Global Model of upper Atmosphere” (SIGMA), along with the scintillation measurements observed by a cluster of six Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers called Scintillation Auroral GPS Array (SAGA) at Poker Flat, AK. An inverse method is used to derive the parameters that describe the irregularities by estimating the best fit of model outputs to GPS observations. We analyze in detail one E-region and two F-region events during geomagnetically active times and determine the E- and F-region irregularity characteristics using two different spectral models as input to SIGMA. Our results from the spectral analysis show that the E-region irregularities are more elongated along the magnetic field lines with rod-shaped structures, while the F-region irregularities have wing-like structures with irregularities extending both along and across the magnetic field lines. We also found that the spectral index of the E-region event is less than the spectral index of the F-region events. Additionally, the spectral slope on the ground at higher frequencies is less than the spectral slope at irregularity height. This study describes distinctive morphological and spectral features of irregularities at E- and F-regions for a handful of cases performed using a full 3D propagation model coupled with GPS observations and inversion. Full article
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28 pages, 1744 KiB  
Article
Spectral Analysis and Information Entropy Approaches to Data of VLF Disturbances in the Waveguide Earth-Ionosphere
by Yuriy Rapoport, Volodymyr Reshetnyk, Asen Grytsai, Volodymyr Grimalsky, Oleksandr Liashchuk, Alla Fedorenko, Masashi Hayakawa, Andrzej Krankowski, Leszek Błaszkiewicz and Paweł Flisek
Sensors 2022, 22(21), 8191; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s22218191 - 26 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1554
Abstract
Very low frequency (VLF) signals are considered as an important tool to study ionosphere disturbances. We have studied variations in signal amplitude of the Japanese JJI transmitter received by a network of eight Japan stations. The distinctions between characteristics of daytime and nighttime [...] Read more.
Very low frequency (VLF) signals are considered as an important tool to study ionosphere disturbances. We have studied variations in signal amplitude of the Japanese JJI transmitter received by a network of eight Japan stations. The distinctions between characteristics of daytime and nighttime disturbances are considered. Signal processing based on spectral analysis is used to evaluate typical periodicities in the VLF signals in the time range from minutes to hours. In particular, we have retrieved quasi-wave oscillations of the received signal with periods of 4–10 and 20–25 min, which can be associated with atmospheric gravity waves excited by the solar terminator, earthquakes or other reasons. In addition, oscillations at periods of 3–4 h are observed, probably, caused by long-period gravity waves. We also calculate the information entropy to identify main details in daily VLF variations and influence of solar flares. It is shown that the information entropy increases near sunrise and sunset with seasonal variation, and that solar flares also lead to the growth in information entropy. A theoretical interpretation is given to the typical features of ultra-low frequency modulation of VLF electronagnetic wave spectra in Waveguide Earth-Ionosphere, found by processing the experimental data. Full article
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17 pages, 5187 KiB  
Article
IGS ROTI Maps: Current Status and Its Extension towards Equatorial Region and Southern Hemisphere
by Iurii Cherniak, Irina Zakharenkova and Andrzej Krankowski
Sensors 2022, 22(10), 3748; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s22103748 - 14 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2057
Abstract
The International GNSS Service (IGS) diurnal ROTI maps ionospheric product was developed to characterize ionospheric irregularities occurrence over the Northern hemisphere and has been available for the community since 2014. Currently, the diurnal ROTI maps database hosted by NASA CDDIS covers the period [...] Read more.
The International GNSS Service (IGS) diurnal ROTI maps ionospheric product was developed to characterize ionospheric irregularities occurrence over the Northern hemisphere and has been available for the community since 2014. Currently, the diurnal ROTI maps database hosted by NASA CDDIS covers the period from 2010 to now. Here, we report the ROTI maps product operational status and important changes in the product availability and access. Apart from actual ROTI maps product production, we work on the extension of ROTI maps to cover not only the Northern hemisphere but also the area of the Southern hemisphere and equatorial/low latitude region. Such extended ROTI maps are important for ionospheric irregularities climatology research and ionospheric responses to space weather. We present recent development toward the new ROTI maps product and the updated data format. To evaluate extended the ROTI maps performance, we analyzed the ability to represent key features of ionospheric irregularity occurrence over the Southern hemisphere and low latitudes. For auroral and midlatitudes, we present the cross-comparison of ROTI-derived irregularities patterns over the Northern and Southern hemispheres. For low latitudes, we examined the sensitivity of the resulted ROTI maps to detect plasma irregularities associated with equatorial plasma bubbles development for low, middle, and high solar activity periods. Full article
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16 pages, 5966 KiB  
Article
Ground-Based GNSS and Satellite Observations of Auroral Ionospheric Irregularities during Geomagnetic Disturbances in August 2018
by Irina Zakharenkova, Iurii Cherniak and Andrzej Krankowski
Sensors 2021, 21(22), 7749; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21227749 - 21 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1818
Abstract
The 25–26 August 2018 space weather event occurred during the solar minimum period and surprisingly became the third largest geomagnetic storm of the entire 24th solar cycle. We analyzed the ionospheric response at high latitudes of both hemispheres using multi-site ground-based GNSS observations [...] Read more.
The 25–26 August 2018 space weather event occurred during the solar minimum period and surprisingly became the third largest geomagnetic storm of the entire 24th solar cycle. We analyzed the ionospheric response at high latitudes of both hemispheres using multi-site ground-based GNSS observations and measurements onboard Swarm and DMSP satellites. With the storm development, the zones of intense ionospheric irregularities of auroral origin largely expanded in size and moved equatorward towards midlatitudes as far as ~55–60° magnetic latitude (MLAT) in the American, European, and Australian longitudinal sectors. The main ionospheric trough, associated with the equatorward side of the auroral oval, shifted as far equatorward as 45–50° MLAT at both hemispheres. The interhemispheric comparison revealed a high degree of similarity in a large expansion of the auroral irregularities oval towards midlatitudes, in addition to asymmetrical differences in terms of larger intensity of plasma density gradients and structures over the Southern auroral and polar cap regions. Evolution of the intense ionospheric irregularities and equatorward expansion of the auroral irregularities oval were well correlated with increases of geomagnetic activity and peaks of the auroral electrojet index. Full article
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