Amplitude morphology of GPS radio occultation data for sporadic‐E layers

Abstract

Using the Global Positioning System radio occultation (GPSRO) technique, the observation of the global ionosphere becomes possible. The irregularity in the ionospheric sporadic‐E (Es) layer, which is probably caused by wind shear, can be investigated by analyzing the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of RO signal. In this study, the relation between the amplitude of RO signals and the electron density profiles of the ionosphere is simulated, and RO data recorded in the time period from mid‐2008 to mid‐2011 are used for the analysis. Based on the simulation results, the multiple‐layer‐type (MLT) and the single‐layer‐type (SLT)Es layers which are defined by the shape of SNR, are used to analyze the global distribution of Es layer. The seasonal MLT Es layer is compared with the seasonal wind shear, which is obtained from the Horizontal Wind Model (HWM07). Furthermore, the seasonal MLT Es layer is compared with the SLT Es layer, and the global altitude distributions of MLT and SLT Es layers are similar while the magnitude distributions are different. Unlike the MLT Es layer, the global distribution of the SLT Es layer is similar to the distribution of E region peak electron density (NmE), which is related to the solar zenith angle.