Abstract
A chain of newly designed GNU (GNU is not UNIX) Radio Beacon Receivers (GRBR) has recently been established over Japan, primarily for tomographic imaging of the ionosphere over this region. Receivers installed at Shionomisaki (33.45°N, 135.8°E), Shigaraki (34.8°N, 136.1°E), and Fukui (36°N, 136°E) continuously track low earth orbiting satellites (LEOS), mainly OSCAR, Cosmos, and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC, to obtain simultaneous total electron content (TEC) data from these three locations, which are then used for the tomographic reconstruction of ionospheric electron densities. This is the first GRBR network established for TEC observations, and the first beacon-based tomographic imaging in Japanese longitudes. The first tomographic images revealed the temporal evolution with all of the major features in the ionospheric electron density distribution over Japan. A comparison of the tomographically reconstructed electron densities with the ƒoF2 data from Kokubunji (35°N, 139°E) revealed that there was good agreement between the datasets. These first results show the potential of GRBR and its network for making continuous, unattended ionospheric TEC measurements and for tomographic imaging of the ionosphere.
Highlights
Receivers installed at Shionomisaki (33.45◦N, 135.8◦E), Shigaraki (34.8◦N, 136.1◦E), and Fukui (36◦N, 136◦E) continuously track low earth orbiting satellites (LEOS), mainly OSCAR, Cosmos, and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC, to obtain simultaneous total electron content (TEC) data from these three locations, which are used for the tomographic reconstruction of ionospheric electron densities
The use of beacons on low earth orbiting satellites (LEOS) emerged as a potential tool to investigate the twodimensional structure of the ionosphere soon after Austen et al (1988) suggested that the tomographic technique using total electron content (TEC) data could be used for imaging the electron density distribution in the ionosphere
The first ground-based GRBR network established for tomography experiments is being used for the first time to monitor the ionospheric TEC variability
Summary
The use of beacons on low earth orbiting satellites (LEOS) emerged as a potential tool to investigate the twodimensional structure of the ionosphere soon after Austen et al (1988) suggested that the tomographic technique using total electron content (TEC) data could be used for imaging the electron density distribution in the ionosphere. The primary data used for the tomographic inversion is the line of sight TECs estimated along a number of ray paths from a chain of ground receivers aligned along the same longitude. The relationship between these data and the electron density can be described by TEC = N (s) ds (1). The TECs are estimated along a number of ray paths
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