GNSS-based global ionospheric maps : real-time combination, time resolution and applications on space weather monitoring

Tesi amb una secció retallada per drets d'editor.The research of this paper-based dissertation is focused on the Global Ionospheric Maps (GIMs) based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) including real-time combination, validation, time resolution and applications. The novelty of these works can be summarized as follows: The first contribution is to connect GIM assessment methods in post-processing and real-time mode including Jason-altimeter Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) assessment, GNSS differences of Slant Total Electron Content (dSTEC) assessment and real-time dSTEC (RT-dSTEC) assessment. With the RT-dSTEC assessment, we can assess the accuracy and calculate the weight of different real-time GIMs for combination in real-time mode. The Jason-altimeter VTEC assessment and dSTEC assessment can be used for evaluating GIMs over oceans and continental regions, respectively. In addition, the accurate GIMs shown in the GIM assessment methods can be regarded as reliable representations of global VTEC. The second contribution is to apply the RT-dSTEC assessment in real-time mode for the combination of different International GNSS Service (IGS) real-time GIMs. The IGS combined real-time GIM is generated to provide robust ionospheric corrections for real-time GNSS positioning and reliable global VTEC distribution for earth observations. The current status of IGS real-time GIMs from different centers is summarized and compared. The Jason-altimeter VTEC assessment and dSTEC assessment in post-processing mode are used for the validation of IGS real-time GIMs. The sensibility of real-time weighting technique by RT-dSTEC assessment is also verified. The third contribution is to investigate the influence of temporal resolution on the performance of GIMs. The variation of ionosphere is typically assumed as linear between two consecutive GIM TEC maps in a sun-fixed reference frame for up to few hours. However, the variation of ionospheric TEC is irregular due to the occurrence of space weather events. One and a half solar cycle of the IGS GIM with higher time resolution and accuracy (the UPC-IonSAT Quarter-of-an-hour time resolution Rapid GIM, UQRG) has been taken as a baseline to downsample them to all possible sub-daily temporal resolutions. The performance of the resulting GIMs has been evaluated taking into account the geographical position, solar and geomagnetic activity by Jason-altimeter VTEC assessment and dSTEC assessment. The fourth contribution is to propose a new way of estimating the spatial and temporal components of the VTEC gradient. The determination of ionospheric perturbation degrees can be helpful for guaranteeing the safety level of Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) and Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) services. In order to estimate the spatial and temporal components of the VTEC gradient on a global scale, the accurate UQRG is selected. The VTEC gradient indices derived from UQRG GIMs (VgUG) allow users to obtain full (non-relative) values of TEC spatial gradients and temporal variations separately. The Regional VTEC spatial Gradient indices, based on UQRG (RVGU) and the Regional Ionospheric Disturbance index based on UQRG (RIDU), are proposed to estimate the regional ionospheric perturbation degree over selected regions. In addition, the spatial and temporal components of VTEC gradient at grid points of UQRG on a global scale are also introduced. The fifth contribution is to define a new ionospheric storm scale. The ionospheric response to high geomagnetic activity, ionospheric storm, can enlarge GNSS positioning errors by the increase of ionospheric electron density and disable high-frequency communications by the decrease of ionospheric electron density. To characterize the ionospheric state on a global scale, reliable global VTEC distribution is essential. According to previous studies, UQRG is one of the most accurate GIM. In this regard, the new Ionospheric storm Scale based on UQRG, IsUG, is proposed.La investigación de esta tesis doctoral se centra en los Mapas Ionosféricos Globales (GIMs) basados en el Sistema Global de Navegación por Satélite (GNSS), incluyendo la combinación en tiempo real, la validación, la resolución temporal y su aplicación. La novedad de los trabajos presentados puede resumirse como sigue: La primera contribución consiste en conectar los métodos de evaluación de los GIM en modo de posprocesamiento y en tiempo real, incluyendo la evaluación VTEC gracias a las medidas de los altímetros Jason, la evaluación del contenido total de electrones diferencial (dSTEC) y la evaluación dSTEC en tiempo real (RT-dSTEC). Con la evaluación RT-dSTEC, podemos evaluar la precisión y calcular el peso de diferentes GIM en tiempo real para su combinación también en tiempo real. La evaluación VTEC del altímetro Jason y la evaluación dSTEC pueden utilizarse para evaluar los GIM sobre los océanos y las regiones continentales, respectivamente. Además, los GIM precisos mostrados en los métodos de evaluación de GIM pueden considerarse como representaciones fiables del contenido total de electrones vertical global (VTEC). La segunda contribución consiste en aplicar la evaluación RT-dSTEC en tiempo real para la combinación de diferentes GIM del Servicio Internacional GNSS (IGS), todo ello en tiempo real. El GIM IGS combinado resultante proporciona correcciones ionosféricas robustas para el posicionamiento GNSS en tiempo real y una distribución global de VTEC fiable para las observaciones terrestres. Se resume y compara el estado actual de los GIM en tiempo real de diferentes centros IGS. La evaluación de VTEC respecto de los altímetros Jason y la evaluación de dSTEC en modo de posprocesamiento también se utilizan para la validación de los GIM en tiempo real del IGS. Y se verifica la sensibilidad de la técnica de ponderación en tiempo real mediante la evaluación RT-dSTEC. La tercera contribución consiste en proponer una nueva forma de estimar las componentes espaciales y temporales del gradiente VTEC. La determinación de los grados de perturbación ionosférica puede ser útil para garantizar el nivel de seguridad de los servicios del Sistema de Aumento Basado en Satélites (SBAS) y del Sistema de Aumento Basado en Tierra (GBAS). Para estimar los componentes espaciales y temporales del gradiente de VTEC a escala global, se selecciona el GIM UQRG debido a su exactitud y resolución temporal. Los índices de gradiente VTEC derivados de los GIM de UQRG (VgUG) permiten a los usuarios obtener valores completos (no relativos) de gradientes espaciales de VTEC y de las variaciones temporales por separado. Los índices de gradiente espacial VTEC regional, basados en UQRG (RVGU) y el índice de perturbación ionosférica regional basado en UQRG (RIDU), se proponen para estimar el grado de perturbación ionosférica regional sobre zonas de interés. Además también se introducen los componentes espaciales y temporales del gradiente VTEC en los puntos de la cuadrícula con valores proporcionados por UQRG a escala global. La cuarta contribución consiste en definir una nueva escala de tormentas ionosféricas. La respuesta ionosférica a la alta actividad geomagnética, la tormenta ionosférica, puede aumentar los errores de posicionamiento del GNSS por el aumento de la densidad de electrones ionosféricos e inhabilitar las comunicaciones de alta frecuencia por la disminución y en general rápida variación de la densidad de electrones ionosféricos. Para caracterizar el estado de la ionosfera a escala global, es esencial contar con una distribución global fiable de VTEC. Según estudios anteriores, el UQRG es uno de los GIM más precisos. En este sentido se propone la nueva Escala de tormentas ionosféricas basada en UQRG, IsUG.Postprint (published version

Contributions to ionospheric modeling with GNSS in mapping function, tomography and polar electron

This dissertation focuses on determining the vertical electron content distribution in low and high vertical resolution from ground-based and LEO on board GNSS data and improving the knowledge of ionosphere climatology in northern mid-latitude and polar regions. The novelty is summarized in the following four aspects: The first contribution is to propose a new ionospheric mapping function concept - Barcelona Ionospheric Mapping Function (BIMF), in order to improve STEC (Slant Total Electron Content) conversion accuracy from any given VTEC (Vertical Total Electron Content) model. BIMF is based on the climatic modeling of the VTEC fraction in the second layer - µ2, which is the byproduct of UQRG generated by UPC. The first implementation of BIMF is BIMF-nml for the northern mid-latitudes, where the latitudinal variation of µ2 is neglected. µ2 is modeled as function of date and local time. From the user’s perspective, BIMF is the linear combination of µ2 and the standard ionospheric mapping function, and only needs 41 constant coefficients, making BIMF achieve the simplicity for application. The good performance has been demonstrated in the dSTEC assessment for different IGSGIMs: UQRG, CODG and JPLG. The second contribution is to confirm the capability of UQRG GIMs to detect representative ionospheric features in polar regions through six case studies, including TOI (Tongue of Ionization), trough, flux transfer event, theta-aurora, ionospheric convection patterns and storm enhanced density. The long-term VTEC and µ2 data provide valuable databases for studying the morphology and climatology of polar ionospheric phenomena. The unsupervised clustering results of normalized VTEC distribution show that TOI and polar cap patches exhibit an annual dependence, i.e. most TOI and patches occurring in the North Hemisphere winter and the South Hemisphere summer. The third contribution is to propose a hybrid method - AVHIRO (the Abel-VaryChap Hybrid modeling from topside Incomplete RO data), to solve an ill-posed rank-deficient problem in the Abel electron density retrieval. This work is driven by the future EUMETSAT Polar System 2nd Generation, which provides truncated ionospheric RO data, only below impact heights of 500 km, in order to guarantee a full data gathering of the neutral part. AVHIRO takes advantage of one Linear Vary-Chap model, where the scale height increases linearly with altitude above the F2 layer peak, and uses Powell search to solve the full electron densities, ambiguity term, and four parameters of the Vary-Chap model simultaneously, taking into account the nonlinear interactions between the unknown parameters. The fourth contribution is to take advantage of the geometry brought by combining DORIS, ground-based Galileo, ground-based, LEO-POD and vessel-based GPS data and ingest the multi-source dual-frequency carrier phase measurements into the tomographic model to improve the GIM VTEC estimation precision. The impact of adding each type of measurements, which are Galileo data, vessel-based GPS data, DORIS and LEO-POD GPS data, to ground-based GPS data on GIM product is examined according to two complementing evaluation criteria, JASON-3 VTEC comparison and GPS dSTEC test. This study proves the expected better GIM performance by new data ingestion into tomographic model, which is a successful step forward from conception to initial experimental validation.electrones en resolución vertical baja y alta a partir de medidas GNSS terrestres y a bordo de satélites de órbita baja (LEO), además de utilizar medidas GNSS desde buques y medidas DORIS, además de mejorar el conocimiento de la climatología de la ionosfera en las regiones polares y en latitudes medias del hemisferio norte. Las contribuciones se pueden resumir en los siguientes cuatro aspectos: La primera contribución consiste en proponer un nuevo concepto de función de mapeo ionosférico: la función de mapeo ionosférico de Barcelona (BIMF), con el fin de mejorar la precisión de conversión de STEC (contenido total de electrones inclinado) a partir de cualquier modelo de VTEC (contenido total de electrones vertical). BIMF se basa en el modelado climático de la fracción VTEC en la segunda capa - μ2, que es el subproducto de UQRG generado por UPC. La primera implementación de BIMF es BIMF-nml para las latitudes medias del hemisferio norte. μ2 se modela en función del dia y la hora local. Desde la perspectiva del usuario, BIMF es la combinación lineal de μ2 y la función de mapeo ionosférico estándar, y solo necesita 41 coeficientes constantes, lo que hace que BIMF sea facilmente aplicable. Su buen comportamiento se demostró en la evaluación dSTEC para diferentes IGS GIM: UQRG, CODG y JPLG. La segunda contribución se centró en confirmar la capacidad de los GIM UQRG para detectar características ionosféricas representativas en regiones polares a través de seis estudios de casos, que incluyen lenguas de ionización (TOI), depresión de ionización en forma de canal, sucesos de transferencia de flujo, theta-aurora, patrones de convección ionosférica y densidad aumentada durante tormentas geomagnéticas. Los datos a largo plazo de VTEC y μ2 proporcionan valiosas bases de datos para estudiar la morfología y climatología de los fenómenos ionosféricos polares. Los resultados de agrupamiento no supervisados de la distribución normalizada de VTEC muestran que los TOI y los parches en los casquetes polares exhiben una dependencia anual, es decir, la mayoría de los TOI y parches ocurren en el invierno del Hemisferio Norte y el verano del Hemisferio Sur. La tercera contribución ha consistido en proponer un método híbrido: AVHIRO (el modelo híbrido Abel-VaryChap a partir de datos de RO incompletos en la parte superior), para resolver un problema de rango deficiente en la recuperación de la densidad electrónica con el modelo de Abel. Este trabajo está motivado por el futuro sistema polar EUMETSAT de segunda generación, que proporciona datos truncados de RO ionosférica, sólo por debajo de las alturas de impacto de 500 km, con el fin de garantizar una recopilación completa de medidas de la parte neutra. AVHIRO aprovecha un modelo Linear Vary-Chap, donde la altura de la escala aumenta linealmente con la altitud por encima del pico de la capa F2, y utiliza la búsqueda Powell para resolver las densidades completas de electrones, el término de ambig ¨ uedad y cuatro parámetros del modelo Vary-Chap simultáneamente, teniendo en cuenta las interacciones no lineales entre los parámetros desconocidos. La cuarta contribución es aprovechar la geometría aportada por la combinación de datos GPS DORIS, Galileo en tierra, LEO-POD y en barco, e incorporar las mediciones de la fase de la portadora de doble frecuencia de múltiples fuentes en el modelo tomográfico para mejorar la precisión de estimación de GIM VTEC. El impacto de agregar cada tipo de mediciones, que son datos de Galileo, datos de GPS basados en embarcaciones, datos de GPS DORIS y LEO-POD, a datos de GPS terrestres en productos GIM se examina de acuerdo con dos criterios de evaluación complementarios, comparación con VTEC[JASON-3] y con dSTEC[GPS]. Este estudio demuestra el mejor rendimiento esperado de GIM por la nueva ingesta de datos en el modelo tomográfico, que es un exitoso paso adelante desde la concepción hasta la validación experimental inicial

Geodetic Sciences

Space geodetic techniques, e.g., global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), satellite gravimetry and altimetry, and GNSS Reflectometry & Radio Occultation, are capable of measuring small changes of the Earth�s shape, rotation, and gravity field, as well as mass changes in the Earth system with an unprecedented accuracy. This book is devoted to presenting recent results and development in space geodetic techniques and sciences, including GNSS, VLBI, gravimetry, geoid, geodetic atmosphere, geodetic geophysics and geodetic mass transport associated with the ocean, hydrology, cryosphere and solid-Earth. This book provides a good reference for geodetic techniques, engineers, scientists as well as user community

A hybrid reconstruction algorithm for 3-D ionospheric tomography

In this paper, a hybrid reconstruction algorithm (HRA) is presented to solve the ill-posed inverse problem associated with 3-D ionospheric stochastic tomography. In this new method, the ionospheric electron density (IED) can be inverted by using two steps. First, a truncated singular value decomposition (TSVD) method, whose value is independent on any initial estimation, is used to resolve the ill-posed problem of the tomography system. Second, taking into account the "approximation" of its solution, an iterative improvement process of the solution is then implemented by utilizing the conventional algebraic reconstruction algorithm (ART). The HRA, therefore, offers a more reasonable approach to choose an initial approximate for the ART and to improve the quality of the final reconstructed image. A simulated experiment demonstrates that the HRA method is superior to the TSVD or the ART alone for the tomographic inversion of IED. Finally, the HRA is used to perform GPS-based tomographic reconstruction of the IED at mid- and low-latitude regions

Mapping equatorial ionospheric profiles over peninsular Malaysia using gps tomography

The ionospheric conditions over Malaysia are profoundly critical not only duea to its location that is near to the equator but also due to the high solar activity that occurred during the 11-years solar cycle. The two-dimensional (2D) single thin layer model (SLM) has been widely used to monitor and model the ionosphere. However, this model only focuses on the height of the maximum densities of the electron, which lies within 300 kilometre (km) to 450 km above the Earth and therefore neglects the information of bottom and topside of the ionosphere. Hence, a three-dimensional (3D) ionospheric structure is proposed to address these limitations. The aim of this study is to model the electron density profile over Peninsular Malaysia using Global Positioning System (GPS) ionospheric tomography method. In doing so, the Malaysian Real-time Kinematic Network (MyRTKnet) over Malaysia was utilized to derive the total electron content (TEC) maps. It was found that the variations of the TEC increase with decreasing of latitude and longitude, and gradually change from East to West direction. The GPS-derived TEC from the years 2009 to 2014 shows that the maximum yearly mean TEC over Malaysia is up to 58 TEC unit (TECU), recorded during the year 2014 which was associated with high sunspot numbers. The maximum yearly mean and the minimum peak of diurnal variations occur at 08 universal time (UT) and 21UT respectively. Next, the receiver code bias (DCBr) was estimated for MyRTKnet stations using the adopted algorithm from IONOLAB-BIAS. For assessment purpose, this method shows a good estimation of DCBr with the International Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Service (IGS) analysis centre compared to with Bernese software. Then, the GPS ionospheric tomography module was developed to reconstruct the electron density profile over Peninsular Malaysia. The results were validated with the nearest ionosonde station and the ionospheric global models such as the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model and NeQuick model. It was found that the differences between GPS ionospheric tomography with the models are small during the daytime but large at night-time. It was also found that, the GPS ionospheric tomography appears to be more agreeable with the IRI model than with NeQuick model. For the validation of the NmF2 parameters with the IRI model and ionosonde measurements, the GPS ionospheric tomography is more agreeable with the ionosonde than with the IRI model. The results also show that the GPS ionospheric tomography is capable to show the vertical ionospheric profile over the study area during quiet ionospheric conditions and its irregularities during disturbed conditions of the ionosphere. Overall, it was found that the GPS ionospheric tomography method is suitable for examining and monitoring the ionospheric variations and irregularities in support of the space weather studies in Peninsular Malaysia

Ionospheric TEC from the Turkish Permanent GNSS Network (TPGN) and comparison with ARMA and IRI models

Abstract: The present study investigates the ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) variations in the lower mid-latitude Turkish region from the Turkish permanent GNSS network (TPGN) and International GNSS Services (IGS) observations during the year 2016. The corresponding vertical TEC (VTEC) predicted by Auto Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) and International Reference Ionosphere 2016 (IRI-2016) models are evaluated to realize their effectiveness over the region. The spatial, diurnal and seasonal behavior of VTEC and the relative VTEC variations are modeled with Ordinary Least Square Estimator (OLSE). The spatial behavior of modeled result during March equinox and June solstice indicates an inverse relationship of VTEC with the longitude across the region. On the other hand, the VTEC variation during September equinox and December solstice including March equinox and June solstice are decreasing with increase in latitude. The GNSS observed and modeled diurnal variation of the VTEC show that the VTEC slowly increases with dawn, attains a broader duration of peak around 09.00 to 12.00 UT, and thereafter decreases gradually reaching minimum around 21.00 UT..