Topside Ionosphere Radio Observations from multiple LEO-missions
- 1GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany (schreit@gfz-potsdam.de)
- 2Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Germany
- 3TU Delft, The Netherlands
- 4Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland
- 5Department of Space Physics, Electronic Information School, Wuhan University, China
- 6University of Potsdam, Germany
Topside Ionosphere Radio Observations from multiple Low Earth Orbiting (LEO)-missions (TIRO) is a project in ESA’s Swarm Data, Innovation, and Science Cluster (DISC) framework. TIRO provides high accuracy Total Electron Content (TEC) from dual-frequency GPS receivers onboard CHAMP (2000-2010), GRACE (2002-2017), and GRACE Follow-On (since 2018) missions. Special emphasis is put to ensure maximum consistency between the previously and operationally derived data sets from GOCE and Swarm to investigate conjunctions and thus ensure the consistency of the entire timeline from as early as CHAMP up to GRACE-FO. The primary science instrument onboard GRACE and GRACE-FO is a K-Band inter-satellite ranging system, which in this study is used to derive an estimate of the in-situ electron density. The derived electron density will be validated using both, the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model and radar observations taken at Millstone Hill, Arecibo, EISCAT, Resolute Bay, and Jicamarca.
In combination, these products form long-term series and almost cover two full solar cycles by the continuous TEC data set and electron density either taken by CHAMP, GRACE, Swarm, or GRACE-FO. We will present climatological studies as well as case studies of selected events, such as equatorial plasma depletions, simultaneously observed by GPS and K-Band.
How to cite: Schreiter, L., Kervalishvili, G., Rauberg, J., Stolle, C., van den Ijssel, J., Arnold, D., Xiong, C., and Callegare, A. O.: Topside Ionosphere Radio Observations from multiple LEO-missions, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5129, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5129, 2022.
