Precursory phenomena observed in the total electron content measurements before great Hokkaido earthquake of September 25, 2003 (<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis> = 8.3)

In this paper the analysis of the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) variations obtained with using GPS measurements before the Hokkaido earthquake (M = 8.3) is presented. Anomalous behavior of TEC was detected within several days before the main event. Anomaly appeared as the local TEC enhancement situated in the vicinity of the forthcoming earthquake epicenter. These structures occurred during 5 days prior to the shock at the same interval of local time. At the process of the earthquake approach the amplitude of modification was increased, and it has reached the 85–90% level relative to the non-disturbed conditions 18 hours before the earthquake. The area of strong positive disturbance has extended over 1500 km in latitudes and 4000 km in longitudes. The analysis have shown that according to the series of characteristics (its locality, affinity with the epicenter, dome-shaped zone of manifestation, characteristic time of existence) the detected ionospheric anomaly may be associated to the precursors of seismic activity.     

A study of GPS ionospheric scintillations observed at Guilin

The occurrence of strong ionospheric scintillations with S4≥0.2 was studied using global positioning system (GPS) measurements at Guilin (25.29°N, 110.33°E; geomagnetic: 15.04°N, 181.98°E), a station located near the northern crest of equatorial anomaly in China. The results are presented for data collected from January 2007 to December 2008. The results show that amplitude scintillations occurred only during the first five months of the considered years. Nighttime amplitude scintillations, observed mainly in the south of Guilin, always occurred with phase scintillations, total electron content (TEC) depletions, and Rate Of change of TEC (ROT) fluctuations. However, TEC depletions and ROT fluctuations were weak during daytime amplitude scintillations, and daytime amplitude scintillations usually occurred in most of the azimuth directions. GPS scintillation/TEC observations recorded at Guilin and signal-to-noise-ratio measurements obtained from GPS-COSMIC radio occultation indicate that nighttime and daytime scintillations are very likely caused by ionospheric F region irregularities and sporadic E, respectively.     

Investigation of ionospheric TEC changes related to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake based on statistic analysis and signal detection

Ionospheric TEC (total electron content) time series are derived from GPS measurements at 13 stations around the epicenter of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Defining anomaly bounds for a sliding window by quartile and 2-standard deviation of TEC values, this paper analyzed the characteristics of ionospheric changes before and after the destructive event. The Neyman-Pearson signal detection method is employed to compute the probabilities of TEC abnormalities. Result shows that one week before the Wenchuan earthquake, ionospheric TEC over the epicenter and its vicinities displays obvious abnormal disturbances, most of which are positive anomalies. The largest TEC abnormal changes appeared on May 9, three days prior to the seismic event. Signal detection shows that the largest possibility of TEC abnormity on May 9 is 50.74%, indicating that ionospheric abnormities three days before the main shock are likely related to the preparation process of the M_S8.0 Wenchuan earthquake.     

On conformity of the EEJ based ionospheric model to the fountain effect and resulting improvements

The total electron content (TEC) of the equatorial ionosphere is controlled by photochemical processes as well as the transport of the ionospheric plasma near the magnetic equator. The transport phenomenon is initiated by the vertical drift driven by the eastward electric field, which also drives the Equatorial Electrojet. The empirical relation between the Equatorial Electrojet and the anomaly component of the equatorial TEC has already been established. Taking this relation as a reference, a simplified physical model of the anomaly component of equatorial TEC is obtained as a function of Equatorial Electrojet. Influence of other factors like the solar incidence angle and the solar flux are also considered here and the extent of their influence are also investigated. This has been done using TEC data obtained from dual frequency GPS receivers during the low solar activity period of 2005. The derived model is based on the physics of the underlying fountain effect and matches with the observed empirical relation to a fair extent. Obtained results are found to corroborate with previous findings and these physical model values are found to have improved correlation with the observed data than the reference empirical relation. This establishes the conformity between the EEJ based ionospheric model and the physical phenomenon of the fountain effect.     

2004年11月强磁暴期间武汉电离层TEC的响应和振幅闪烁特征的GPS观测

本文利用设在武汉(11436°E,3053°N,磁纬194°)的GPS电离层TEC和电波闪烁监测仪的测量数据,分析了2004年11月强磁暴期间TEC的响应以及电波闪烁和TEC起伏的特征.结果表明,在这次强磁暴期间,武汉及其邻近地区电离层TEC的响应以正暴相为主,正暴相分别出现在两次主相期间,最大正偏离达到50 TECU.这次磁暴另一个重要影响是主相期间L波段振幅闪烁的活动性及其强度显著增强.S4指数最大接近10.伴随增强的闪烁活动,多次观测到深度耗尽的等离子体泡与TEC起伏,TEC变化率的标准差ROTI指数也显著增强.分析揭示, ROTI指数与S4指数呈正相关,相关系数达到097.线性回归计算得到,ROTI和S4的比率为964.     

2011年3月24日缅甸地震期间电离层TEC异常分析

基于IGS提供的2011年3月全球TEC数据,利用滑动时窗进行异常识别的方法,分析电离层赤道异常区TEC在缅甸地震期间的异常情况。结果表明：在震前10 d内,地震上空电离层TEC出现了明显的异常扰动,电离层异常北驼峰在16日至18日期间出现了明显的较大区域负异常现象,且在18日时北驼峰明显向磁赤道漂移,负异常在19日时基本消失;而在地震发生的当天和震后一天出现了小范围的正异常,随后正异常消失。在地震期间地磁活动水平总体都相当平静,且太阳处于一个相对较稳定的中低活动水平,电离层出现的异常很可能与此次缅甸地震有关。     

THE METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING IONOSPHERIC TEC BACKGROUND FIELD BASED ON SVR MODEL

There are many factors related to the variations of TEC, and the changes of TEC caused by earthquake only occupy a small portion. Therefore, it is vital how to exclude the ionospheric interference of non-seismic factors accurately in the process of seismic ionospheric anomaly extraction. This study constructed a TEC non-seismic dynamic background field considering the influence of solar and geomagnetic activities. Firstly, the TEC components of half-year cycle and annual cycle are extracted by wavelet decomposition. Then, it establishes a regression model between TEC in which periodic factors are removed and solar activity index, geomagnetic activity index with SVR method(support vector regression)in non-seismic period. Finally, based on the constructed model, the solar activity index and geomagnetic activity index is used to reconstruct aperiodic components of TEC in earthquake's period. From the reconstructed aperiodic components of TEC plus the half-year periodic components and annual periodic components of TEC in the same period, the non-seismic dynamic background field is obtained. Comparing the residuals relative to original TEC values in non-seismic dynamic background field and traditional sliding window background, there are apparent monthly periodic change and semi-annual periodic change in the residuals of sliding window background, which can have obvious impacts on the subsequent seismic ionospheric anomaly detection. In order to test the validity of seismic TEC anomaly detection based on the background field construction method, this paper investigated the long time series TEC anomalies near Wenchuan city(30°N, 100°E)from March 1 to September 26 in 2008. It is found that under the condition of non-seismic disturbance such as solar activity and geomagnetic activity, TEC abnormal disturbance is rarely detected by non-seismic dynamic background field method, when compared with the traditional sliding time-window method. And before the earthquake, more TEC anomalies were detected based on the proposed method, also, they were more intense than those extracted by sliding window method. Therefore, the TEC background field construction method based on SVR(support vector regression)has superiorities in both system errors elimination, which are caused by solar, geomagnetism, the non-seismic ionospheric disturbance events and periodic fluctuations of TEC, and in reducing the false alarm rate of seismic TEC anomaly. Moreover, it can also improve the seismic TEC anomaly detection ability. In addition, this paper analyzed the time-spatial distribution of TEC anomaly before three earthquakes on May 12, August 21 and August 30, 2008. They were mainly negative abnormal perturbations and often distributed on the equatorial side of epicenter.     

Variations in the total electron content during the powerful typhoon of August 5–11, 2006, near the southeastern coast of China

The variations in the total electron content (TEC), obtained from the data of 11 ground-based GPS stations in the region (5°S–80°N; 110–160°E) in the period August 2–15, 2006, have been analyzed in order to search for possible ionospheric manifestations of the SAOMAI powerful typhoon (August 5–11, 2006) near the south-eastern coast of China. The global TEC maps (GIM) have also been used. In the region of the typhoon action during the magnetic storm of August 7, 2006, an intensification of the TEC variations in the evening local time within the 32–128 min periods range was detected. However, this effect was most probably caused by the dynamics of the irregular structure of the equatorial anomaly and by the disturbed geomagnetic situation (Kp ～ 3–6, Dst varied from ?74 to ?153 nT). The analysis of the diurnal variations in the absolute values of TEC and TEC variations with periods of 2–25 min did not reveal a substantial increase in the intensity and changes in the spectrum of the TEC variations in the period of typhoon action as compared to the adjacent days. Thus, we failed to detect ionospheric disturbances unambiguously related to the SAOMAI typhoon.     

Automated daily process for global ionospheric total electron content maps and satellite ocean altimeter ionospheric calibration based on Global Positioning System data

The accuracy of single-frequency ocean altimeters benefits from calibration of the total electron content (TEC) of the ionosphere below the satellite. Data from a global network of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers provides timely, continuous, and globally well-distributed measurements of ionospheric electron content. For several months we have been running a daily automatic Global Ionospheric Map process which inputs global GPS data and climatological ionosphere data into a Kalman filter, and produces global ionospheric TEC maps and ocean altimeter calibration data within 24 h of the end-of-day. Other groups have successfully applied this output to altimeter data from the GFO satellite and in orbit determination for the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. Daily comparison of the global TEC maps with independent TEC data from the TOPEX altimeter is performed as a check on the calibration whenever the TOPEX data are available. Comparisons of the global TEC maps against TOPEX data will be discussed. Accuracy is best at mid-to-high absolute latitudes (∣latitude∣>30°) due to the better geographic distribution of GPS receivers and the relative simplicity of the ionosphere. Our highly data-driven technique is relatively less accurate at low latitudes and especially during ionospheric storm periods, due to the relative scarcity of GPS receivers and the structure and volatility of the ionosphere. However, it is still significantly more accurate than climatological models.     

利用GPS和DEMETER数据分析汶川地震前电离层变化

利用GPS TEC和法国DEMETER卫星ISL探测器的观测数据,分析了汶川地震前电离层变化.结果表明,电离层TEC在5月6-10日地方时下午有连续的负异常现象,5月9日地方时下午有明显的正异常现象.电离层TEC异常的范围主要位于震中南部区域,EW方向上1 100 ～1 670km,SN方向上1 600 ～3 700km.5月6日的负异常偏震中东南,5月7日的负异常偏震中西南,5月9日的正异常偏震中东南.震中西南和南部地区负异常较东南地区明显,震中南部和东南地区正异常程度较西南地区偏高,震中位置所对应南半球磁力线共轭区都出现了一定程度的正或负扰动.DEMETER卫星观测的电子密度Ne和离子密度N.在5月6-10日也出现了明显的负异常,异常分布与电离层TEC异常分布较为一致,主要集中在震中南部.震中所在的经度带上存在2个负异常峰值,且在纬度上关于地磁赤道对称.最后在上述异常的基础上,对基于岩石圈-大气层-电离层耦合的地震电离层异常机理开展了初步讨论.     

接收GPS卫星信号测量电离层总电子含量结果的初步分析

利用ＲｏｇｕｅＳＮＲ─８ＣＧＰＳ卫星接收机进行电离层总电子含量（ＴＥＣ）的观测。介绍了基本分析方法以及在新乡和南宁两地初步测量结果。结果表明，新乡的ＴＥＣ特性反映了中纬地区电离层的变化特征，而南宁的ＴＥＣ特性则反映了电离层的赤道异常的某些特征，显示了赤道异常峰的南北向移动的特点。     

The Weddell sea anomaly observed with the Topex satellite data

This paper introduces the complete image of the Weddell Sea Anomaly, observed with the over-the-ocean ionospheric total electron content (TEC) values obtained from the TOPEX satellite data with an almost unlimited coverage over the oceans, the first time according to the literature; and investigates its development. With a series of TOPEX TEC maps, this paper demonstrates the diurnal variations of both the night-time and the day-time Weddell Sea Anomaly, which appeared as a night-time TEC enhancement and as a day-time TEC depletion, during the near sunspot maximum period of 1998 and 1999 investigated. Several TOPEX passes, plotted in geomagnetic latitudes, are also presented to demonstrate the longitudinal variations of the Weddell Sea Anomaly, and also to show other ionospheric features appearing such as the southern-hemisphere mid-latitude day-time and night-time trough, the northern-hemisphere mid-latitude night-time trough and the equatorial anomaly. This paper demonstrates how large the anomaly is in reality situated west of the Faraday ionosonde station over the Bellinghausen Sea and not over the Weddell Sea that is east of Faraday. Thus the correct name should be Bellinghausen Sea Anomaly. Based upon the review paper of Dudeney and Piggott (1978), the development of the Weddell Sea Anomaly is explained with the combined effects of solar ultraviolet radiation and thermospheric neutral winds.     

A comparison of TEC fluctuations and scintillations at Ascension Island

With increasing reliance on space-based platforms for global navigation and communication, concerns about the impact of ionospheric scintillation on these systems have become a high priority. Recently, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) performed amplitude scintillation measurements of L1 (1.575 MHz) signals from GPS satellites at Ascension Island (14.45° W, 7.95° S; magnetic latitude 16° S) during February–April, 1998, to compare amplitude scintillations with fluctuations of the total electron content (TEC). Ascension Island is located in the South Atlantic under the southern crest of the equatorial anomaly of F2 ionization where scintillations will be much enhanced during the upcoming solar maximum period. Ascension Island is included in the global network of the International GPS Service (IGS) and the GPS receivers in this network report the carrier to noise (C/N) ratio, the dual frequency carrier phase and pseudorange data at 30-s intervals. Such data with a sampling interval of 30 s were analyzed to determine TEC, the rate of change of TEC (ROT) and also ROTI, defined as the standard deviation of ROT. The spatial scale of ROTI, sampled at 30 s interval, will correspond to 6 km when the vector sum of the ionospheric projection of the satellite velocity and the irregularity drift orthogonal to the propagation path is of the order of 100 m/s. On the other hand, the scale-length of the amplitude scintillation index corresponds to the Fresnel dimension which is about 400 m for the GPS L1 frequency and an ionospheric height of 400 km. It is shown that, in view of the co-existence of large and small scale irregularities in equatorial irregularity structures, during the early evening hours, and small magnitude of irregularity drifts, ROTI measurements can be used to predict the presence of scintillation causing irregularities. The quantitative relationship between ROTI and S4, however, varies considerably due to variations of the ionospheric projection of the satellite velocity and the ionospheric irregularity drift. During the post-midnight period, due to the decay of small scale irregularities leading to a steepening of irregularity power spectrum, ROTI, on occasions, may not be associated with detectable levels of scintillation. In view of the power law type of irregularity power spectrum, ROTI will, in general, be larger than S4 and the ratio, ROTI/S4, in the present dataset is found to vary between 2 and 10. At high latitudes, where the ionospheric motion, driven by large electric fields of magnetospheric origin, is much enhanced during magnetically active periods, ROTI/S4 may be considerably larger than that in the equatorial region.     

Response of the ionosphere to the Baltic Sea earthquake of 21 September 2004

GPS observations of the European permanent network were used to identify seismo-ionospheric precursors of Baltic Sea earthquake of 21 September 2004. It is a very rare event for this region of Europe (magnitude of about 5.0). This value is the threshold for the occurrence of seismic effects in the ionosphere. In total electron content (TEC) data over the region of the earthquake, a specific ionospheric anomaly appeared one day before the earthquake was detected. The ionospheric variability had a positive sign with an enhancement of about 4–5 TECU (1 TECU = 10¹⁶ electrons/m²) relative to the non-disturbed state of the ionosphere. The anomaly had a duration of 4–5 hours in the day time. The special size of this anomaly was about 1000 km. The characteristic parameters of the anomaly show that it can be associated with ionospheric precursors of an earthquake.     

Equatorial ionization anomaly of the total electron content and equatorial electrojet of ground-based geomagnetic field strength

Measurements from ground-based receiver chains of the global positioning system (GPS) and magnetometers of the Circum-pan Pacific Magnetometer Network (CPMN) in the west Pacific region during 1999–2003 are examined. The ionospheric total electron content (TEC) derived from the GPS receivers is used to observe the strength, location, and occurrence time of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) crests, which resulted from the equatorial plasma E×B drift fountain. The magnetic field strength of CPMN is employed to monitor the equatorial electrojet (EEJ), and to further estimate the effectiveness of the E×B drift to the EIA crests. Results show that the strength and location of the EIA crests are proportional to the EEJ strength.     

Prompt derivation of TEC from GEONET data for space weather monitoring in Japan

Continuous monitoring of ionospheric conditions is essential to monitoring and forecasting space weather. The worldwide use of global navigation satellite systems like the Gobal Positioning System (GPS) makes it possible to continuously monitor the total electron content (TEC) of the ionosphere and plasmasphere up to a height of about 20,000 km. We have developed a system for deriving the TEC from GEONET data rapidly and we use the TEC distribution over Japan in the daily operations of the Space Weather Forecast Center at NICT (RWC Tokyo of ISES). Using instrumental biases from a few days before enables us to drastically shorten the processing time for deriving TEC. The latest TEC values (with a delay of about 1 h) are obtained every 3 h, and most of the values are within 2 TEC units of the actual TEC. We have found our system for deriving TEC rapidly to be useful for continuously monitoring the progress of ionospheric storms under any ionospheric conditions, even those under which the usual ionosonde observations are unable to obtain F-region profiles.     

Unbiased total electron content (UTEC), their fluctuations,and correlation with seismic activity over Japan

Earthquakes are among the most dangerous events that occur on earth and many scientists have been investigating the underlying processes that take place before earthquakes occur. These investigations are fueling efforts towards developing both single and multiple parameter earthquake forecasting methods based on earthquake precursors. One potential earthquake precursor parameter that has received significant attention within the last few years is the ionospheric total electron content (TEC). Despite its growing popularity as an earthquake precursor, TEC has been under great scrutiny because of the underlying biases associated with the process of acquiring and processing TEC data. Future work in the field will need to demonstrate our ability to acquire TEC data with the least amount of biases possible thereby preserving the integrity of the data. This paper describes a process for removing biases using raw TEC data from the standard Rinex files obtained from any global positioning satellites system. The process is based on developing an unbiased TEC (UTEC) data and model that can be more adaptable to serving as a precursor signal for earthquake forecasting. The model was used during the days and hours leading to the earthquake off the coast of Tohoku, Japan on March 11, 2011 with interesting results. The model takes advantage of the large amount of data available from the GPS Earth Observation Network of Japan to display near real-time UTEC data as the earthquake approaches and for a period of time after the earthquake occurred.     

The structure of the mid- and high-latitude ionosphere during the November 2004 storm event obtained from GPS observations

GPS data from the International GNSS Service (IGS) network were used to study the development of the severe geomagnetic storm of November 7–12, 2004, in the total electron content (TEC) on a global scale. The TEC maps were produced for analyzing the storm. For producing the maps over European and North American sectors, GPS measurements from more than 100 stations were used. The dense network of GPS stations provided TEC measurements with a high temporal and spatial resolution. To present the temporal and spatial variation of TEC during the storm, differential TEC maps relative to a quiet day (November 6, 2004) were created. The features of geomagnetic storm attributed to the complex development of ionospheric storm depend on latitude, longitude and local time. The positive, as well as negative effects were detected in TEC variations as a consequence of the evolution of the geomagnetic storm. The maximal effect was registered in the subauroral/auroral ionosphere during substorm activity in the evening and night period. The latitudinal profiles obtained from TEC maps for Europe gave rise to the storm-time dynamic of the ionospheric trough, which was detected on November 7 and 9 at latitudes below 50°N. In the report, features of the response of TEC to the storm for European and North American sectors are analyzed.     

GPS-based ionospheric corrections for single frequency radar altimetry

The global ionospheric total electron content maps (GIMs) provide integrated electron densities between the ground and the GPS satellite altitude (20,200 km). Satellite altimeter ionospheric delay corrections require integrated electron densities between the ground and altimeter satellite altitude. In the case of the Geosat Follow-On (GFO) spacecraft, flying at 800 km, we estimated that using GIM TEC data alone, up to a 2 cm path delay can be introduced into the GFO measurements for high solar activity period by not taking into account the electron content above this altitude. Furthermore, the GIMs can have errors of 20–30 TECU in low latitudes for high solar activity in areas where there is little GPS data (such as over the oceans). In this paper, we describe the results of ingesting GIM TEC data into the International Reference Ionosphere model (IRI-95) to mitigate these two effects.     

Tomographic imaging of the ionosphere using the GPS/MET and NNSS data

The earlier experiments of ionospheric tomography were conducted by receiving satellite signals from ground-based stations and then reconstructing electron density distribution from measures of the total electron content (TEC). In June 1994, National Central University built up the low-latitude ionospheric tomography network (LITN) including six ground stations spanning a range of 16.7° (from 14.6°N to 31.3°N) in latitude within 1° of 121°E longitude to receive the naval navigation satellite system (NNSS) signals (150 and 400 MHz). In the study of tomographic imaging of the ionosphere, TEC data from a network of ground-based stations can provide detailed information on the horizontal structure, but are of restricted utility in sensing vertical structure. However, an occultation observation mission termed the global positioning system/meteorology (GPS/MET) program used a low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellite (the MicroLab-1) to receive multi-channel GPS carrier phase signals (1.5 and 1.2 GHz) and demonstrate active limb sounding of the Earth's atmosphere and ionosphere. In this paper, we have implemented the multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique (MART) to reconstruct and compare two-dimensional ionospheric structures from measured TECs through the receptions of the GPS signals, the NNSS signals, and/or both of the systems. We have also concluded the profiles retrieved from tomographic reconstruction showing much reasonable electron density results than the original vertical profiles retrieved by the Abel transformation and being in more agreement in peak electron density to nearby ionosonde measurements.