Led by GGOS; joint with IAG Commission 4, Sub-Commissions 4.1 and 4.3

Chair: Fabricio dos Santos Prol (Finland)
Vice-Chair: David R. Themens (United Kingdom)

Summary

The main goal of this group is to disseminate and evaluate established methods of 3D electron density estimation in terms of electron density, peak height, Total Electron Content (TEC), or other derived products that can be effectively used for GNSS positioning or for analyzing perturbed conditions due to representative space weather events. It is planned to generate products, showing the general error given by such 3D electron density estimations and, also, distribute information regarding to space weather conditions. Figure 2.1 summarizes the steps of interest in the group.

Figure 2.1. Steps involved in the group of electron density modelling comprehend: 1) data gathering of electron density measurements; 2) data transformation into 3D grids; 3) evaluation of relevant parameters for the community, such as in terms of GNSS positioning.

Figure 2.1. Steps involved in the group of electron density modelling comprehend: 1) data gathering of electron density measurements; 2) data transformation into 3D grids; 3) evaluation of relevant parameters for the community, such as in terms of GNSS positioning.

Objectives

The following objectives are defined as follows:

  • Develop a database, where the methods from the group members will be able to be evaluated in terms of GNSS, radio-occultation, DORIS, in-situ data, altimeters, among other electron density and TEC measurements.
  • Evaluate established methods for 3D electron density estimation in order to define their accuracy related to specific parameters of great importance for Space Weather and Geodesy.
  • Generate products indicating the space weather conditions and expected errors of the methods.
  • Carry out surveys in order to detect if the products are linked to the user’s specific needs. Based on an analysis of the user needs, re-adaptations will be identified in order to improve the products in an iterative process. It is planned to define which parameters are of interest for the users and to detect additional information that may be required.

 Activities

Activities already done:

  • Definition of instruments and measurements to be used in the evaluations.
  • Data gathering and processing for the generation of a first campaign (four weeks with relevant geomagnetic storms).
  • Generation of an open database for the group members

Current activities:

  • Evaluation of the 3D models using data from the first campaign.
  • Development of methods to provide a simulated ionosphere.

Planned for the near future:

  • Generation of a second campaign using artificial measurements provided by the simulated scenario.
  • Evaluation of the 3D models using data from the simulated scenario.

List of publications

Prol FS, Camargo PO, Hernández-Pajares M, Muella MTAH (2018). A new method for ionospheric tomography and its assessment by ionosonde electron density, GPS TEC, and single-frequency PPP. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 57, 2571-2582.
Prol FS, Garcia-Rigo A, Hoque M, Schmidt M, Börger K (2019) Towards a global 3D ionospheric model for space weather monitoring and GNSS positioning. IUGG General Assembly, Montreal, Canada.
Bloßfeld M, Schmidt M, Forootan E, Aibar AC, Prol FS, Soja B, Garcia-Rigo A, Siemes C, Vielberg K (2019) GGOS Focus Area on Geodetic Space Weather Research – Observation Techniques and Modeling Approaches. AGU Fall Meeting 2019, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Prol F, Hoque M (2020) Plasmaspheric electron density estimation based on COMISC/FORMOSAT-3 data, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online.

(last update 09.2020)