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GNSS in Atmospheric and Ionospheric Remote Sensing

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 7593

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy
Interests: ionospheric and space weather research and applications; GNSS science and technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

GNSS can be considered "satellites of opportunity" for monitoring and studying the lower atmosphere and the ionosphere, because of the large-scale space and time coverage and cost-effective signals receiving systems. GNSS has already contributed considerably to understanding the physical mechanisms that control the behaviour of the weather and climate parameters and the ionosphere and space weather variations.

The scope of this Special Issue of Sensors is to give an updated vision of the contribution of GNSS remote sensing of the lower and upper atmosphere, including new approaches to optimize the use of these systems. State of the art reviews and novel results papers on GNSS remote sensing of the atmosphere and ionosphere, including radio occultation (RO) techniques, are welcome. Particular interest will be paid to papers that show solid results obtained using low-cost solutions for the extensive remote sensing of both lower atmosphere and ionosphere parameters using GNSS.

I look forwards to welcome your papers to this Special Issue of Sensors.

Prof. Dr. Sandro Radicella
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • GNSS low atmosphere monitoring
  • GNSS ionosphere monitoring
  • Low-cost GNSS monitoring
  • Classical RO techniques
  • RO innovative techniques

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4207 KiB  
Article
B2 Thickness Parameter Response to Equinoctial Geomagnetic Storms
by Yenca Migoya-Orué, Katy Alazo-Cuartas, Anton Kashcheyev, Christine Amory-Mazaudier, Sandro Radicella, Bruno Nava, Rolland Fleury and Rodolfo Ezquer
Sensors 2021, 21(21), 7369; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21217369 - 5 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1814
Abstract
The thickness parameters that most empirical models use are generally defined by empirical relations related to ionogram characteristics. This is the case with the NeQuick model that uses an inflection point below the F2 layer peak to define a thickness parameter of the [...] Read more.
The thickness parameters that most empirical models use are generally defined by empirical relations related to ionogram characteristics. This is the case with the NeQuick model that uses an inflection point below the F2 layer peak to define a thickness parameter of the F2 bottomside of the electron density profile, which is named B2. This study is focused on the effects of geomagnetic storms on the thickness parameter B2. We selected three equinoctial storms, namely 17 March 2013, 2 October 2013 and 17 March 2015. To investigate the behavior of the B2 parameter before, during and after those events, we have analyzed variations of GNSS derived vertical TEC (VTEC) and maximum electron density (NmF2) obtained from manually scaled ionograms over 20 stations at middle and low latitudes of Asian, Euro-African and American longitude sectors. The results show two main kinds of responses after the onset of the geomagnetic events: a peak of B2 parameter prior to the increase in VTEC and NmF2 (in ~60% of the cases) and a fluctuation in B2 associated with a decrease in VTEC and NmF2 (~25% of the cases). The behavior observed has been related to the dominant factor acting after the CME shocks associated with positive and negative storm effects. Investigation into the time delay of the different measurements according to location showed that B2 reacts before NmF2 and VTEC after the onset of the storms in all the cases. The sensitivity shown by B2 during the studied storms might indicate that experimentally derived thickness parameter B2 could be incorporated into the empirical models such as NeQuick in order to adapt them to storm situations that represent extreme cases of ionospheric weather-like conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue GNSS in Atmospheric and Ionospheric Remote Sensing)
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32 pages, 19465 KiB  
Article
Kinematic Zenith Tropospheric Delay Estimation with GNSS PPP in Mountainous Areas
by Paul Gratton, Simon Banville, Gérard Lachapelle and Kyle O’Keefe
Sensors 2021, 21(17), 5709; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21175709 - 25 Aug 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2581
Abstract
The use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) precise point positioning (PPP) to estimate zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) profiles in kinematic vehicular mode in mountainous areas is investigated. Car-mounted multi-constellation GNSS receivers are employed. The Natural Resources Canada Canadian Spatial Reference System PPP [...] Read more.
The use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) precise point positioning (PPP) to estimate zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) profiles in kinematic vehicular mode in mountainous areas is investigated. Car-mounted multi-constellation GNSS receivers are employed. The Natural Resources Canada Canadian Spatial Reference System PPP (CSRS-PPP) online service that currently processes dual-frequency global positioning system (GPS) and Global’naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS) measurements and is now capable of GPS integer ambiguity resolution is used. An offline version that can process the above and Galileo measurements simultaneously, including Galileo integer ambiguity resolution is also tested to evaluate the advantage of three constellations. A multi-day static data set observed under open sky is first tested to determine performance under ideal conditions. Two long road profile tests conducted in kinematic mode are then analyzed to assess the capability of the approach. The challenges of ZTD kinematic profiling are numerous, namely shorter data sets, signal shading due to topography and forests of conifers along roads, and frequent losses of phase lock requiring numerous but not always successful integer ambiguity re-initialization. ZTD profiles are therefore often only available with float ambiguities, reducing system observability. Occasional total interruption of measurement availability results in profile discontinuities. CSRS-PPP outputs separately the zenith hydrostatic or dry delay (ZHD) and water vapour content or zenith wet delay (ZWD). The two delays are analyzed separately, with emphasis on the more unpredictable and highly variable ZWD, especially in mountainous areas. The estimated delays are compared with the Vienna Mapping Function 1 (VMF1), which proves to be highly effective to model the large-scale profile variations in the Canadian Rockies, the main contribution of GNSS PPP being the estimation of higher frequency ZWD components. Of the many conclusions drawn from the field experiments, it is estimated that kinematic profiles are generally determined with accuracy of 10 to 20 mm, depending on the signal harshness of the environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue GNSS in Atmospheric and Ionospheric Remote Sensing)
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18 pages, 2992 KiB  
Article
Sub-Auroral and Mid-Latitude GNSS ROTI Performance during Solar Cycle 24 Geomagnetic Disturbed Periods: Towards Storm’s Early Sensing
by Kacper Kotulak, Andrzej Krankowski, Adam Froń, Paweł Flisek, Ningbo Wang, Zishen Li and Leszek Błaszkiewicz
Sensors 2021, 21(13), 4325; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21134325 - 24 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2247
Abstract
Geomagnetic storms—triggered by the interaction between Earth’s magnetosphere and interplanetary magnetic field, driven by solar activity—are important for many Earth-bound aspects of life. Serious events may impact the electroenergetic infrastructure, but even weaker storms generate noticeable irregularities in the density of ionospheric plasma. [...] Read more.
Geomagnetic storms—triggered by the interaction between Earth’s magnetosphere and interplanetary magnetic field, driven by solar activity—are important for many Earth-bound aspects of life. Serious events may impact the electroenergetic infrastructure, but even weaker storms generate noticeable irregularities in the density of ionospheric plasma. Ionosphere electron density gradients interact with electromagnetic radiation in the radiofrequency domain, affecting sub- and trans-ionospheric transmissions. The main objective of the manuscript is to find key features of the storm-induced plasma density behaviour irregularities in regard to the event’s magnitude and general geomagnetic conditions. We also aim to set the foundations for the mid-latitude ionospheric plasma density now-casting irregularities. In the manuscript, we calculate the GPS+GLONASS-derived rate of TEC (total electron content) index (ROTI) for the meridional sector of 10–20 E, covering the latitudes between 40 and 70 N. Such an approach reveals equatorward spread of the auroral TEC irregularities reaching down to mid-latitudes. We have assessed the ROTI performance for 57 moderate-to-severe storms that occurred during solar cycle 24 and analyzed their behaviors in regard to the geomagnetic conditions (described by Kp, Dst, AE, Sym-H and PC indices). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue GNSS in Atmospheric and Ionospheric Remote Sensing)
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