How Does the High-Altitude Plasma Distribution Change During Magnetic Storms

四颗低地球轨道(LEO)卫星上的垂直指向GPS接收器用于确定全球范围内的高海拔(上层电离层)总电子含量(TEC)。TEC测量用于评估磁暴期间相对于静止时间基线发生的变化，TEC变化与风暴强度和风暴阶段相关。当在磁赤道有独立的等离子体垂直漂移测量时得到的TEC数据是特定的目标，以便在垂直漂移的变化和TEC的变化之间建立关联。研究分三个阶段进行。在第一阶段中，卫星上的电子含量(OSEC)被归类为卫星位置和时间的函数。在第二阶段，使用计算机化的电离层层析成像来反演OSEC数据，产生顶部(包括F区峰值)等离子体分布的二维图像。在第三阶段，OSEC图像与其他陆基和天基等离子体数据一起被纳入三维电离层数据同化算法，提供从F2电离层峰值到顶部的等离子体分布的全球三维描述。

Vertical pointing GPS receivers on four Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are used to determine high altitude (topside ionosphere) total electron content (TEC) on a global scale. The TEC measurements are used to evaluate changes that occur during magnetic storms relative to a quite-time baseline, and TEC variations are correlated with both storm strength and storm phase. TEC data derived when there are independent measurements of vertical plasma drift at the magnetic equator are specifically targeted, so that correlations between changes in the vertical drift and changes in TEC are established. The research is carried out in three phases. In Phase 1 the oversatellite electron content (OSEC) is cataloged as function of satellite position and time. In Phase 2, computerized ionospheric tomography is used to invert the OSEC data, producing 2-dimensional images of the topside (including the F-region peak) plasma distribution. In Phase 3 the OSEC images are ingested into a three-dimensional ionospheric data assimilation algorithm, along with other ground-based and space-based plasma data, providing a global, three-dimensional description of the plasma distribution from the F2 ionospheric peak through the topside.