The Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) has a controlling effect on the Magnetosphere and Ionosphere. The objective in this work is to investigate the probable effects of IMF on Ionospheric and Geomagnetic response. To fulfill the objective the concept of an event has been created based on the polarity reversals and rate of change of the interplanetary magnetic field components, Bz and By. Superposed Epoch Method (SPE) was employed with the three event definitions, which are based on IMF Bz southward turnings ranging from 6 to 11 nT in order to quantify the effects of IMF By and Bz. For the first event only IMF Bz turnings were taken into account while for the remaining, positive and negative polarity for IMF By were added. Results showed that the increase in the magnitude of IMF Bz turnings increased the drop of F layer critical frequency, f0F2. The drop was almost linear with the increase in magnitude of polarity reversals. Reversals with a positive IMF By has resulted in the continuation of geomagnetic activity more than 4 days, that is to say, the energy, that has penetrated as a consequence of reversal with a positive By polarity, was stored in outer Magnetosphere,whereas, with a negative IMF By the energy was consumed in a small time scale. At the second step of the work, although conclusions about geomagnetic activity could be done, as a consequence of data gaps for f0F2 in addition to having low numbers of events, characterization of f0F2 due to constant IMF By polarity could not be accomplished. Thus, a modeling attempt for the characterization of the response due to polarity reversals of IMF components with the Genetic Programming was carried out. Four models were constructed for different polarity reversal cases and they were used as the components of one general unique model. The model is designed in such a way that given 3 consecutive value of f0F2, IMF By and IMF Bz, the model can forecast one hour ahead value of f0F2. The overall model, GETY-IYON was successful at a normalized error of 7.3%.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005-09Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:50:26Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 dalpoz_wr_me_prud.pdf: 2438411 bytes, checksum: 8c56dfb5193a59fce51aa2a4633b24a1 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Assim como no posicionamento por ponto, os resultados obtidos no posicionamento relativo a partir de receptores de uma freqüência são afetados pelo efeito sistemático da ionosfera, que atualmente é uma das maiores fontes de erro no posicionamento com GPS. O problema principal no posicionamento relativo é devido ao gradiente espacial do conteúdo total de elétrons (TEC) presente na ionosfera, enquanto que no posicionamento por ponto o principal problema é a magnitude do TEC. Assim, no posicionamento relativo fica mais complicado de se analisar o efeito da ionosfera nos resultados obtidos, principalmente na região equatorial, onde várias irregularidades e anomalias ocorrem. Este projeto analisa o efeito da ionosfera no posicionamento relativo estático na região equatorial, em diversas condições ionosféricas, a partir de uma abordagem teórica e prática. Foram processados dados somente da portadora L1 com a dupla diferença da fase e do código. A análise dos resultados foi realizada a partir das discrepâncias das coordenadas consideradas verdadeiras com as obtidas no processamento das linhas de base. Três experimentos foram realizados, no qual foi possível analisar a influência da ionosfera no posicionamento relativo a partir de vários aspectos. De uma forma geral, verificou-se na prática a complexidade de definir se determinada linha de base é curta ou média, devido ao gradiente espacial do TEC. Também foram verificados efeitos da cintilação ionosférica e de uma tempestade geomagnética nos resultados obtidos. / The obtained results in the relative positioning, as well as in the point positioning, are affected by the ionosphere systematic effects, which is one of major error sources in the GPS positioning. The main problem in the relative positioning is due to the Total Electron Content (TEC) variation of the ionosphere, while in the point positioning the main problem is the magnitude of the TEC. Thus, the effects of the ionosphere in the relative positioning are more difficult to analyze, mainly in the equatorial region, where several irregularities and anomalies occur. This research analyzes the ionosphere effect in the relative positioning in the equatorial region considering several ionosphere conditions, both from theoretical and practical standpoints. Only L1 carrier data have been processed using L1 phase and C/A-code doubledifferences. The analyze of the obtained results have been carried out from the discrepancies between the true coordinates and corresponding ones obtained in the processing of the baselines. Three experiments have been accomplished, in which it was possible to analyze the ionosphere influence in the relative positioning considering several aspects. In general, due to TEC variations, it has been verified, in practice, the complexity of defining whether a given baseline length is short or medium. It has been also verified in the results the effects of the ionospheric scintillation and of a geomagnetic storm.

Orientador: Paulo de Oliveira Camargo / Banca: João Francisco Galera Monico / Banca: Márcio H. O. Aquino / Banca: Inez Staciarini Batista / Banca: Claudio Antonio Brunini / Após a desativação da técnica SA, a ionosfera tornou-se a principal fonte de erro no posicionamento com GPS. O erro associado à ionosfera é diretamente proporcional ao conteúdo total de elétrons (TEC - Total Electron Content) presente ao longo do caminho da trajetória percorrida pelo sinal na ionosfera e inversamente proporcional ao quadrado da freqüência do sinal. O TEC, e conseqüentemente o erro devido à ionosfera, variam no tempo e no espaço e é influenciado por diversas variáveis, tais como: ciclo solar, época do ano, hora do dia, localização geográfica, atividade geomagnética, entre outros. A região brasileira é um dos locais que apresenta os maiores valores e variações espaciais do TEC e onde estão presentes diversas particularidades da ionosfera, tais como, a anomalia equatorial e o efeito da cintilação ionosférica. Desta forma, é importante a realização de pesquisas que visam estudar o comportamento do TEC, e conseqüentemente do erro devido à ionosfera no Brasil, que é um trabalho complexo devido aos diversos fatores que influenciam a variação do TEC, além das particularidades presentes na região brasileira. Estudos desta natureza podem auxiliar a comunidade geodésica brasileira, e demais usuários do GPS, no entendimento das limitações impostas pela ionosfera nas regiões de interesse. Devido à natureza dispersiva da ionosfera, o estudo do comportamento do TEC no Brasil pode ser realizado utilizando os dados GPS de receptores de dupla freqüência pertencentes à RBMC (Rede Brasileira de Monitoramento Contínuo). Adicionalmente, para uma melhor análise, pode-se também utilizar dados das estações da rede IGS (International GNSS Service) da América do Sul. / In the SA absence, the ionosphere is the largest error source in GPS positioning. The error due to the ionosphere in the GPS observables depends on the signal frequency and Total Electron Content (TEC) in the ionospheric layer. The TEC varies regularly in time and space in relation to the sunspot number, the season, the local time, the geographic position, and others. The Brazilian region is one of the regions of the Earth that presents largest values and space variations of the TEC, being influenced by the equatorial anomaly of ionization and ionospheric scintillation. Therefore, it is important to study the TEC behavior in the Brazilian region. Due to the ionosphere dispersive nature, the TEC behavior in Brazil can be studied using GPS data from RBMC (Rede Brasileira de Monitoramento Contínuo - Brazilian Network for Continuous Monitoring of GPS). Additionally, GPS data from IGS (International GNSS Service) network of the South America can also be used in the experiments. / Doutor

Orientador: Paulo de Oliveira Camargo / Banca: João Francisco Galera Monico / Banca: Edvaldo Simões da Fonseca Junior / Banca: Cláudia Pereira Krueger / Banca: Moisés Ferreira Costa / Resumo: O erro devido à ionosfera nas observáveis GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) é diretamente proporcional à densidade de elétrons presente na ionosfera e inversamente proporcional a frequência do sinal. Da mesma forma que no posicionamento por ponto, os resultados obtidos no posicionamento relativo são afetados pelo efeito sistemático da ionosfera, que é uma das maiores fontes de erro no posicionamento com GNSS. Mesmo considerando que parte dos erros devido à ionosfera é cancelada na dupla diferenciação, a ionosfera pode causar fortes impactos no posicionamento relativo. O problema principal neste método de posicionamento é a variação espacial na densidade de elétrons, que pode ocorrer em função de vários fatores, tais como hora local, variação sazonal, localização do usuário, ciclo solar e atividade geomagnética. Dependendo das condições do clima espacial, que é controlado pelo Sol, a atividade geomagnética pode ser alterada de forma significativa, dando origem a uma tempestade geomagnética. Nesta pesquisa foram avaliados os efeitos da ionosfera no posicionamento relativo, com observações GNSS da fase da onda portadora (L1), nas regiões ionosféricas de latitude média e alta e na região equatorial. Nas duas primeiras regiões foram analisados os efeitos da ionosfera em períodos de irregularidades, decorrentes de tempestades geomagnéticas. Na região equatorial, que engloba o Brasil, foram analisados os efeitos da ionosfera em função da variação diária e sazonal. No processamento dos dados GNSS foi utilizado o GPSeq, que processa os dados na forma recursiva e fornece os Resíduos Preditos da Dupla Diferença da Fase (RPDDF) ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The error caused by ionosphere on GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is directly proportional to the density of electrons from ionosphere and inversely proportional to the frequency squared of the signal GNSS. As in the case of point positioning, results in relative positioning are affected by systematic effect from ionosphere, which is one of major error sources in the GNSS positioning. Although some errors caused by ionosphere are canceled in double difference, strong impacts may be caused by ionosphere on the relative positioning. In this positioning the main problem is the spatial variation in electron density that can occur due local time, seasonal variation, user location, solar cycle, geomagnetic activity, etc. Depending on the conditions of space weather, in which is controlled by the Sun, the geomagnetic activity can be changed inducing geomagnetic storms. In this research the effects from ionosphere has been evaluated in GNSS relative positioning using L1 carrier phase observations, at the three regions of the ionosphere: middle and high latitudes and equatorial region. In regions of middle and high latitudes have been analyzed the effects from ionosphere in irregularities periods, caused by geomagnetic storms. In the equatorial region, including Brazil, have been analyzed the effects from ionosphere according daily and seasonal variation. In the processing GNSS data has been used GPSeq software. This software processes the data in a recursive form and provides the Predicted Residual of Carrier Phase Double Difference (PRCPDD) ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

abstract: Earth-system models describe the interacting components of the climate system and technological systems that affect society, such as communication infrastructures. Data assimilation addresses the challenge of state specification by incorporating system observations into the model estimates. In this research, a particular data assimilation technique called the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) is applied to the ionosphere, which is a domain of practical interest due to its effects on infrastructures that depend on satellite communication and remote sensing. This dissertation consists of three main studies that propose strategies to improve space- weather specification during ionospheric extreme events, but are generally applicable to Earth-system models: Topic I applies the LETKF to estimate ion density with an idealized model of the ionosphere, given noisy synthetic observations of varying sparsity. Results show that the LETKF yields accurate estimates of the ion density field and unobserved components of neutral winds even when the observation density is spatially sparse (2% of grid points) and there is large levels (40%) of Gaussian observation noise. Topic II proposes a targeted observing strategy for data assimilation, which uses the influence matrix diagnostic to target errors in chosen state variables. This strategy is applied in observing system experiments, in which synthetic electron density observations are assimilated with the LETKF into the Thermosphere-Ionosphere- Electrodynamics Global Circulation Model (TIEGCM) during a geomagnetic storm. Results show that assimilating targeted electron density observations yields on average about 60%–80% reduction in electron density error within a 600 km radius of the observed location, compared to 15% reduction obtained with randomly placed vertical profiles. Topic III proposes a methodology to account for systematic model bias arising ifrom errors in parametrized solar and magnetospheric inputs. This strategy is ap- plied with the TIEGCM during a geomagnetic storm, and is used to estimate the spatiotemporal variations of bias in electron density predictions during the transitionary phases of the geomagnetic storm. Results show that this strategy reduces error in 1-hour predictions of electron density by about 35% and 30% in polar regions during the main and relaxation phases of the geomagnetic storm, respectively. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Applied Mathematics 2018

Space weather and its effect on technological systems are important for scientific research. Developing an understanding of the behaviour, sources and effects of ionospheric events form a basis for improving space weather prediction. This thesis attempts to use co-located radars and instruments for the analysis of ionospheric events over South Africa. The HF Doppler radar, ionosonde, Global Positioning System (GPS) and GPS ionospheric scintillation monitor (GISTM) receivers are co-located in Hermanus (34.4°S, 19.2°E), one of the observatories for the space science directorate of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA). Data was obtained from these radars and instruments and analysed for ionospheric events. Only the Hermanus station was selected for this analysis, because it is currently the only South African station that hosts all the mentioned radars and instruments. Ionospheric events identified include wave-like structures, Doppler spread, sudden frequency deviations and ionospheric oscillations associated with geomagnetic pulsations. For the purpose of this work, ionospheric events are defined as any unusual structures observed on the received signal and inferred from observations made by the HF Doppler radar. They were identified by visual inspection of the Doppler shift spectrograms. The magnitude and nature of the events vary, depending on their source and were observed by all, some or one instrument. This study suggests that the inclusion of a wider data coverage and more stations in South Africa merit consideration, especially since plans are underway to host a co-located radar network similar to that in Hermanus at at least three additional observatory sites in South Africa. This study lays a foundation for multi-station co-located radar and instrument observation and analysis of ionospheric events which should enhance the accuracy of space weather and HF communication prediction.

Radio signals transmitted by GPS satellites orbiting the Earth are modulated as they propagate through the electrically charged plasmasphere and ionosphere in the near-Earth space environment. Through a linear combination of GPS range and phase measurements observed on two carrier frequencies by terrestrial-based GPS receivers, the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) along oblique GPS signal paths may be quantified. Simultaneous observations of signals transmitted by multiple GPS satellites and observed from a network of South African dual frequency GPS receivers, constitute a spatially dense ionospheric measurement source over the region. A new methodology, based on an adjusted spherical harmonic (ASHA) expansion, was developed to estimate diurnal vertical TEC over the region using GPS observations over the region. The performance of the ASHA methodology to estimate diurnal TEC and satellite and receiver differential clock biases (DCBs) for a single GPS receiver was first tested with simulation data and subsequently applied to observed GPS data. The resulting diurnal TEC profiles estimated from GPS observations compared favourably to measurements from three South African ionosondes and two other GPS-based methodologies for 2006 solstice and equinox dates. The ASHA methodology was applied to calculating diurnal two-dimensional TEC maps from multiple receivers in the South African GPS network. The space physics application of the newly developed methodology was demonstrated by investigating the ionosphere’s behaviour during a severe geomagnetic storm and investigating the long-term ionospheric stability in support of the proposed Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio astronomy project. The feasibility of employing the newly developed technique in an operational near real-time system for estimating and dissimenating TEC values over Southern Africa using observations from a regional GPS receiver network, was investigated.

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only known moon with a fully developed nitrogen-rich atmosphere, its ionosphere is detectable as high as 2200 km above its surface and hosts complex organic chemistry. Titan’s atmosphere and ionosphere has striking similarities to current theories of these regions around Earth 3.5 billion years ago. The Cassini spacecraft has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004 and carries a wide range of instruments for investigating Titan’s ionosphere, among them the Langmuir probe, a “space weather station”, manufactured and operated by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala. This thesis presents studies of positive ions, negative ions and negatively charged dust grains (also called aerosols) in Titan’s ionosphere using the in-situ measurements by the Cassini Langmuir probe, supplemented by the data from particle mass spectrometers. One of the main results is the detection of significant (up to about 4000 cm-3) charge densities of heavy (up to about 13800 amu/charge) negative ions and dust grains in Titan’s ionosphere below 1400 km altitude. The dust is found to be the main negative charge carrier below about 1100 km on the nightside/terminator ionosphere, forming a dusty plasma (also called “ion-ion” plasma). A new analysis method is developed using a combination of simultaneous observations by multiple instruments for a case study of four flybys of Titan’s ionosphere, further constraining the ionospheric plasma charge densities. This allows to predict a dusty plasma in the dayside ionosphere below 900 km altitude (thus declaring it a global phenomenon), as well as to empirically estimate the average charge of the negative ions and dust grains to between -2.5 and -1.5 elementary charges. The complete Cassini dataset spans just above 13 years, allowing to study effects of the solar activity on Titan’s ionosphere. From solar minimum to maximum, the increase in the solar EUV flux increases the densities by a factor of ~2 in the dayside ionosphere and, surprisingly, decreases by a factor of ~3-4 in the nightside ionosphere. The latter is proposed to be an effect of the ionospheric photochemistry modified by higher solar EUV flux. Modelling photoionization also reveals an EUV trend (as well as solar zenith angle and corotational plasma ram dependencies) in the loss rate coefficient.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The development of regional ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) models has contributed to understanding the behavior of ionospheric parameters and the coupling of the ionosphere to space weather activities on both local and global scales. In the past several decades, the International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Service (GNSS) networks of dual frequency receiver data have been applied to develop global and regional models of ionospheric TEC. These models were mainly developed in the Northern Hemisphere where there are dense network of ground based GPS receivers for regional data coverage. Such efforts have been historically rare over the African region, and have only recently begun. This thesis reports the investigation of the effect of mid-latitude magnetic storms on TEC over South Africa for portions of Solar Cycles 23 and 24. The MAGIC package was used to estimate TEC over South Africa during Post Solar Maximum, Solar Minimum, and Post Solar Minimum periods. It is found that TEC is largely determined by the diurnal cycle of solar forcing and subsequent relaxation, but effects due to storms can be determined

High variability of the ionosphere is connected to geomagnetic, solar, and neutral atmosphere wave activity. Results of scaling analysis of solar data (F10.7, SSN), geomagnetic indices (Dst, Kp, AE), and ionospheric critical frequencies (foF2) show similar structure of Kp, AE and foF2 at periods in the range from 4 to 32 days. Data structure depends on the location of ionospheric stations. Correlation coefficients between foF2 and geomagnetic and solar indices depend on length of time scale. We show that vertical coupling exists between neutral atmosphere activity and sporadic E layer area. This connection is located predominantly on periods corresponding to internal modes of planetary waves. Interplanetary magnetic field discontinuities (Coronal mass ejections, Magnetic clouds, Hight speed solar streams) affect strongly the ionosphere. Analysed events lead to lowering of foF2, increase in heights of the layer F2 and oscillations of hmF2 and foF2 on periods in the order of hours. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)