A Method to Evaluate the Accuracy of Ionospheric Tomographic Reconstructions Using Incoherent Scatter Radar Scans

摘要

Ionospheric data assimilation and ionospheric tomography are both methods that can create a realistic representation of the 3D electron density distribution. While multiple techniques have been developed over the past 30 years there are relatively few studies that show the accuracy of algorithms. This paper outlines and demonstrates a new approach that uses incoherent scatter radar (ISR) scans of the ionosphere and extrapolates them to create a realistic test model ionosphere. Fictitious observations can then be created using actual measurement geometries from GPS satellites and receivers that can then be used as a test data set where the ‘real’ ionosphere, coming from the ISR-based model, is actually known.