Ionospheric and Plasmaspheric Contribution to the Total Electron Content Inferred from Ground Data and Radio-Occultation-Derived Electron Density

摘要

The performance of a new method allowing the determination of the separate contributions from the ionosphere and the plasmasphere to ground measurements of the vertical total electron content (VTEC) is demonstrated. After introducing and testing the proposed method, a preliminary global-scale analysis of the ionosphere-plasmasphere system during a period of low solar activity is presented. The results show some regular features in the seasonal, geomagnetic latitude and local time variations of the fractional ionospheric electron content. These features are modeled by means of a simple fitting function allowing also the characterization of the fractional plasmaspheric contribution to the VTEC.