HR: 0830h
AN: SA21B-0085    [PDF]
TI: Comparison of DMSP SSIES Density and Temperature Measurements With Ground-Based Incoherent Scatter Radar Data
AU: Keyser, H L
EM: herbert.keyser@afwa.af.mil
AF: Air Force Weather Agency, 106 Peacekeeper Dr., Ste 2NE, Offutt AFB, NE 68113-4039 United States
AU: Keyser, H L
EM: herbert.keyser@afwa.af.mil
AF: Air Force Institute of Technology, 2950 Hobson Way, Bldg 640, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7765 United States
AU: Green, B S
AF: Air Force Weather Agency, 106 Peacekeeper Dr., Ste 2NE, Offutt AFB, NE 68113-4039 United States
AU: Green, B S
AF: Air Force Institute of Technology, 2950 Hobson Way, Bldg 640, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7765 United States
AU: * Della-Rose, D J
EM: devin.della-rose@afit.edu
AF: Air Force Institute of Technology, 2950 Hobson Way, Bldg 640, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7765 United States
AU: Sojka, J J
AF: Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-4405 United States
AU: Erickson, P J
AF: MIT Haystack Observatory, Atmospheric Sciences Group, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886-1299 United States
AU: Hairston, M R
AF: William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083-0688 United States
AU: Rich, F J
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Rd, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731 United States
AB: We have compared electron density and temperature data, measured aboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft, against POLITE campaign data collected by the Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar. The POLITE data span the period between February 1996 (near solar minimum) and July 2000 (near solar maximum). Following the work of Sultan and Rich [2000], we averaged the DMSP data within a five-degree circle of Millstone Hill, and averaged the corresponding radar data within $\pm30$ minutes of the satellite overflight time. Our study revealed that the average electron density difference between DMSP and Millstone data exceeds 20 percent, which is statistically significant compared to the published DMSP topside ionospheric plasma monitor (SSIES) instrument accuracy. Further, DMSP density values are typically lower than the corresponding radar measurements; this negative bias is largest near solar minimum. Conversely, DMSP electron temperature values are an average 23 percent higher than the radar-derived temperature. This difference is statistically significant compared to both the DMSP and radar errors. As with the electron density, the bias lessens toward solar maximum. This temperature bias appears to decrease as the DMSP zenith angle increases, and this suggests the possibility of increased photoelectron contamination of the Langmuir probe for smaller zenith angles. Apart from this, however, the root cause(s) for these density and temperature differences remain under study.
DE: 2403 Active experiments
DE: 2443 Midlatitude ionosphere
DE: 2467 Plasma temperature and density
DE: 2481 Topside ionosphere
DE: 2494 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA - Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting