HR: 0800h
AN: SA31A-02    [Abstracts]
TI: A Comparison of Ionosphere Profile Observed by FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC and Ionosonde Radar
AU: * Hsiao, C
EM: cchsiao@nspo.org.tw
AF: National Space Organization, 8F, 9, Prosperity 1st Road, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsin-Chu, 30078, Taiwan
AU: Yen, N
EM: longine@nspo.org.tw
AF: National Space Organization, 8F, 9, Prosperity 1st Road, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsin-Chu, 30078, Taiwan
AU: Wu, L
EM: lancewu@nspo.org.tw
AF: National Space Organization, 8F, 9, Prosperity 1st Road, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsin-Chu, 30078, Taiwan
AU: Huang, C
EM: yusn@nspo.org.tw
AF: National Space Organization, 8F, 9, Prosperity 1st Road, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsin-Chu, 30078, Taiwan
AU: Fong, J
EM: cjfong@nspo.org.tw
AF: National Space Organization, 8F, 9, Prosperity 1st Road, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsin-Chu, 30078, Taiwan
AU: Reinisch, B W
EM: Bodo_Reinisch@uml.edu
AF: University of Mass Lowell, Center for Atmospheric Research, 600 Suffolk Street 3rd floor, Lowell, MA 01854, United States
AU: Lin, C S
EM: Chin.Lin@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Space Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, 29 Randolph Rd., Hanscom AFB, MA 01731, United States
AB: Six FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate) satellites were launched into a low earth orbit at 518 km at 0140 UTC on 15 April 2006. The six satellites will be placed into six different orbits with 30 degrees separation in longitude at 800 km mission orbit and covers the entire global ionosphere, providing over 2,500 sounding data per day. The main payload of the satellite, GOX (Global Positioning Satellite Occultation Experiment), observes the ionosphere between 90 km and 800 km while the occultation line of sight from GPS horizontally passes through the ionosphere. The ionosphere data as collected through the line of sight from the GPS radio signals passing through the E and F region can sweep across horizontal distances that range from 100 km to more than 3000 km in some cases. Consequently, the electron density profiles as collected through the radio occultation can span in wide regions that will be useful for the space weather study. Although there are no other electron density profiles in wide regions by the radio occultation technique, the comparison of the electron density profiles by radio occultation with the localized ionograms near the same regions observed by the ionosonde ground radar stations can be accomplished. In this paper, we will use the ionograms recorded by ionosonde stations during the 20-21 December 2006 FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC campaign and compare these ground measured radar data with the GPS radio occultation ionospheric profiles. This result is important to validate the reliability of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC ionospheric observation using the radio occultation technique.
DE: 6900 RADIO SCIENCE
DE: 6929 Ionospheric physics (1240, 2400)
DE: 7900 SPACE WEATHER
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly