Observation of a Strong Ionospheric Storm Based on Electron Density Inversion of Yinchuan Vertical Ionosonde
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This study is based on the echo data from the Yinchuan vertical ionosonde. The ionosonde supports scanning in the frequency range from 1 to 30 MHz, with a distance resolution of 1.5 km and a reception window ranging from 67.5 km to 560.1 km. It utilizes pulse compression technology and encodes the transmission signal using Bernoulli mapping sequences, successfully resolving the issue of echo signal mixture with strong clutter interference in practical detection, thus obtaining Ionograms of high quality. In order to extract key information of ionosphere from the ionograms, the signal processing problem is transformed into a semantic segmentation task in computer vision, constructing an original ionograms dataset, and undergoing preprocessing such as discretization and manual annotation. By training a cGAN neural network to analyze the characteristic parameters of each layer’s traces in the ionograms, the goal of segmenting different traces is achieved. The network is suitable for processing various types of ionograms under calm conditions, with an accuracy rate of over 95%, effectively saving time in manual parameter measurement and improving processing efficiency. An improved bottom inversion model of the International Reference Ionosphere and the NeQuick top model is used to invert the electron density profile above the ionosonde, while the top calculation results are corrected according to the actual measurement data from “CSES-1”. By comparing the total electron content calculated with the data results publicly available from CDDIS, the accuracy of the ionosonde data is verified. On this basis, combined with the geomagnetic data acquired by the Gaoshaowo magnetometer, the ionosonde successfully observed the entire process of ionospheric anomalies during the geomagnetic storm on 23–24 April, 2023, and provided the results of the total electron content changes, offering accurate and reliable observational data for exploring the electromagnetic environment changes in western China.
Source: Chinese Journal of Space Science
Authors: Sijia HAN, Zhenzhen LIANG, Wei GUO, Caiyun WANG, Qingyu FANG, Lingling LI
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4402097560