• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.13-19
• /
• 2016

In recent years, there has been renewed activity in the study of local plasma density enhancements in the low latitude F region ionosphere (low latitude plasma blobs). Satellite, all-sky airglow imager, and radar measurements have identified the characteristics of these blobs, and their coupling to Equatorial Plasma Bubbles (EPBs). New information related to blobs has also been obtained from the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite. In this paper, we briefly review experimental, theoretical and modeling studies related to low latitude plasma blobs.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.239-256
• /
• 2023

The Earth's ionosphere is an area where part of the upper atmosphere is ionized and exists in a plasma state that affects radio waves. It is a field that has been studied for a long time as it directly affects real life in relation to communications. Depending on the altitude, it is divided into D, E, and F layers depending on the main ions that make up the electron density. The density of the neutral atmosphere is very large compared to the electron density, so it should be described as plasma taking that effect into account. It is an area where influences from outside the ionosphere are directly reflected, starting from the sun and extending to the earth's surface, and is a field that involves complex and diverse areas of research. In this paper, we explain the process by which the Earth's upper atmosphere is ionized to form the ionosphere and introduce the characteristics of the ionosphere at low and mid-latitudes. In addition, we introduce the research that domestic researchers have participated in related to the ionosphere to date and hope that it will be used to promote exchange in the field of ionospheric research in the future.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.78.1-78.1
• /
• 2009

• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.225-232
• /
• 2019

The satellite-based ionospheric model consists of local first-order plane function parameters for individual satellites and provides excellent accuracy in the flat ionospheric environment of the Korean Peninsula. This paper analyzes the performance of such model under the rapid changes in the ionosphere. Rapid changes in the ionosphere were observed in Korea from September to October 2014, and a satellite-based ionosphere model was applied to Wide Area Differential GPS (WADGPS) to analyze the navigation performance and the performance of estimating ionospheric delay errors. After processing the test data, it was confirmed that there was a deterioration in navigation performance and extrapolation performance in low-latitude areas and analyzed the cause.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.81-81
• /
• 2003

We report the plasma blob events that were observed from KOMPSAT-1 (2250 LT, 685-km altitude) and from DMSP F15 (2130 LT,840-km altitude) in the low-latitude ionosphere. The global distribution of blobs showed a season-longitudinal dependence similar to the distribution of the equatorial plasma bubbles, although they were observed along the ${\pm}$15 dip latitudes. The blobs drifted upward relative to the ambient plasmas, and the electron temperatures and H+ proportions were lower within the blobs compared to those in the background. These characteristics of the plasma blobs are very similar to the characteristics of the equatorial plasma bubbles. Then, we suggest that the blobs were originated from the lower altitudes by the mechanism that drives an upward drift of the plasma bubbles. The blob events did not occur in a correlated way with the magnetic activity or daily variation of the solar activity.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.30.4-31
• /
• 2008

Formation of longitudinally wave-like plasma density structure in the low-latitude F region is now a well-known phenomenon from the extensive studies in recent years. Observations of plasma density from multiple satellites have shown that the locations of the crests of the plasma density that are seen to be stationary during daytime are shifted after sunset. This phenomenon has been understood to be caused by eastward drift of the ionosphere at night. However, the eastward drift velocity of the ionosphere after sunset is not sufficiently large enough to explain the day-night difference in the longitudinal density structure. The just after sunset and the nighttime ionospheric morphologymay be affected by this drift after sunset. In this study, we will investigate the temporal variation of the phase of the longitudinal density structure and vertical plasma drift by analyzing the ROCSAT-1, TIMED/GUVI, and DMSP data and verify the role of the vertical drift after sunset in the change of the phase of the longitudinal density structure.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
• /
• 2002.05b
• /
• pp.56.1-56
• /
• 2002

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
• /
• 2009.04a
• /
• pp.41.1-41.1
• /
• 2009

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
• /
• 2001.11a
• /
• pp.65-65
• /
• 2001

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.29-36
• /
• 2016

The East African ionosphere (3°S-18°N, 32°E-50°E) was mapped using Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements from ground-based GPS receivers situated at Asmara, Mekelle, Bahir Dar, Robe, Arbaminch, and Nairobi. Assuming a thin shell ionosphere at 350 km altitude, we project the Ionospheric Pierce Point (IPP) of a slant TEC measurement with an elevation angle of >10° to its corresponding location on the map. We then infer the estimated values at any point of interest from the vertical TEC values at the projected locations by means of interpolation. The total number of projected IPPs is in the range of 24-66 at any one time. Since the distribution of the projected IPPs is irregularly spaced, we have used an inverse distance weighted interpolation method to obtain a spatial grid resolution of 1°×1° latitude and longitude, respectively. The TEC maps were generated for the year 2008, with a 2 hr temporal resolution. We note that TEC varies diurnally, with a peak in the late afternoon (at 1700 LT), due to the equatorial ionospheric anomaly. We have observed higher TEC values at low latitudes in both hemispheres compared to the magnetic equatorial region, capturing the ionospheric distribution of the equatorial anomaly. We have also confirmed the equatorial seasonal variation in the ionosphere, characterized by minimum TEC values during the solstices and maximum values during the equinoxes. We evaluate the reliability of the map, demonstrating a mean error (difference between the measured and interpolated values) range of 0.04-0.2 TECU (Total Electron Content Unit). As more measured TEC values become available in this region, the TEC map will be more reliable, thereby allowing us to study in detail the equatorial ionosphere of the African sector, where ionospheric measurements are currently very few.