System for Rapid Analysis of Ionospheric Dynamics based on GNSS TEC Signals

Description

System for Rapid Analysis of Ionospheric Dynamics based on GNSS TEC Signals (S-RAID) performs downloading, parsing, and processing of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal measurements and their geometry of observations, calculation of slant and vertical total electron contents (sTEC and vTEC) and subsequent visualization for selected band-passes of fluctuations with periods shorter than two hours. In a routine operation, the System processes 15/30 sec GNSS signal measurements over Continental United States (CONUS) from ~2700 stations. Raw GNSS signal measurements are collected from public archives, including The Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS), EarthScope/UNAVCO, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Orbit and Permanent Array Center (SOPAC). The System is oriented towards rapid access to GNSS sTEC/vTEC data for the investigation of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) of various nature, from large scale TIDs to irregularities of ~10s of km and minutes of periods, in particular those driven by atmospheric acoustic and gravity wave dynamics. The details of data processing methodology are provided the section Steps to Reproduce below, and in (2) and Supporting Information to it. Currently, this archive provides an access to high-resolution visualization of processed vTEC mapped over CONUS for years 2017-2023. The structure of the archive: /YYYY/MM/DD/animation.mp4, where YYYY - year, MM - month, DD - day of month, animation.mp4 - temporally evolving visualization of processed vTEC (see Steps to Reproduce for the details of data processing methodology). To reference the archive or the methodology for data processing, we suggest to: (1) Cite this archive by its DOI: 10.17632/jbx98yscmd.1, and/or (2) Cite Inchin, P. A., et al. (2023). Multi-layer evolution of acoustic-gravity waves and ionospheric disturbances over the United States after the 2022 Hunga Tonga volcano eruption. AGU Advances, 4. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023AV000870. Being processed in an automated regime, the visualizations may contain errors and bugs and thus should be used with caution as is. If you encounter any issues or wish to obtain data for animation replication, contact Inchin P.A. inchinp@erau.edu, inchinpa@gmail.com, J.B. Snively snivelyj@erau.edu or M.D. Zettergren zettergm@erau.edu. Research is supported by DARPA Cooperative Agreement HR00112120003. This work is approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. The content of the information does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

Steps to reproduce

The visualizations in the archive are generated following next steps: 1. Processing vTEC based on phase measurements of GNSS signals on two frequencies for each satellite-station pair. Performing data quality tests and cycle-slip corrections. 2. Calculation of the geometry of observations for each satellite-station pair. The ionospheric pierce point (IPP) locations are calculated with an assumption of a single ionospheric shell height at 300 km altitude. 2. Processing vTEC time series for each satellite-station pair with 10 min high-pass, 5-40 min band-pass, 60 min high-pass, 120 min high-pass Butterworth filter of order 6. 3. Mapping filtered vTEC observations onto a grid over Continental United States with their respective IPP locations. Applying the grid over the region 27-48°N/72-124.5°W. Grid cell size is chosen as 0.125x0.126° in latitudinal and longitudinal directions. 4. Interpolating data at cells with no vTEC observations based on data from neighboring cells. 5. Smoothing the 2D map of filtered vTEC observations using a 3x3 mean filter for visualization purposes. 6. Creating a sequence of snapshots of 2D maps at a 30-second sampling rate to generate the animation. For a more detailed description, you can refer to the publication by Inchin, P. A., et al. (2023), Multi-layer evolution of acoustic-gravity waves and ionospheric disturbances over the United States after the 2022 Hunga Tonga volcano eruption. AGU Advances, 4. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023AV000870 and Supporting Information to it. For further questions, please contact Inchin P.A. (inchinp@erau.edu, inchinpa@gmail.com).

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