Title
A New Mapping Function for Spaceborne TEC Conversion Based on the Plasmaspheric Scale Height
Abstract
The mapping function is crucial for the conversion of slant total electron content (TEC) to vertical TEC for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based observations. Instead of collapsing the ionosphere into one single shell in commonly used mapping models, we defined a new mapping function assuming the vertical ionospheric distribution as an exponential profiler with one simple parameter: the plasmaspheric scale height in the zenith direction of LEO satellites. The scale height obtained by an empirical model introduces spatial and temporal variances into the mapping function. The performance of the new method is compared with the mapping function F&K by simulating experiments based on the global core plasma model (GCPM), and it is discussed along with the latitude, seasons, local time, as well as solar activity conditions and varying LEO orbit altitudes. The assessment indicates that the new mapping function has a comparable or better performance than the F&K mapping model, especially on the TEC conversion of low elevation angles.
Year
DOI
Venue
2021
10.3390/rs13234758
REMOTE SENSING
Keywords
DocType
Volume
radio occultation, TEC, mapping function, plasmaspheric scale height, GCPM
Journal
13
Issue
Citations 
PageRank 
23
0
0.34
References 
Authors
0
7
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Mengjie Wu102.03
Peng Guo200.34
Wei Zhou300.34
Junchen Xue401.01
Xingyuan Han500.34
Yansong Meng600.68
Xiaogong Hu735.61