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Global Sporadic E Layer Characteristics Obtained from GPS Radio Occultation Measurements

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Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES)

Part of the book series: Springer Atmospheric Sciences ((SPRINGERATMO))

Abstract

Sporadic E layers have been observed on a global scale using GPS radio occultation measurements performed by the CHAMP, GRACE and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites. This has been done by analysing signal amplitude variations of the GPS L1 signal. The global distribution of sporadic E layer occurrence shows strong variations on different time scales with highest sporadic E occurrence rates during the afternoon at the midlatitudes of the summer hemisphere. Furthermore, sporadic E occurrence depends on several geophysical parameters such as dynamic conditions in the lower thermosphere, intensity of Earth’s magnetic field and meteor flux. The connection between the global sporadic E occurrence in dependence on these parameters is discussed in this chapter.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the CHAMP and GRACE teams at GFZ and JPL for their work. We like to thank UCAR (Boulder, US) and NSPO (Taiwan) for the provision of the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC data sets and related support. This work was partly funded by grant WI 2634/2-1 within the German DFG priority research program 1176 related to CAWSES.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Christina Arras, Jens Wickert, Georg Beyerle, Stefan Heise & Torsten Schmidt

  2. Institute for Meteorology, University of Leipzig, Stephanstr. 2, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Christoph Jacobi

Authors
  1. Christina Arras
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  2. Jens Wickert
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  3. Christoph Jacobi
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  4. Georg Beyerle
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  5. Stefan Heise
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  6. Torsten Schmidt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christina Arras .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Rostock University, Schloss-str. 6, Kühlungsborn, 18225, Germany

    Franz-Josef Lübken

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Arras, C., Wickert, J., Jacobi, C., Beyerle, G., Heise, S., Schmidt, T. (2013). Global Sporadic E Layer Characteristics Obtained from GPS Radio Occultation Measurements. In: Lübken, FJ. (eds) Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES). Springer Atmospheric Sciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4348-9_12

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