Impacts of Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation on GNSS radio occultation measurements of sporadic-E

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Radio Occultation (RO) has shown great promise for monitoring sporadic-E layers. However, extracting sporadic-E information from RO signals remains a difficult task due to the many unknown parameters such as length, intensity, vertical thickness, and small-s...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Andrew J. Knisely, Daniel J. Emmons
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1280228/full
_version_ 1797391222431547392
author Andrew J. Knisely
Daniel J. Emmons
author_facet Andrew J. Knisely
Daniel J. Emmons
author_sort Andrew J. Knisely
collection DOAJ
description Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Radio Occultation (RO) has shown great promise for monitoring sporadic-E layers. However, extracting sporadic-E information from RO signals remains a difficult task due to the many unknown parameters such as length, intensity, vertical thickness, and small-scale structure or turbulence. To further our understanding of sporadic-E turbulence, we investigate the power spectra of sporadic-E layers during Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation. Additionally, RO signals traversing the billows are simulated to analyze the impact on both amplitude and phase. From this, we find that the horizontal power spectrum is generally steeper in sporadic-E layers without billow formation, and the spectrum flattens as small-scale structures develop. Additionally, the typical “U”-shaped RO amplitude profiles produced by sporadic-E layers become asymmetric and less defined as the billows form and progress, showing that a single sporadic-E layer can produce a variety of RO signatures as it evolves over time. Ultimately, these results provide valuable insight for both modeling RO signals through sporadic-E layers and inverting RO data to extract information about the layers.
first_indexed 2024-03-08T23:29:48Z
format Article
id doaj.art-66e75ef9ef1a4dad967abb96af9a6dec
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2296-987X
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-08T23:29:48Z
publishDate 2023-12-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
spelling doaj.art-66e75ef9ef1a4dad967abb96af9a6dec2023-12-14T15:49:35ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences2296-987X2023-12-011010.3389/fspas.2023.12802281280228Impacts of Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation on GNSS radio occultation measurements of sporadic-EAndrew J. KniselyDaniel J. EmmonsGlobal Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Radio Occultation (RO) has shown great promise for monitoring sporadic-E layers. However, extracting sporadic-E information from RO signals remains a difficult task due to the many unknown parameters such as length, intensity, vertical thickness, and small-scale structure or turbulence. To further our understanding of sporadic-E turbulence, we investigate the power spectra of sporadic-E layers during Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation. Additionally, RO signals traversing the billows are simulated to analyze the impact on both amplitude and phase. From this, we find that the horizontal power spectrum is generally steeper in sporadic-E layers without billow formation, and the spectrum flattens as small-scale structures develop. Additionally, the typical “U”-shaped RO amplitude profiles produced by sporadic-E layers become asymmetric and less defined as the billows form and progress, showing that a single sporadic-E layer can produce a variety of RO signatures as it evolves over time. Ultimately, these results provide valuable insight for both modeling RO signals through sporadic-E layers and inverting RO data to extract information about the layers.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1280228/fullsporadic-EKelvin-Helmholtz billowsGNSS radio occultationtwo-fluid plasma modelmultiple phase screen model
spellingShingle Andrew J. Knisely
Daniel J. Emmons
Impacts of Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation on GNSS radio occultation measurements of sporadic-E
Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
sporadic-E
Kelvin-Helmholtz billows
GNSS radio occultation
two-fluid plasma model
multiple phase screen model
title Impacts of Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation on GNSS radio occultation measurements of sporadic-E
title_full Impacts of Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation on GNSS radio occultation measurements of sporadic-E
title_fullStr Impacts of Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation on GNSS radio occultation measurements of sporadic-E
title_full_unstemmed Impacts of Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation on GNSS radio occultation measurements of sporadic-E
title_short Impacts of Kelvin-Helmholtz billow formation on GNSS radio occultation measurements of sporadic-E
title_sort impacts of kelvin helmholtz billow formation on gnss radio occultation measurements of sporadic e
topic sporadic-E
Kelvin-Helmholtz billows
GNSS radio occultation
two-fluid plasma model
multiple phase screen model
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1280228/full
work_keys_str_mv AT andrewjknisely impactsofkelvinhelmholtzbillowformationongnssradiooccultationmeasurementsofsporadice
AT danieljemmons impactsofkelvinhelmholtzbillowformationongnssradiooccultationmeasurementsofsporadice