A Tomographic Method for the Reconstruction of the Plasmasphere Based on COSMIC/ FORMOSAT-3 Data

A tomographic method has been developed for reconstructing the topside ionospheric and plasmaspheric electron density distribution using total content (TEC) measurements from global positioning system (GPS) receivers aboard constellation observing meteorology, ionosphere, climate/Formosa Satellite Mission 3 (COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3). Since COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 an orbit altitude of about 800 km, integral TEC obtained GPS navigation data are rather small imposed relevant challenges to obtaining stable reconstructions. However, can represent natural variability plasma ambient in terms latitude, altitude, solar activity, season, local time when analyzing reconstructions during 2008–2013. The employs independent spatial grids satellite rising setting geometries imposes a set constraints stabilize solution presence noise ill-conditioned geometry. We further consider background ionosphere plasmasphere models initialization filling gaps. quality assessment in-situ shown that proposed performs better than model, with improvements 26% 20% density. Our investigation also reveals necessity more accurate representations precise order have specifications at high altitudes.