Ionospheric Electron Density Measurements Using COSMIC

At 0140 UTC on April 15, 2006, the joint Taiwan-U.S. COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate and Formosa Satellite mission #3; hereafter COSMIC) mission, a constellation of six micro-satellites, was launched into a 512-km orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Using on-board propulsion these satellites have been deployed to their final orbits at 800 km with 30 degrees of separation. This process has taken about 17 months following the launch. There are three instruments aboard each COSMIC satellite: the GPS Occultation Experiment (GOX), the Tri-Band Beacon (TBB), and the Tiny Ionospheric Photometer (TIP). These three instruments constitute a unique suite of instruments for studying the Earth's ionosphere. The GOX instrument operates by inferring the slant total electron content (the integral of the electron density along the line-of-sight) between the COSMIC satellites and the GPS satellites as a function of tangent height above the Earth's limb. These data can be inverted to produce electron density profiles in the E and F regions of the ionosphere. The TBB is a three frequency radio beacon that radiates coherently at 150, 400, and 1067 MHz. When the relative phases of the signals are measured between the COSMIC satellites and ground-based or space-based receivers, the total electron content along the line-of-sight can be determined. By making the measurements from a set of receivers, the two-dimensional distribution of electrons beneath the satellite can be determined using tomographic techniques. The TIP instrument measures the optical signature of the natural decay of the ionosphere produced via ecombination of the O+ ions and electrons. The TIP measurements can be used to characterize the morphology and dynamics of the global ionosphere. Additionally, the TIP measurements can be inverted in conjunction with the GPS occultation measurements, using tomographic techniques, to produce the two- dimensional distribution of electrons beneath the satellite. We present an overview of the COSMIC mission, the instruments, and their application to ionospheric sensing.