Assimilation of total electron content in a SAMI3 simulation

Total electron content (TEC) observations can provide insights into electron density variations in the ionosphere. Such variations are associated with many aspects of ionospheric dynamics, including traveling ionospheric disturbances. In the present work we assimilate observations of TEC and horizontal TEC gradients into the SAMI3 (SAMI3 is Another Model of the Ionosphere 3D) ionosphere model. Assimilation into SAMI3 is accomplished using an ensemble Kalman filter implemented within LightDA, an extensible data assimilation library. Our TEC gradient observations are obtained from the Very Large Array Low-band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment (VLITE) and the TEC measurements are derived from GNSS receiver data. VLITE provides high precision and high spatial resolution TEC gradient observations over a small area, while GNSS observations supplement these with global coverage. By leveraging TEC observations in a physics-based model through data assimilation, we aim to improve our understanding of ionospheric processes and develop tools for improved ionospheric forecasting capabilities.