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Supervision of : Dr. Abhay K. Singh Atmospheric Research Lab. Department of Physics Banaras Hindu University
EARTHS ATMOSPHERE
1. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Pressure
About 1 atm (or 101.3 kPa or 29.9 in Hg) at sea level. Decreases exponentially with altitude.
Thickness
Up to approximately 500 km height.
Density
Around 1.2 kg/m3 (1.2 g/L) at sea level. Decreases with increasing altitude.
Mass
Total mean mass about 5.148 1018 kg (or 1/1200000 times mass of earth).
2. COMPOSITION :
3. STRUCTURE : TROPOSPHERE :
Ranges between 9 -17 km (30000 - 56000 ft) from surface.
Weather occurs only in this layer as it contains water vapor. Almost 80% mass of atmosphere & pressure only 0.1 atm at top. Temperature decreases with altitude. Most unstable layer with constantly moving air called Turbulence.
STRATOSPHERE :
Extends from tropopause up to about 51 km (170000 ft). Temperature increases with height. Pressure reduces to 1/1000 of that at sea level. Jet airlines fly in this layer (near Tropopause).
MESOSPHERE :
From stratopause up to 80 85 km height (260000 280000 ft). Most of meteors burn up in this layer. Temperature decreases with height (with min. temp. about -100 C). Ice (frozen water vapor) clouds called Noctilucent clouds are found.
THERMOSPHERE :
Usually extends to 350 800 km (1100000 2600000 ft). Temperature increases with height (up to 1500C). ISS orbits in this layer between 320 km and 380 km.
EXOSPHERE :
About 500 km from surface & merges into space. Composed of Hydrogen and Helium. Particles follow ballistic trajectories instead of behaving like fluid. Satellites orbit here.
IONOSPHERE
Composed of weakly ionized gas or plasma. Ranges between 60 km to 1000 km from earths surface. Ionization occurs due to solar & galactic cosmic radiations. Composed of three layers; D, E & F (with further division F1 & F2 ) whose existence & thickness depends on position of sun. Becomes optically thin to ionizing radiation with increasing height.
D - LAYER :
Extends from 50 to 90 km. Lyman series - hydrogen radiation ( = 121.5 nm) ionize NO & hard Xrays ( < 1nm) due to solar activity ionize N2 & O2. Absorb HF radio waves particularly at 10 MHz & below. Disappears during night (recombination rate >> ionization rate).
Reflect radio waves of frequencies < 10 MHz & during intense sporadic events frequencies of range 25-250 MHz.
IONOSPHERIC MODEL :
Mathematical description of ionosphere expressed as computer program (function of Location, Altitude, Day of year, Phase of sunspot cycle & Geomagnetic activity). State of ionospheric plasma described by ; Electron density, Electron & Ion temperature, & Ionic composition. Major data sources ; worldwide network of ionosondes, powerful incoherent scatter radars, ISIS & Alouette topside sounders, & instruments on several satellites & rockets.
IONOSPHERIC PERTURBATIONS :
Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances (SID) : Due to hard X-rays from solar flares, that cause HF radio blackout & end with the X-rays. Polar Cap Absorption (PCA) : High-energy protons increase ionization of D & E layers, & lasts for an hour to several days. Geomagnetic Storms : Intense disturbance of magnetosphere causes F2 layer to become unstable, fragment or even disappear completely. Lightning : Lightning-induced Electron Precipitation (LEP) in D-layer through Whistlers or by huge motion of charges in lightning strikes.
STEC
Nds
where, N - electron density, S & R (integration limits) - position of satellite & receiver respectively. STEC is converted to VTEC (Vertical Total Electron Content) by ;
VTEC
! [STEC
( b r b s )] / S (E l )
where, br & bs - receiver & satellite biases respectively, El - elevation angel of satellite (in degrees), S(El) - obliquity factor with zenith angle ( ) at Ionospheric Pierce Point (IPP). Here S(El) is given by ;
2
R E cos( E l ) 1 S ( El ) ! ! 1 RE h cos( G )
1 / 2
SCINTILLATION
Random fluctuations in intensity of radio waves. Affected by Solar wind (plasma composed of electrons & lone protons). Scintillation index ; RMS intensity fluctuations relative to mean intensity from source & utilized as measure of solar wind (velocity, structure, density).
GPS
SP S G
Consist of 24 -32 satellites rotating in 6 orbits around the earth.
CONTROL SEGMENT
Consist of 6 monitoring stations around the world including a Master Control Station.
USER SEGMENT
Consist of Receivers being used throughout the world by different users for different purposes.
SPACE SEGMENT :
24 satellites in 6 earth centered orbits (at 60 separation & inclined to equator at 55) with 4 satellites in each orbit. Satellites at 20200 km (10900 nmi) height move with 3.9 km/s velocity in 11 hours 58 minutes. At least 4 satellites visible anytime from anywhere on earth. Satellites transmit signals at two frequencies, L1 (1575.42 MHz) and L2 (1227.6 MHz) with = 19 cm & 24 cm respectively.
CONTROL SEGMENT :
Consist of Master Control Station, worldwide network of monitor stations & ground antennas. Monitor stations transmit radiometer data to master control station for further processing.
USER SEGMENT :
Ground-based GPS receiver units that process GPS signals and compute position or velocity of user. Function automatically & often provide visual or verbal positional guidance.
PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION :
Each satellite defines a sphere (with radius equal to distance between satellite & receiver, called Pseudo Range) on which user may be located. Intersecting point of three such spheres gives the exact position of user. The pseudo range obtained from fourth satellite determines the receiver clock bias with satellite clock. User position is determined by solving the system of equations ;
Pj !
s ju
ct
(1)
where, sj-u - range of user in earth centered coordinate system, j no. of satellite, u - user position, c - speed of light, t - time.
! ! ! !
2
2 u
u
2
2 u
u
ct ct ct
2 u
u
ct
where, (xu , yu ,zu) - position of user in earth centered coordinate system, tu - time.
IONOSPHERIC DELAY :
Results in pseudo ranges measured too long as compared to geometric range, due to group delay experienced by signal. Depends on TEC, geomagnetic latitude of receiver, time of day & angle of elevation of satellite. Removed by using dual frequency GPS observations. Excess phase delay tp (in seconds) incurred by GPS signal is ;
(tp !
40 . 3 v TEC cf 2
where, c velocity of light (in m/s), f operating frequency (in Hz). Negative phase delay imparts that phase is advanced. Excess phase delay (I ) in meters is ;
I * ! c.( t p !
40 . 3 v TEC f2
I V ! c.( t g !
40 . 3 v TEC f2
Thus ionospheric delay in terms of pseudo range & carrier phase are equal in magnitude but opposite in sign, i.e. ;
I* ! IV !
40 . 3 v TEC f2
100 TECU can produce time delay of 54 ns or range error of 16.2 m on L1 & time delay of 89 ns or range error of 26.7 m on L2.
TROPOSPHERIC DELAY :
Causes delay in both code & carrier of signal. Does not depend on frequency so, cannot be eliminated easily. Rather depends on temperature, pressure & humidity. Categorized as Hydrostatic delay or Dry delay (about 90% of delay) & Wet delay (varies with atmospheric conditions). Hydrostatic delay can be approximated by the relation ;
D c ! 2 . 27 v 0 . 001 v P0 where, Dc - dry ran e contribution of zenith direction (in meters), P0 surface pressure (in millibars).
APPLICATIONS OF GPS :
GPS applications encompass diversified fields of Industry, & Data collection, Agriculture & Forestry, Navigation, Mappin Surveyin , En ineerin , Military, Science, Transportation, Biomedical, Recreation, Maritime and Sports.
Variation of S4 values obtained throughout the day from all PRN on 23rd Jan 2011
Variation of S4 values obtained throughout the day from all PRN on 25th Jan 2011
Variation of S4 values obtained throughout the day from all PRN on 11th Feb 2011
Variation of S4 values obtained throughout the day from all PRN on 13th Feb 2011
Variation of S4 values obtained throughout the day from all PRN on 14th Feb 2011
CONCLUSIONS
Ionospheric TEC peak around afternoon hours (Local Time). Monthly mean variation of TEC is maximum durin minimum durin January. March &
Variability of TEC depends on EUV-flux, geoma netic activity, electrojet stren th (EEJ) and local atmospheric condition in thermosphere. But at low latitude station it mainly depends on Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA). Study of ionospheric plasma bubbles over Varanasi usin GPS scintillation measurements durin January-March 2011 shows maximum durin February.