Articles | Volume 15, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-997-0747-1
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-997-0747-1
30 Jun 1997
30 Jun 1997

Determination of the vertical electron-density profile in ionospheric tomography: experimental results

C. N. Mitchell, L. Kersley, J. A. T. Heaton, and S. E. Pryse

Abstract. The reconstruction of the vertical electron-density profile is a fundamental problem in ionospheric tomography. Lack of near-horizontal ray paths limits the information available on the vertical profile, so that the resultant image of electron density is biased in a horizontal sense. The vertical profile is of great importance as it affects the authenticity of the entire tomographic image. A new method is described whereby the vertical profile is selected using relative total-electron-content measurements. The new reconstruction process has been developed from modelling studies. A range of background ionospheres, representing many possible peak heights, scale heights and electron densities are formed from a Chapman profile on the bottomside with a range of topside profiles. The iterative reconstruction process is performed on all of these background ionospheres and a numerical selection criterion employed to select the final image. The resulting tomographic images show excellent agreement in electron density when compared with independent verification provided by the EISCAT radar.