GNSS Ionosphere Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) Analysis Center Rapid Product

doi:10.5067/GNSS/GNSS_IGSRIONOACVTEC_001

Data Center Citation

Noll, Carey E., The Crustal Dynamics Data Information System: A resource to support scientific analysis using space geodesy, Advances in Space Research, Volume 45, Issue 12, 15 June 2010, Pages 1421-1440, ISSN 0273-1177, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2010.01.018.

Data Citation

International GNSS Service, GNSS AC Rapid Ionosphere Total Electron Content Grid Product, Greenbelt, MD, USA:NASA Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS), Accessed [[enter user data access date]] at doi:10.5067/GNSS/gnss_igsionoacvtec_001.

Other standard citation formats may be used for this data set and can be found at the DOI Citation Formatter website.

More information about CDDIS data citations and acknowledgments is available.

Summary

  • Name: GNSS AC Rapid Ionosphere Total Electron Content Grid Product
  • Format: IONEX (ionosphere exchange) format
  • Spatial Coverage: 90.0 to -90.0, 180.0 to -180.0
  • Temporal Coverage:
  • Temporal Resolution:
  • File Size:
  • Platforms:

Description

Information on the ionosphere's behavior is of great importance for radio signal propagation applications, and scientists will benefit from up-to-date and long-term ionosphere information. The main ionospheric information provided by GNSS is the electron content, which can be derived from dual-frequency observations, which are available on a global scale from the stations in the IGS network. VTEC maps can provide useful information for monitoring the effects of space weather and improvements in navigation applications.

This derived product set consists of Global Navigation Satellite System Rapid Ionosphere Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) product (daily files) from the NASA Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS). The VTEC product files also include Delay Code Bias (DCB) values for GNSS satellites and ground receivers derived during the analysis. GNSS satellites provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning with global coverage. GNSS data sets from ground receivers at the CDDIS consist primarily of the data from the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS). Since 2011, the CDDIS GNSS archive includes data from other GNSS (Europe’s Galileo, China’s Beidou, Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System/QZSS, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System/IRNSS, and worldwide Satellite Based Augmentation Systems/SBASs), which are similar to the U.S. GPS in terms of the satellite constellation, orbits, and signal structure. GNSS observations from a global network can be utilized for atmospheric measurements. Analysis Centers (ACs) of the International GNSS Service (IGS) retrieve GNSS data on regular schedules to produce independently computed VTEC maps. The IGS Ionosphere Analysis Center Coordinator (ACC) uses these individual AC solutions to generate the official IGS VTEC maps. The AC VTEC maps are computed with a resolution of 2 hours in UT, 5 degrees in longitude and 2.5 degrees in latitude; they have an availability with a latency of 1-2 days.

Data Access

The GNSS AC Daily Ionosphere Total Electron Content Grid Products are online:

in subdirectories by year, day of year, and analysis center as follows:

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CodeMeaning
c1p1-day predicted solution (CODE)
c2p2-day predicted solution (CODE)
e1p1-day predicted solution (ESA)
e2p2-day predicted solution (ESA)
ilp1-day predicted solution (IGS combined)
i2p2-day predicted solution (IGS combined)
u2p2 day predicted solution (UPC)

YYYY/DDD/AAAgDDD#.YYi.Z

Code Meaning
YYYY4-digit year
DDD 3-digit day of year
AAA Analysis center name
# sequence number (0, 1, ...) indicating multiple files within a day; typically 0
YY2-digit year
.Z UNIX compressed file

Documentation

http://cddis.nasa.gov/Data_and_Derived_Products/GNSS/GNSS_data_and_product_archive.html