Validation of GPS Radio Occultation Measurements on CHAMP by Vertical Sounding Observations in Europe

Abstract

Ionospheric radio occultation (IRO) measurements have a big potential for monitoring the ionospheric behavior on global scale for now- and forecasting the ionospheric impact on radio systems. In this talk we validate the retrieved vertical electron density profiles (EDP’s) derived from IRO measurements onboard CHAMP by using vertical sounding measurements at the five European vertical sounding stations Athens, Dourbes, Juliusruh, Rome and Tortosa within a horizontal cross section radius around the ionosonde site of 8 degrees and a time window of up to +/- 15 minutes. Since the first IRO measurements were performed onboard CHAMP in April 2001 more than 70000 electron density profiles have been retrieved by a model assisted technique so far. The comparison of IRO retrievals with ionosonde profiles obtained from the above mentioned ionosonde stations will be discussed.