Accessing near real-time data for use in global data assimilation models

Abstract:

Data assimilation plays a vital part in real-time specification of the ionosphere/thermosphere/atmosphere system for improving geo-location, communication, raytracing, weather prediction, etc. In order to have the best specifications available, it is necessary to acquire and use all the data available on the Internet. With the limited availability of data in the ionosphere/thermosphere, it is important to have as many sources of data as possible to get a good specification, especially with regard to global simulations. For the ionosphere the use of gps slant TEC, ionosonde, DMSP in-situ, and DMSP UV sensors data has been incorporated into the USU GAIM models. The amount of data, the quality of data, and how the data is chosen for use in the data assimilation models and its impacts on model performance will be discussed. The data available comes from GPS satellites, ionosondes/digisondes, DMSP satellites, and other sporadic sources. Even with all of these sources more data is needed in order to produce improved specifications, and more reliable forecasts.