Mapping electron density in the ionosphere: A principal component MCMC algorithm

The outer layers of the Earth’s atmosphere are known as the ionosphere, a plasma of free electrons and positively charged atomic ions. The electron density of the ionosphere varies considerably with time of day, season, geographical location and the sun’s activity. Maps of electron density are useful because local changes in this density can produce inaccuracies in the Navy Navigation Satellite System (NNSS) and Global Positioning System (GPS). Satellite to ground-based receiver measurements produce tomographic information about the density in the form of path integrated snap-shots of the total electron content which must be inverted to generate maps. We propose a Bayesian approach to the inversion problem using spatial priors which allow us parsimoniously to include knowledge of how density varies with height. Less helpfully, this parameterisation does not lend itself well to standard Metropolis-Hastings algorithms and so we develop a much more efficient form of Markov chain Mon...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: CSDA
• Authors: Eman Khorsheed, Merrilee Hurn, Christopher Jennison
• Keywords: CSDA 2011, Electron Density, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, Navy Navigation Satellite System, Social Sciences