Thermospheric density variations: Observability using precision satellite orbits and effects on orbit propagation
Issue Date
2013-01-28Author
Lechtenberg, Travis Francis
McLaughlin, Craig A.
Locke, Travis Cole
Krishna, Dhaval Mysore
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This paper examines atmospheric density estimated using precision orbit ephemerides (POE) from the CHAMP and GRACE satellites during short periods of greater atmospheric density variability. The results of the calibration of CHAMP densities derived using POEs with those derived using accelerometers are examined for three different types of density perturbations, [traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs), geomagnetic cusp phenomena, and midnight density maxima] in order to determine the temporal resolution of POE solutions. In addition, the densities are compared to High-Accuracy Satellite Drag Model (HASDM) densities to compare temporal resolution for both types of corrections. The resolution for these models of thermospheric density was found to be inadequate to sufficiently characterize the short-term density variations examined here. Also examined in this paper is the effect of differing density estimation schemes by propagating an initial orbit state forward in time and examining induced errors. The propagated POE-derived densities incurred errors of a smaller magnitude than the empirical models and errors on the same scale or better than those incurred using the HASDM model.
Description
This is the published version. Copyright 2013 American Geophysical Union.
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Citation
Lechtenberg, Travis, Craig A. Mclaughlin, Travis Locke, and Dhaval Mysore Krishna. "Thermospheric Density Variations: Observability Using Precision Satellite Orbits and Effects on Orbit Propagation." Space Weather 11.1 (2013): 34-45. DOI: 10.1029/2012SW000848
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