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Theses and Dissertations

Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology

Global Positioning System

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Holes: Ionospheric Scintillation, Gps And Imputation, Robert A. Steenburgh Mar 2007

Holes: Ionospheric Scintillation, Gps And Imputation, Robert A. Steenburgh

Theses and Dissertations

Ionospheric scintillation of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals threatens navigation and military operations by degrading performance or making GPS unavailable. Scintillation is particularly active, although not limited to, a belt encircling the earth within ± 20 degrees of the geomagnetic equator. This belt also hosted roughly half of the completed U.S. military operations in the last decade. The authors examined scintillation data from Ascension Island, United Kingdom, and Ancon, Peru, in the Atlantic longitudinal sector as well as data from Parepare, Indonesia, and Marak Parak, Malaysia, in the Pacific longitudinal sector. From these data, they calculate percent probability of occurrence …


A Climatological Study Of Equatorial Gps Data And The Effects On Ionospheric Scintillation, Katharine A. Wicker Mar 2006

A Climatological Study Of Equatorial Gps Data And The Effects On Ionospheric Scintillation, Katharine A. Wicker

Theses and Dissertations

Ionospheric scintillation is detrimental to radio signals, especially those from the global positioning system. Such scintillation is caused when a signal permeates the ionosphere through plasma bubbles. The signal’s phase and amplitude can be altered, and a receiver on the ground can lose lock on the GPS signal. Measured using a zero to one index known as S4, scintillation severity is based upon season, solar cycle, time of day, location and frequency. The most severe scintillation occurs at the equatorial anomaly, or fifteen degrees north and south of the equator. Seven years of data from fifteen different locations around the …


Gps-Derived Precipitable Water Compared With The Air Force Weather Agency's Mm5 Model Output, Patricia A. Vollmer Mar 2002

Gps-Derived Precipitable Water Compared With The Air Force Weather Agency's Mm5 Model Output, Patricia A. Vollmer

Theses and Dissertations

Lightning poses a threat to aircraft in flight. To mitigate this threat, the U.S. Air Force requested a study of lightning distances. Three-Dimensional lightning data were examined for this study, spanning 1 March 1997 to 31 May 2001 and obtained from the Lightning Detection and Ranging System (LDAR) at the Kennedy Space Center, FL. The LDAR data points were first grouped into lightning flashes and branches using spatial and temporal criteria. Rawinsonde data were vertically interpolated to determine the temperature at the flash source point and each branch end point. The horizontal distance from flash sources to branch end was …


Estimation Of Atmospheric Precipitable Water Using The Global Positioning System, David A. Garay Mar 2002

Estimation Of Atmospheric Precipitable Water Using The Global Positioning System, David A. Garay

Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on using the Global Positioning System (GPS) for atmospheric precipitable water (PW) estimation. Water vapor, measured in terms of PW, plays a crucial role in atmospheric processes and short-term weather forecasting. Traditional methodologies for measuring atmospheric water vapor distributions have known inadequacies, resulting in the motivation to gain good water vapor characterization via GPS. The ability to accurately forecast cloud formation and other weather phenomenon is critical, especially in the case of military operations. Using a network of GPS receivers, it is possible to estimate precipitable water throughout the network region with better accuracy than traditional methods …


Validation Of The Gallagher Protonospheric Model, Kelly M. Law Mar 1999

Validation Of The Gallagher Protonospheric Model, Kelly M. Law

Theses and Dissertations

Ionospheric models are used in many systems throughout the Department of Defense: for example, they are useful in correcting range errors in radio signals. However, correction models don't incorporate the protonosphere, the torus-shaped plasma volume above the ionosphere. The Gallagher Protonospheric Model, recently incorporated into the Parameterized Ionospheric Model 1.7 (PIM 1.7), was validated against protonospheric total electron content (PTEC) measurements made by the GPS system. Gallagher model calculations of slant PTEC for Pittsburgh ground station looking south with a raypath at an elevation of 26 degrees were compared against GPS PTEC measurements for the same configuration derived from the …