Speaker
Description
The ionosphere is a highly dynamic region of the upper atmosphere where variations in plasma density are driven by a variety of processes, particularly solar radiation, geomagnetic activity, atmospheric waves, and electrodynamic mechanisms. These variations can significantly affect the propagation of radio signals and the performance of technologies that rely on them, making ionospheric monitoring an important component of space weather research. Today, ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) networks, in situ satellite measurements, and radio occultation observations provide complementary perspectives of the ionosphere across different spatial and temporal scales. This presentation provides an overview of how GNSS and satellite observations can be used to remotely sense the ionosphere and investigate its response to different space weather conditions. Ground-based GNSS measurements will be introduced as a powerful tool for mapping the spatial and temporal evolution of ionospheric electron density and identifying plasma structures and irregularities through parameters such as total electron content (TEC), ROTI, detrended TEC, SIDX, and amplitude scintillation (S4). These observations will be complemented by measurements from low-Earth-orbit satellites, including Swarm observations of electron density, plasma density irregularities, and topside TEC, as well as COSMIC radio occultation measurements that provide vertical electron density profiles and information about the three-dimensional structure of the ionosphere. Using selected observational examples, we will explore how these complementary datasets can be combined to investigate important ionospheric phenomena, including equatorial plasma bubbles, traveling ionospheric disturbances, geomagnetic storm responses, and ionospheric effects associated with solar flares. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding what each observing technique measures, its advantages and limitations, and how combining observations from the ground and space provides a more complete picture of ionospheric dynamics. The presentation aims to provide students with a practical introduction to modern ionospheric remote sensing and its applications to space weather research.