Ionospheric profiling through radio-frequency signals recorded by theFORTÉ satellite, with comparison to the International Reference Ionosphere Original Research Article

Electromagnetic waves originating on Earth and recorded in space allow retrieval of ionospheric parameters. Using the FastOnboard Recording of Transient Events satellite (FORTÉ, it has been shown that traps-ionospheric pulsed radio-frequency (RF) signals carry sufficient information to infer the peak electron density of the ionosphere, in addition to the total electron content along a ray path between a source and a receiver. In this paper the detailed refractive properties of the ionosphere and the biref-ringent splitting of RF waves in the Earthʹs magnetic field are modeled using the Appleton-Hartree equation and an electron density profile based on the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). Applications of this model to FORTÉ data provide additional information on the vertical profile of ionospheric plasma density at the time and place of measurement. Results of the FORTÉ observations are compared with the IRI.