Reconstruction of ion and electron density profiles from space-based measurements of the upper electron content

Presented is a new method for retrieving the topside electron density distribution from space-based observations of the total electron content. By assuming an adequate topside density distribution, the profile reconstruction technique utilizes ionosonde and oxygen–hydrogen ion transition level measurements for uniquely determining the unknown ion scale heights and the corresponding ion and electron density profiles. The method is tested on actual measurements from the CHAMP satellite. Important applications are envisaged, such as developing and evaluating empirical and theoretical ionosphere–plasmasphere models.