Total Electron Content

The influence of the ionosphere on GNSS measurements depends on GNSS signal frequency and on Total Electron Content (TEC). The TEC is the integral of the electron concentration on the GNSS receiver-to-satellite path. It is measured in TECU (TEC Units) where 1 TECU = 10^16 electrons m^-2.

The University of Liege has developed a software package in order to reconstruct the TEC based on GPS dual frequency L1/L2 data with an accuracy of 2-3 TECU (Warnant et al., 2000). This software is applied to GPS data collected in the IGS (http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/) and EUREF (http://epncb.oma.be/) networks. At the present time, we are mainly processing data from stations located in mid-latitude Europe but other regions will be considered in the near future.

Warnant R., Pottiaux E. (2000), The increase of the ionospheric activity as measured by GPS, Earth, Planets and Space, 52, 11, pp. 1055-1060.
http://hdl.handle.net/2268/84663