Morphology of sporadic E layers derived from Fengyun-3C GPS radio occultation measurements

The Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) data provided by the Fengyun-3C (FY-3C) mission during January 2015 to December 2019 are used to detect the existence of sporadic E (Es) layers over the globe, based on which the spatial and temporal distributions of the Es occurrence rates (ORs) are presented and analyzed. The results are compared with the Es morphology obtained using the RO data from the Constellation Observing System for the Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) mission. It is found that the seasonal variation patterns of the spatial distributions of Es ORs derived from the FY-3C RO data, which show clearly the effects of wind shear mechanism and the Earth’s magnetic field on the formation of Es layers, are basically consistent with those derived from the COSMIC RO data. While the limited local time distribution of the FY-3C RO-detected Es occurrences makes it impossible to resolve the complete diurnal variations of Es layers. Detailed comparisons of the Es morphologies derived from the two different RO missions reveal that the magnitudes of the Es ORs derived by FY-3C data are slightly smaller than those derived by COSMIC data in the middle and low latitudes, which is due to that the top heights of the 50 Hz RO data of FY-3C mission are generally lower than those of the COSMIC mission. In the polar regions, the distinctly low ratio of the FY-3C RO 50 Hz measurements which reach the height of 90 km reduces the capability of these observations for Es-layer detections. Graphical Abstract