Updates: Every 60 minutes

Latest observations used. (click on thumbnail for full sized version)

The map above shows a near real-time ionospheric total electron content (TEC) map produced by combining GPS data with the IRI-2007 ionospheric model driven by real-time foF2 observations from IPS ionosondes distributed throughout the region.

The ionosphere is modelled as a thin shell at a fixed height of 400km. The point directly below where the line of sight between a GPS reciever and satellite passes throught this shell is known as the ionospheric pierce point (IPP). The GPS measured TEC at the pierce points, once estimated instrumental biases are corrected for, are shown in the thumbnail map on the upper right (click for enlarged version). These points are combined with the foF2 driven IRI model to produce the regional map. More details of the mapping procedure can be found in About TEC Mapping .

The map shows colour contours of TEC in units of 10¹⁶ electrons/m².