Ionospheric Observations and Modeling for Enhanced Space Weather Prediction and GNSS Accuracy

The ionosphere is a dynamic, partially ionized region that directly affects satellite communications, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning, HF radio communications and broadcasting, and a growing number of low-Earth-orbit satellite services. Solar Cycle 25 reached a higher level of solar activity than Solar Cycle 24. During its solar maximum, geomagnetic storms, magnetospheric substorms, sudden ionospheric disturbances, equatorial plasma bubbles, and large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (LSTIDs) occurred more frequently, posing significant challenges for operational space weather prediction and GNSS positioning accuracy across a wide range of latitudes.

Recent satellite missions and constellations, including FengYun-3E, COSMIC-2, Swarm, ICON, GOLD, Spire, together with GNSS radio occultation observations, now provide overlapping coverage of key ionospheric parameters: Total Electron Content (TEC), F2-layer peak height (hmF2) and density (NmF2), electron density profiles, and topside scale heights. The main challenge now is integration of multiple types of ionospheric observations. Measurements from space-borne and ground-based GNSS, ionosondes, and incoherent scatter radars are sometimes inconsistent with each other, and large observational gaps remain over oceans where the ground-based observations are sparse. These issues limit our ability to construct a consistent and accurate representation of the ionosphere for space weather prediction and high-precision GNSS applications.

This Research Topic invites contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Satellite and ground-based ionospheric observations.
• Empirical and physics-based modeling.
• Data assimilation.
• Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) methods for developing and improving global and regional ionospheric models using multi-source ionospheric observations.
• Model validation and applications in ionospheric specification, nowcasting, forecasting, and GNSS positioning.

Particular emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary studies that bridge observations, models, and advanced computational methods to improve our understanding of ionospheric variability and its impacts on space weather prediction and GNSS performance.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Ionosphere, GNSS, Space weather forecasting, Total Electron Content (TEC), Satellite data fusion, Equatorial plasma bubbles, Ionospheric scintillation, Data assimilation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.