The DISPEC Project

Scientific exploitation of space Data for improved Ionospheric SPECification (DISPEC)

The DISPEC project offers new high-level data products based on advanced data processing techniques that improve data quality, provides estimates of ionospheric characteristics based on the joint processing of space and ground data, provides results from post-processing of data for improved ionospheric specification, and exploits long-term time series for the study of long-term trends in the ionosphere in connection to atmospheric long-term dynamics and geophysical phenomena. Specifically, DISPEC derived high-level data products aim at:

  • Providing fast processing of time series that lead to curated data.
  • Deriving new high-level data products based on the exploitation of raw data from multi-locations and multi-instruments, useful for input to ionospheric specification models.
  • Deriving new ionospheric indicators based on the post-processing of raw satellite and ground-based instruments’ data useful for a quick mapping of ongoing ionospheric irregularities.
  • Providing proxies for geophysical phenomena and long-term trends in the ionosphere.

  

Objectives

The main objective of DISPEC project is the exploitation of bottomside and topside ionospheric data, provided by space missions – such as Swarm, DORIS, GRACE, GRACE-FO, Spire, COSMIC-2 – and by ground-based GNSS receivers and ionosonde sounders, to support research activities for improved ionospheric specification, through the derivation of high-level data products. The project outcomes have the potential to complement the ESA Space Science Archives and the Space Weather Network, the data collections provided by the global networks of ionosondes and GNSS ground based receivers, and to enhance the capacity of European Research Infrastructures.

  

Ambition

The principal ambition of DISPEC is:

  • The derivation of high-level data products with specified data quality flag and defined data level, following the Research Data Alliance standards, to allow the adoption by space agencies, data-centre.
  • The re-use of DISPEC data products by the research community, given the expected improvements to the accuracy of ionospheric specification models and the support that provide for models’ validation.

That would necessitate a high degree of reliability in scientific and engineering level, with standardised input/output information layers for a seamless integration with existing ionospheric service infrastructure. To reach this ambition, DISPEC developments must go clearly beyond the state of the art.