Four-dimensional GPS imaging of space weather storms

Recent developments in tomographic imaging allow the use of GPS satellite data to image the Earth's ionosphere. Ground-based GPS receivers monitor the Earth's ionosphere continuously, and a comprehensive database of ionospheric measurements suitable for tomographic processing now exists. The tomographic inversion of these GPS data in a three-dimensional time-dependent inversion algorithm can reveal the spatial and temporal distribution of ionospheric electron density. This new technique is unique for studying ionospheric physics because it gives a time-continuous near-global view of the ionosphere. The tomographic algorithms have been under continuous development for several years and are now yielding new geophysical results. Two fundamentally different algorithms (Multi-instrument Data Analysis System and Ionospheric Data Assimilation Three-Dimensional) are presented. They show the ionospheric impact of two major space weather events during the recent solar maximum. Results obtained from these two algorithms are similar, which provides additional confidence in the accuracy of the images.