NOAA offers new experimental ionospheric products (Forwarded)

Office of Public and Constituent Affairs
NOAA
Washington, D.C.

Media Contacts:
Jana Goldman, NOAA Research
(301) 713-2483 ext. 181,

Carmeyia Gillis, NOAA Climate Prediction Center
(301) 763-8000 ext. 7163,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/1/04

NOAA 2004-106

NOAA OFFERS NEW EXPERIMENTAL IONOSPHERIC PRODUCTS

NOAA's Space Environment Center and National Geodetic Survey will release today
new experimental ionosphere products to help emergency managers and other users
quickly assess the effects of solar storm on Global Positioning System
applications. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is an
agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The SEC has created a near real-time ionospheric specification map of total
electron content over the continental United States that updates every 15
minutes. The USTEC map, available online at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ustec , will
aid users affected by ionospheric conditions -- GPS applications, surveyors,
emergency managers, and others -- to quickly assess the current situation that
may impact their systems.

The ionosphere is the area of the Earth's atmosphere beginning at an altitude of
about 30 miles and extending upwards to 10,000 miles. Free electrons slow and
disrupt the GPS signal as it passes through the ionosphere.

"This map is the initial offering in an ongoing effort to provide improved
products and services to a significant part of the SEC users community," said
Ernest Hildner, director of NOAA's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo.

Past maps and related source data will be available from the National
Geophysical Data Center Web site at
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/IONO/

This product results from contributions of the National Geodetic Survey,
National Geophysical Data Center, Forecast Systems Lab, and the Cooperative
Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado.

The NGS also announce two new ionosphere models over the continental United
States. These two highly accurate models (MAGIC and ICON-1) use the full set of
Continuously Operating Reference Stations and provide ionospheric information
between CORS stations and GPS satellites with a three-day delay. Thanks to these
models, users will be able to more precisely compute positions from GPS.

Both MAGIC and ICON-1 are prototype models, part of ongoing research projects,
but are being made available free to the general public for testing and
evaluation purposes. They may be found on the Web at
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/Ionosphere

Comments about the SEC test product can be sent to Rhonda Stewart at
. Questions or comments about the MAGIC model should be
directed to Everett Dutton at . Questions or comments
about the ICON-1 model can be sent to Dru Smith at .

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the
prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing
environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources.

On the Web:

* NOAA
http://www.noaa.gov
* NOAA Space Environment Center
http://www.sec.noaa.gov
* NOAA National Geodetic Survey
http://geodesy.noaa.gov/
* Mapping the Ionosphere
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS-Proxy/i...re/IonPage.jsp

IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories...ophere-jet.jpg (39KB)]
Ionospheric measurement. Please credit "NOAA".