[unav_all] Availability of near real-time TEC monitoring system for South America

[Luciano P. O. Mendoza]

(apologies for cross-posting)

Dear colleagues,

we would like to announce the immediate availability of a multi-GNSS, 
multi-frequency and near real-time ionospheric TEC monitoring system for 
South America. It employs GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou observations, 
in all available bands, and made extensive use of the IGS Real-Time 
Service products.

The regional TEC products are updated every 15 minutes and, besides 
South America, also cover Central America, the Caribbean and the 
Antarctic peninsula.

Plots of the most recent TEC maps, with a typical latency of 10 minutes, 
can be accessed anonymously from

* http://wilkilen.fcaglp.unlp.edu.ar/ion/latest.png

or alternatively in Spanish from

* http://wilkilen.fcaglp.unlp.edu.ar/ion/ultimo.png

In addition, human readable and binary versions of the maps, in IONEX 
and NetCDF formats, can be immediately retrieved from

* http://wilkilen.fcaglp.unlp.edu.ar/ion/magn/

In this case, a one-time and simple registration process is required, 
just writing us briefly stating the intended purpose and requesting for 
an individual user (and password) to access the TEC product.

We would like to thank the people, organizations and agencies 
responsible to collect, compute, maintain and openly provide the 
observations, products and databases that made this work possible.

In particular, real-time GNSS orbit and clock messages, along with GNSS 
observations, are provided by the Bundesamt für Kartographie und 
Geodäsie (BKG, Germany), in support to the International GNSS Service 
(IGS), and we particularly thank Peter Neumaier.

Real-time GNSS observations are also provided by: the Instituto 
Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE, Brazil), and we 
particularly thank Sonia Maria Alves Costa; by the Instituto Geográfico 
Nacional (IGN, Argentina), and we particularly thank Diego Piñón; by the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, USA), in support to 
the IGS, and we particularly thank Jennifer Ash from the Crustal 
Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS) Team; by the Servicio 
Geográfico Militar (SGM, Uruguay), and we particularly thank José María 
Pampillón; also, this material is (partially) based on data services 
provided by the UNAVCO Facility with support from the National Science 
Foundation (NSF, USA) and NASA under NSF Cooperative Agreement No. 
EAR-0735156 (UNAVCO, USA).

Details about these products can be found in two complementary articles:

* A multi-GNSS, multi-frequency and near real-time ionospheric TEC 
monitoring system for South America, by Mendoza, L. P. O., Meza, A. M. 
and Aragón Paz, J. M. (2019), in Space Weather, 17, 
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019SW002187

* Technical note on the multi-GNSS, multi-frequency and near real-time 
ionospheric TEC monitoring system for South America, by Mendoza, L. P. 
O., Meza, A. M. and Aragón Paz, J. M. (2019), in EarthArXiv, 
https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/3vts6

Please, do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions 
about these products. All constructive feedback from other ACs, 
colleagues and users are certainly welcomed!

Regards,
luciano

-- 
Dr. Luciano P. O. Mendoza
Laboratorio de Meteorología espacial, Atmósfera terrestre, Geodesia,
Geodinámica, diseño de Instrumental y Astrometría (MAGGIA)
Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas (FCAG)
Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) y
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
Tel. +54 221 423 6593 int. 1057
Fax  +54 221 423 6591
Paseo del Bosque s/n, B1900FWA
La Plata, Argentina.