Characterisation of the ionospheric environment at low latitudes, application to Biomass external calibration sites

BIOMASS is a polarimetric P-band (435 MHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in a dawn-dusk low Earth orbit. Its principal objective is to measure biomass content and biomass change in all the Earth’s forests. The launch of BIOMASS is envisaged for around 2020, with the mission expected to last around five years.The ionosphere – the ionised upper part of the atmosphere where Earth meets space – introduces Faraday rotation and scintillations on every pulse emitted by low-frequency SAR, impacting the quality of the images. Some of these effects are due to Total Electron Content (TEC) and its gradients along the propagation path. To support the operation of Biomass, this activity carried out an accurate assessment of the morphology and dynamics of the ionosphere, in particular in the equatorial and tropical regions.