The Use of FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (F7/C2) for Operational Monitoring of Equatorial Ionospheric Scintillation

The FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (F7/C2) mission, launched in 2019, provides multiple data products to support operational neutral atmosphere and space weather applications. These products are used for both terrestrial numerical weather prediction, space weather, and equatorial ionospheric monitoring and forecasting. Operational products include GNSS radio occultation (RO) profiles, GNSS total electron content (TEC), in-situ ionospheric density, and equatorial ionospheric scintillation. This presentation summarizes the development, verification, and validation of equatorial ionospheric modeling products for operations from a team that includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Space Force (USSF), the Aerospace Corporation, Boston College, and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). Significant advancements have been made in the areas of high rate GNSS data collection, the development of scintillation geolocation routines to accurately locate disturbed ionospheric conditions, and the development of products for operational users.