The impact of large scale ionospheric structure on radio occultation retrievals.

The article presents a study which examines the effects of large-scale ionospheric structure on the accuracy of radio occultation (RO) retrievals of atmospheric parameters including temperature and refractivity. The study compares quiet and geomagnetically disturbed conditions using an ionospheric data assimilation model and a climatological model of ionosphere. It is found out that satellites in higher altitude orbits have lower retrieval bias.