[OpenMadrigal-developers] Adding TEC (Total electron content) to Cedar parameter list

[William Rideout]

Barbara and Roy,

I'd like to propose adding a new parameter to the official Cedar 
parameter list: Total Electron Content (or TEC).  Total electron content 
measures the the total number of electrons in a column of area A above a 
given latitude and longitude.  The unit TEC is defined as 10^16 
electrons/m^2.  We are calculating a worldwide TEC map using the global 
array of GPS receivers. Given a maximum TEC of around 1000, we can keep 
tenths of a TEC in the database if we make the units:

1.E+15 m-2

John Holt suggested that TEC is a scalar quantity, so he suggested 
adding this parameter to "Miscellaneous Scalar Quantities".  So I 
suggest we add the following line to the parameter document under that 
heading:

2320	Total Electron Content	1.E+15 m-2 	tec

We also need a new instrument id for the Madrigal and Cedar databases. 
Since this is a distributed instrument, its location doesn't really make 
sense.  As a name, I'd like to call it "Worldwide GPS Receiver Network", 
but feel free to make another suggestion.

Let me know what you think.

Bill


-- 
Bill Rideout
MIT Haystack Observatory
Email: brideout at haystack.mit.edu
Phone: 781 981-5624