Chinese Journal of Polar Research

Chinese Journal of Polar Research ›› 2025, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4): 775-785.DOI: 10.13679/j.jdyj.20240024

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Clustering of E-Layer dominated ionosphere (ELDI) characteristics in the polar regions based on functional principal component analysis

WU Yewen1,2,3, JIN Tingting1, LIU Ruiyuan4, CHEN Penglei1, GONG Kang1, CHEN Hanyi1   

  1. 1School of Mathematics and Statistics, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China;
    2Center for Applied Mathematics of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China;
    3Jiangsu International Joint Laboratory on System Modeling and Data Analysis, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China;
    4Key Laboratory of Polar Science, Ministry of Natural Resources, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China
  • Received:2024-03-11 Revised:2024-05-14 Online:2025-12-30 Published:2026-01-12

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Abstract:

The E-Layer Dominated Ionosphere (ELDI) is characterized by high electron density in the E-layer and occurs primarily in the polar regions. This paper used data from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) satellite to analyze the ionospheric electron density in the Antarctic region during winter for 2007—2010. Functional principal component analysis was used to identify the two principal components of ELDI events. k-means clustering was carried out to categorize the events. The results show that categories differ in terms of electron density profiles: some are bimodal while others are unimodal. Categories also differ significantly in terms of the geomagnetic latitude and time of dominant events. The distributions of the characteristic ionospheric parameters of different types of ELDI events were compared and analyzed and clear differences were found (p<0.05).


Key words: functional principal component analysis, cluster analysis, E-layer dominated ionosphere,  electron density profile, Antarctic