{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]],"date-time":"2026-02-04T20:39:46Z","timestamp":1770237586286,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,23]],"date-time":"2021-06-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1624406400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["41776195"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41776195"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth\u2019s Dynamics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, CAS","award":["SKLGED2021-2-3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SKLGED2021-2-3"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The conversion between the line-of-sight slant total electron content (STEC) and the vertical total electron content (VTEC) depends on the mapping function (MF) under the widely used thin layer ionospheric model. The thin layer ionospheric height (TLIH) is an essential parameter of the MF, which affects the accuracy of the conversion between the STEC and VTEC. Due to the influence of temporal and spatial variations of the ionosphere, the optimal TLIH is not constant over the globe, particularly in the polar regions. In this paper, a new method for determining the optimal TLIH is proposed, which compares the mapping function values (MFVs) from the MF at different given TLIHs with the \u201ctruth\u201d mapping values from the UQRG global ionospheric maps (GIMs) and the differential TEC (dSTEC) method, namely the dSTEC- and GIM-based thin layer ionospheric height (dG-TLIH) techniques. The optimal TLIH is determined using the dG-TLIH method based on GNSS data over the Antarctic and Arctic. Furthermore, we analyze the relationship between the optimal TLIH derived from the dG-TLIH method and the height of maximum density of the F2 layer (hmF2) based on COSMIC data in the polar regions. According to the dG-TLIH method, the optimal TLIH is mainly distributed between 370 and 500 km over the Arctic and between 400 and 500 km over the Antarctic in a solar cycle. In the Arctic, the correlation coefficient between the hmF2 and optimal TLIH is 0.7, and the deviation between them is 162 km. Meanwhile, in the Antarctic, the correlation coefficient is 0.60, with a phase lag of ~3 months, with the hmF2 leading the optimal TLIH, and the deviation between them is 177 km.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13132458","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,23]],"date-time":"2021-06-23T11:28:41Z","timestamp":1624447721000},"page":"2458","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["A New Method to Determine the Optimal Thin Layer Ionospheric Height and Its Application in the Polar Regions"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4243-8767","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hu","family":"Jiang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Remote Sensing and Geomatics Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China"},{"name":"Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China"},{"name":"North Information Control Research Academy Group Co., Ltd., Nanjing 211153, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5108-4828","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shuanggen","family":"Jin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Remote Sensing and Geomatics Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9687-5850","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manuel","family":"Hern\u00e1ndez-Pajares","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IonSAT, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya (UPC-IonSAT, SSTRG-IEEC), 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7466-0007","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hui","family":"Xi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250358, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth\u2019s Dynamics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, CAS, Wuhan 430077, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3106-0714","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiachun","family":"An","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zemin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xueyong","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"North Information Control Research Academy Group Co., Ltd., Nanjing 211153, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Houxuan","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"North Information Control Research Academy Group Co., Ltd., Nanjing 211153, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"887","DOI":"10.1007\/s00190-011-0508-5","article-title":"The ionosphere: Effects, GPS modeling and the benefits for space geodetic techniques","volume":"85","author":"Juan","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. 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