Earth Science

CYGNSS

483 tracked publications and 7,987 citations from 2017–2026. Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System. Launched 2016. Life-cycle cost: $212M in 2025 dollars. Active Mission Window January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2024: 267 publications, 35 top-10% credit.

Orbiter · h-index 45 · 13 papers with 100+ citations · prime mission ended 2020


Lifetime

Scope Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the prime mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Every tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. Methods

Key measures

Active Mission Window · papers January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2024
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed research papers we found for the mission. The list may not be complete. Methods267
CitationsCitations received by the tracked publications in the selected scope. The two windowed scopes count each paper’s citations only within its citation window. Methods4,445
Mean citations per publicationMean citations: total citations divided by tracked publications in the selected scope. One blockbuster paper can lift it. Methods17
Median citations per publicationMedian citations: the middle paper’s citation count in the selected scope; half the papers have more, half fewer. A single blockbuster sways it less than the mean. Methods11
Uncited publicationsUncited publications: papers with no citations in the selected scope. Methods4 (1.5%)
Top-10% creditTop 10%: among the 10% most-cited papers from this division’s missions, ranked against papers published around the same time. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods35 · 0.92% of division
Top-1% creditTop 1%: among the 1% most-cited papers from this division’s missions within the selected window. Not adjusted for publication year. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods1.5 · 0.39% of division
Lifetime indices · every tracked publication to date, in any scope
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods45
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods70
m-index, as of October 4, 2026m-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes, so it belongs to the date shown; it also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods4.5
toritori (total research impact, from ADS): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Methods28
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Methods524

Tracked publications

  1. Soil Moisture Sensing Using Spaceborne GNSS Reflections: Comparison of CYGNSS Reflectivity to SMAP Soil Moisture

    Chew, C. C., 2018, GeoRL

    273 citations

  2. Analysis of CYGNSS Data for Soil Moisture Retrieval

    Clarizia, Maria Paola, 2019, IJSTA

    209 citations

  3. A New Paradigm in Earth Environmental Monitoring with the CYGNSS Small Satellite Constellation

    Ruf, Christopher S., 2018, NatSR

    195 citations

  4. Time-Series Retrieval of Soil Moisture Using CYGNSS

    Al-Khaldi, Mohammad M., 2019, ITGRS

    182 citations

  5. Use of Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CyGNSS) Observations for Estimation of Soil Moisture

    Kim, Hyunglok, 2018, GeoRL

    172 citations

  6. High Spatio-Temporal Resolution CYGNSS Soil Moisture Estimates Using Artificial Neural Networks

    Eroglu, Orhan, 2019, RemS

    148 citations

  7. Development of the CYGNSS Geophysical Model Function for Wind Speed

    Ruf, Christopher S., 2019, IJSTA

    142 citations

  8. Pan-tropical soil moisture mapping based on a three-layer model from CYGNSS GNSS-R data

    Yan, Qingyun, 2020, RSEnv

    132 citations

  9. Description of the UCAR/CU Soil Moisture Product

    Chew, Clara, 2020, RemS

    132 citations

  10. Assessment of Spaceborne GNSS-R Ocean Altimetry Performance Using CYGNSS Mission Raw Data

    Li, Weiqiang, 2020, ITGRS

    124 citations

  11. CYGNSS data map flood inundation during the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season

    Chew, Clara, 2018, NatSR

    118 citations

  12. Assessment of CYGNSS Wind Speed Retrieval Uncertainty

    Ruf, Christopher S., 2019, IJSTA

    107 citations

  13. Machine Learning-Based CYGNSS Soil Moisture Estimates over ISMN sites in CONUS

    Senyurek, Volkan, 2020, RemS

    104 citations

  14. In-Orbit Performance of the Constellation of CYGNSS Hurricane Satellites

    Ruf, Christopher, 2019, BAMS

    99 citations

  15. The CYGNSS Level 1 Calibration Algorithm and Error Analysis Based on On-Orbit Measurements

    Gleason, Scott, 2019, IJSTA

    99 citations

  16. Above-Ground Biomass Retrieval over Tropical Forests: A Novel GNSS-R Approach with CyGNSS

    Carreno-Luengo, Hugo, 2020, RemS

    85 citations

  17. A Semiempirical Modeling of Soil Moisture, Vegetation, and Surface Roughness Impact on CYGNSS Reflectometry Data

    Yueh, Simon H., 2022, ITGRS

    80 citations

  18. A novel approach to monitoring wetland dynamics using CYGNSS: Everglades case study

    Morris, Mary, 2019, RSEnv

    79 citations

  19. Lake Level and Surface Topography Measured With Spaceborne GNSS-Reflectometry From CYGNSS Mission: Example for the Lake Qinghai

    Li, Weiqiang, 2018, GeoRL

    77 citations

  20. Application of Neural Network to GNSS-R Wind Speed Retrieval

    Liu, Yunxiang, 2019, ITGRS

    77 citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Astrophysics Data System (ADS) for peer-reviewed articles naming CYGNSS in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces. SciX is ADS’s current interface.

((=abs:"Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System" OR (abs:CYGNSS AND (abs:satellite OR abs:GNSS OR abs:reflectometry OR abs:wind OR abs:soil OR abs:ocean OR abs:surface OR abs:data OR abs:retrieval OR abs:observations OR abs:cyclone OR abs:land OR abs:simulator OR abs:constellation OR abs:flood)) OR ((=abs:"Delay Doppler Mapping Instrument" OR abs:DDMI) AND (abs:CYGNSS OR abs:GNSS OR abs:reflectometry)))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2017-01 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "AIASJ" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NewSc" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (1)

  1. On the Constellation Design of Multi-GNSS Reflectometry Mission Using the Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm Design study for proposed follow-on reflectometry constellations; uses no CYGNSS data. Decision 🤖