Climatology of ionospheric scintillations and TEC trend over the Ugandan region

This study presents results on the investigation of the diurnal, monthly and seasonal variability of Total Electron Content (TEC), phase (_σΦ${\sigma }_{\mathrm{\Phi }}$) and amplitude (S4) scintillation indices over Ugandan (Low latitude) region. Scintillation Network Decision Aid (SCINDA) data was obtained from Makerere (0.34°N, 32.57°E) station, Uganda for two years (2011 and 2012). Data from two dual frequency GPS receivers at Mbarara (0.60°S, 30.74°E) and Entebbe (0.04°N, 32.44°E) was used to study TEC climatology during the same period of scintillation study. The results show that peak TEC values were recorded during the months of October–November, and the lowest values during the months of July–August. The diurnal peak of TEC occurs between 10:00 and 14:00 UT hours. Seasonally, the ascending and descending phases of TEC were observed during the equinoxes (March and September) and solstice (June and December), respectively. The scintillations observed during the study were classified as weak (0.1≤$\le$S4,_σΦ≤${\sigma }_{\mathrm{\Phi }}\le$0.3) and strong (0.3<$<$S4,_σΦ≤${\sigma }_{\mathrm{\Phi }}\le$1.0). The diurnal scintillation pattern showed peaks between 17:00 and 22:00 UT hour, while the seasonal pattern follows the TEC pattern mentioned above. Amplitude scintillation was more dominant than phase scintillation during the two years of the study. Scintillation peaks occur during the months of March–April and September–October, while the least scintillations occur during the months of June–July. Therefore, the contribution of this study is filling the gap in the current documentation of amplitude scintillation without phase scintillation over the Ugandan region. The scintillations observed have been attributed to wave-like structures which have periods of about 2–3 h, in the range of that of large scale travelling ionospheric disturbances (LSTIDs).     

A study on cycle slip detection and correction in case of ionospheric scintillation

This research is aiming for cycle slip detection and correction in case of ionospheric scintillation. Different from the normally discussed situation without ionospheric scintillation, ionospheric delay cannot be neglected due to abrupt ionosphere change. In this case, ionosphere-free testing quantities for cycle slip detection and correction have to be used.     

A comparative study of ionospheric spread-F and scintillation at low- and mid-latitudes in China during the 24th solar cycle

The spread-F echo of ionograms and scintillation of satellite signal propagation along the Earth-space path are two typical phenomena induced by ionospheric irregularities. In this study, we obtained spread-F data from HF (high frequency) digital ionosonde and scintillation index (S4) data from L-band and UHF receivers at low- and mid-latitudes in China during the 24th solar cycle. These four sites were located at Haikou (HK) (20°N, 110.34°E), Kunming (KM) (25.64°N, 103.72°E), Qingdao (QD) (36.24°N, 120.42°E), and Manzhouli (MZL) (49.56°N, 117.52°E). We used these data to investigate spread-F and scintillation occurrence percentages and variations with local time, season, latitude and solar activity. A comparative study of spread-F and scintillation occurrence rates has been made. The main conclusions are as follows: (a) FSF occurred mostly during post-midnight, while RSF and scintillation appeared mainly during pre-midnight at HK and KM; (b) FSF occurrence rates were larger at QD and MZL than expected; (c) the FSF occurrence percentages were anti-correlated with solar activity at HK and KM; meanwhile RSF and scintillation occurrence rates increased with the increase of solar activity at this two sites; (d) the highest FSF occurrence rates mostly appeared during the summer months, while RSF and scintillation occurred mostly in the equinoctial months at HK and KM; (e) the scintillation occurrence was usually associated with the appearance of RSF, probably due to a different physical mechanism comparing with FSF. Some of these results verified the conclusions of previous papers, whereas some show slight difference. These results are important in understanding ionospheric irregularities variations characteristic at low- and mid-latitudes in China.     

A study of long-term climatology of ionospheric irregularities by using GPS phase fluctuations at the Brazilian longitudes

We have examined the ionospheric plasma irregularities that were recorded by using three ground-based receivers of the global positioning system (GPS) located at Brazilian longitudes during the period of a complete solar cycle, 1995–2005. The statistic results show that ionospheric irregularities are very easy to occur in December solstice months but rare to occur in June solstice months. Besides, the occurrence rates of irregularities in both December and June solstice months are little dependent on solar activity. However, in equinoctial months, the development of irregularities is obviously dependent on solar activity. There is a new finding in this study that if strong irregularities are distinguished from moderate ones, their occurrence rates would increase with solar activity during the December solstice months.     

Investigation of ionospheric irregularities and scintillation using TEC at high latitude

The occurrence of ionospheric irregularities at high latitudes, with dimensions of several kms down to decameter scale size shows strong correlation with geomagnetic disturbance, season and solar activity. Transionospheric radio waves propagating through these irregularities experience rapid random fluctuations in phase and/or amplitude of the signal at the receiver, termed scintillation, which can degrade GNSS services. Thus, investigation and prediction of this scintillation effect is very important. To investigate such scintillation effects, a GISTM (GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitoring) NovAtel dual frequency (L1/L2) GPS receiver has been installed at Trondheim, Norway (63.41°$63.41°$ N, 10.4°$10.4°$ E), capable of collecting scintillation indices at a 1 min rate as well as the raw data (phase and intensity) of the satellite signals at a 50 Hz sampling rate and TEC (Total Electron Content) at a 1 Hz rate. Many researchers have reported that both phase and amplitude scintillation is closely associated with TEC fluctuations or associated with a significant developing enhancement or depletion in the TEC. In this study, a novel analogous phase index is developed which provides samples at a 1 min rate. Generally the scintillation indices can help in estimating the irregularity scintillation effect at a one minute rate, but such procedures are time consuming if DFTs of the phase and/or amplitude at a 50 Hz data are required. In this study, instead, this analogous phase index is estimated from 1 Hz rate TEC values obtained from the raw signals and is then compared for weak, moderate and strong scintillation at Trondheim for one year of data collected from the installed GPS receiver. The spectral index of the irregularities (that is the inverse power law of their spatial spectrum) is determined from the resultant phase scintillation psd. The correlations of the scintillation indices and spectral indices with the analogous phase index have been investigated under different geomagnetic conditions (represented by the Kp index) and an approximate linear correlation of phase scintillation with the analogous phase index was found. Then a principal advantage of this index is that it achieves this correlation without requiring a high sampling data rate and the need for DFTs. Thus, the index seems a good candidate for developing a simple means of ionospheric scintillation prediction which could also be utilized in the development of alerts using regional mappings.     

Mid-latitude amplitude scintillation of GPS signals and GPS performance slips

Degradation of transionospheric radio signals and operation failures during ionospheric disturbances constitute a crucial factor of space weather influence on radio engineering satellite systems performance. We found that during the main phase of strong magnetic storms in 2000–2003 when the auroral oval expands into mid-latitudes, its southern boundary develops a region with intense small-scale electron density irregularities. Such irregularities may cause strong amplitude scintillations of GPS signals at both GPS operating frequencies. The another consequence of it was significant random GPS signal phase fluctuations, breaking-down of signal tracking, and sharp increasing of GPS positioning errors as a result.     

电离层闪烁谱特征分析

本文给出了斜入射和不均匀体各向异性情形下的闪烁强度时间频谱的理论表达式。得出在各向异性不均匀介质中传播的信号,其闪烁谱在低频端既有下降的,又有平坦的,具体视传播的几何条件而定,其中传播角的影响尤为显著。据此,较好地解释了在广州、武昌、新乡等地观测到的ETS～Ⅱ卫星VHF信号闪烁谱在低频端的不同特征。     

Modeling the ionospheric gradient by using VSS base functions and GPS data over Iran

The spatial and temporal variations of ionosphere play an important role in positioning and navigation by the space geodetic techniques. Therefore, the ionospheric gradient should be calculated, analyzed, and applied in both space and time. Spatial gradients of the ionosphere have remarkable delay on the propagation of electromagnetic waves. This study intends to propose a new method for simultaneous modeling of the spatial gradients of ionosphere and VTECs in the local scale for Iran. Vector Spherical Slepian (VSS) base functions are used for the development of this method.Five VSS models with the maximal degrees of L = 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 are taken into account. For implementing the VSS method, 24 permanent GPS stations from the Iranian Permanent GPS Network (IPGN) have been used. The unknown coefficients are estimated with the observations of these stations with least squares technique. Four other stations are used for evaluating the accuracy of the models. Repeatability of baselines is the measure that is used for this purpose. Based on the results obtained, L = 40 is the optimum degree for the VSS model with this input data over Iran.The baselines’ repeatability showed that ionospheric gradients have more influence on the north–south component. Moreover, the spatial gradient is negligible in the east–west and up-down component when a short baseline is processed. In other words, this kind of ionospheric modeling has significant application for baseline, which is longer than 1000 km. In the study, proposed method has improved the long baselines' solution by more than 12%, 18% and 10% in east–west, north–south and up-down components, respectively.     

Low latitude ionospheric scintillation and zonal irregularity drifts observed with GPS-SCINDA system and closely spaced VHF receivers in Kenya

In this study we have used VHF and GPS-SCINDA receivers located at Nairobi (36.8°E, 1.3°S, dip −24.1°) in Kenya, to investigate the ionospheric scintillation and zonal drift irregularities of a few hundred meter-scale irregularities associated with equatorial plasma density bubbles for the period 2011. From simultaneous observations of amplitude scintillation at VHF and L-band frequencies, it is evident that the scintillation activity is higher during the post sunset hours of the equinoctial months than at the solstice. While it is noted that there is practically no signatures of the L-band scintillation in solstice months (June, July, December, January) and after midnight, VHF scintillation does occur in the solstice months and show post midnight activity through all the seasons. VHF scintillation is characterized by long duration of activity and slow fading that lasts till early morning hours (05:00 LT). Equinoctial asymmetry in scintillation occurs with higher occurrence in March–April than in September–October. The occurrence of post midnight VHF scintillation in this region is unusual and suggests some mechanisms for the formation of scintillation structure that might not be clearly understood. Zonal drift velocities of irregularities were measured using cross-correlation analysis with time series of the VHF scintillation structure from two closely spaced antennas. Statistical analyses of the distribution of zonal drift velocities after sunset hours indicate that the range of the velocities is 30–160 m/s. This is the first analysis of the zonal plasma drift velocity over this region. Based on these results we suggest that the east–west component of the plasma drift velocity may be related to the evolution of plasma bubble irregularities caused by the prereversal enhancement of the eastward electric fields. The equinoctial asymmetry of the drift velocities and scintillation could be attributed to the asymmetry of neutral winds in the thermosphere that drives the eastward electric fields.     

Modeling medium-scale TEC structures,observed by Belgian GPS receivers network

GALOCAD project “Development of a Galileo Local Component for the nowcasting and forecasting of atmospheric disturbances affecting the integrity of high precision Galileo applications” aims to perform a detailed study on ionospheric small- and medium-scale structures and to assess the influence of these structures on the reliability of Galileo precise positioning applications. GPS-derived TEC (total electron content) is obtained from the Belgium Dense Network (BDN), consisting of 67 permanent GPS stations. An empirical 3-D model is developed for studying these ionospheric structures. The model, named LLT model, described temporal variations of TEC in latitude/longitude frame (46°, 52°)N and (−1°, 11°)E. The spatial variations of TEC are modeled by Tchebishev base functions, while the temporal variations are described by a trigonometric basis. To fit the model to the data, the observed area is divided into bins with (1° × 1°) geographic scale and 6 min on time axis. LLT model is made flexible, with varying number of coefficients along each axis. This allows different degree of smoothing, which is the key element of the present approach. Model runs with higher number of coefficients, capturing in details medium-scale TEC structures are subtracted from results obtained with smaller number of coefficients; the latter represent the background ionosphere. The residual structures are localized and followed as they travel across the observed area. In this way, the size, velocity, and direction of the irregular structures are obtained.     

A study of L band scintillations during the initial phase of rising solar activity at an Indian low latitude station

The ionospheric scintillation and TEC (Total Electron Content) variations are studied using GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements at an Indian low latitude station Surat (21.16°N, 72.78°E; Geomagnetic: 12.90°N, 147.35°E), situated near the northern crest of the equatorial anomaly region. The results are presented for data collected during the initial phase of current rising solar activity (low to moderate solar activity) period between January 2009 and December 2011. The results show that within a total number of 656 night-time scintillation events, 340 events are observed with TEC depletions, Rate of change of TEC (ROT) fluctuations and enhancement of Rate of change of TEC Index (ROTI). A comparison of night-time scintillation events from the considered period reveal strong correlation amongst the duration of scintillation activity in S₄ index_, TEC depletion, ROT fluctuations and ROTI enhancement in the year 2011, followed by the year 2010 and least in 2009. The statistical analyses of scintillation activity with enhancement of ROTI also show that about 70–96% scintillation activity took place in equinox and winter months. Moreover, from a nocturnal variation in occurrence of scintillation with (S₄ ? 0.2) and enhancement of ROTI with (ROTI ? 0.5), a general trend of higher occurrence in pre-midnight hours of equinox and winter seasons is observed in both indices during the year 2011 and 2010, while no significant trend is observed in the year 2009. The results suggest the presence of F-region ionospheric irregularities with scale sizes of few kilometers and few hundred meters over Surat and are found to be influenced by solar and magnetic activity.     

Stochastic modelling considering ionospheric scintillation effects on GNSS relative and point positioning

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), in particular the Global Positioning System (GPS), have been widely used for high accuracy geodetic positioning. The Least Squares functional models related to the GNSS observables have been more extensively studied than the corresponding stochastic models, given that the development of the latter is significantly more complex. As a result, a simplified stochastic model is often used in GNSS positioning, which assumes that all the GNSS observables are statistically independent and of the same quality, i.e. a similar variance is assigned indiscriminately to all of the measurements. However, the definition of the stochastic model may be approached from a more detailed perspective, considering specific effects affecting each observable individually, as for example the effects of ionospheric scintillation. These effects relate to phase and amplitude fluctuations in the satellites signals that occur due to diffraction on electron density irregularities in the ionosphere and are particularly relevant at equatorial and high latitude regions, especially during periods of high solar activity. As a consequence, degraded measurement quality and poorer positioning accuracy may result.     

基于GPS的广州地区电离层闪烁谱分析

利用广州站GPS电离层闪烁监测仪2014和2015年的观测数据,从150例典型闪烁事件中提取出4820例闪烁谱和闪烁谱指数,分析发现广州地区闪烁对应单幂律谱和双幂律谱两大典型闪烁谱.这些闪烁谱可以细分为5类,初步分析了这5类闪烁谱的特征和产生原因.通过统计分析发现,谱指数分布在0.63~9.57,平均谱指数为3.86,78.5%以上的谱指数分布在0~6,83.4%中弱闪烁强度的谱指数值分布在0~7,89.27%的强闪烁强度的谱指数分布在5~10,谱指数随闪烁强度的增强有上升趋势.     

第24太阳活动周中国地区电离层闪烁统计特性研究

利用第24太阳活动周中国多个地区GNSS电离层闪烁监测站数据,统计分析中国中低纬地区电离层闪烁特性.结果显示：电离层闪烁主要发生在春秋分及夜间20：00—02：00LT时段;在28°N以南地区,纬度越低电离层闪烁强度和发生概率越高;电离层闪烁发生概率与太阳活动呈正相关,太阳活动上升年电离层闪烁发生概率高于下降年;不同强度地磁活动条件下,电离层闪烁均可能发生,且与地磁活动强度整体呈负相关.通过研究电离层闪烁统计特性,可以为电离层闪烁机理的深入研究、预报及工程应用提供参考.     

Demonstration of the use of the Doppler Orbitography and Radio positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) measurements to validate GPS ionospheric imaging

There is a lack of independent ionospheric data that can be used to validate GPS imaging results at mid latitudes over severe storm times. Doppler Orbitography and Radio positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), a global network of dual-frequency ground to satellite observations, provides this missing data and here is employed as verification to show the accuracy of the ionospheric GPS images in terms of the total electron content (TEC). In this paper, the large-scale ionospheric structures that appeared during the strong geomagnetic storm of 20 November 2003 are reconstructed with a GPS tomographic algorithm, known as MIDAS, and validated with DORIS TEC measurements. The main trough shown in an extreme equatorward position in the ionospheric imaging over mainland Europe is confirmed by DORIS satellite measurements. Throughout the disturbed day, the variations of relative slant TECs between DORIS data and MIDAS results agree quite well, with the average of the mean differences about 2 TECu. We conclude that as a valuable supplement to GPS data, DORIS ionospheric measurements can be used to analyse TEC variations with a relatively high resolution, ∼10 s in time and tens of kilometres in space. This will be very helpful for identification of some highly dynamic structures in the ionosphere found at mid-latitudes, such as the main trough, TID (Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances) and SED (Storm Enhanced Density), and could be used as a valuable auxiliary data source in ionospheric imaging.     

海南地区电离层闪烁监测及初步统计分析

为开展赤道区的电离层闪烁形态特性及相关物理过程的研究,空间中心海南台站建立了一套GPS电离层闪烁监测系统.该系统是利用Plessey GPS Builder-2系统开发的,对软件的源码进行了修改,使其能以高采样率(50/s)同时并行记录11个通道GPS信号强度数据.对2003年7-12月间L-波段电离层闪烁事件的初步统计分析结果表明,电离层闪烁主要发生在日落后到午夜附近,其中9-11月较7-8月闪烁发生和结束的时间明显提前;电离层闪烁发生的频率和强度在9-11月较其他月份明显增强,其中10月达到最大;电离层闪烁的逐日变化具有很强的随机性,闪烁的发生在秋分附近9月底到10月中旬的磁静日期间达到最大;太阳和地磁活动的增强通常会抑制电离层闪烁的发生,这种情形在秋分附近尤为明显.