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).     

赤道电离层F区底部准正弦型不均匀体引起闪烁的数值模拟

本文采用多重相屏模型, 考虑不均匀体特征尺度随高度的变化, 模拟了赤道电离层F区底部准正弦型(BSS)不均匀体引起的闪烁。模拟计算结果表明:BSS不均匀体的特征尺度随高度变化可以导致闪烁谱和不均匀体谱之间谱指数的显著差异。      

行星际闪烁功率谱的Fresnel现象与太阳风速度

讨论了弱散射条件下行星际闪烁(IPS)功率谱的Fresnel现象。数值计算结果表明,无行星际扰动存在时,IPS功率谱的膝点频率仍是Fresnel频率,在日张角。ε≤35°的范围内,Fresnel振荡现象仍然存在,极小值所在频率与太阳风电子密度为一维结构薄屏近似的解析结果相差不大。行星际扰动存在时,功率谱的膝点频率并未改变,扰动区太阳风速度决定着Fresnel振荡出现的频率。      

弱太阳闪烁对深空通信的影响

行星聚合和太阳闪烁是影响深空通信的重要因素. 分析了行星聚合和太阳闪烁的物理特性, 建立了弱太阳闪烁条件下深空通信信道的Rician 模型, 并得出了当Rician 因子大于10 dB 时近似为高斯信道的结论. 对弱太阳闪烁下X 波段和Ka 波段的通信性能进行了仿真, 这对建立可靠的深空通信链路具有十分重要的意义.      

海南地区电离层闪烁观测与GISM模式预测的比较分析

为了获得全球电离层闪烁模式GISM在中国低纬地区预测的精度和可靠性,利用海南三亚GPS电离层闪烁监测系统一年的观测数据与模式预测结果进行对比分析.结果表明,在太阳活动低年,GISM能较好地反映海南地区电离层闪烁的季节变化、日变化和空间分布特性;对于季节变化,模式与观测结果在中等强度闪烁条件下较为相符,而在强闪烁和弱闪烁条件下有不同程度的偏差;模式预测的闪烁日变化与实际观测基本一致,但在闪烁发生率出现最大值的时间上模式预测要滞后约1 h左右;在电离层闪烁发生率的空间分布上,模式预测与实际观测较为相符,即海南地区南面电离层闪烁发生率高于北面.      

Equatorial secondary cosmic ray observatory to study space weather and terrestrial events

Recently, equatorial secondary cosmic ray observatory has been established at Equatorial Geophysical Research Laboratory (EGRL), Tirunelveli, (Geographic Coordinates: 8.71°N, 77.76°E), to study secondary cosmic rays (SCR) produced due to the interaction of primary cosmic rays with the Earth’s atmosphere. EGRL is a regional center of Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), located near the equator in the Southern part of India. Two NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors are installed inside the temperature controlled environment. One detector is cylindrical in shape of size 7.62?cm?×?7.62?cm and another one is rectangular cuboid of 10.16?cm?×?10.16?cm?×?40.64?cm size. Besides NaI(Tl) detectors, various other research facilities such as the Geomagnetic observatory, Medium Frequency Radar System, Digital Ionosonde, All-sky airglow imager, Atmospheric electricity laboratory to measure the near-Earth atmospheric electric fields are also available at EGRL. With the accessibility of multi- instrument facilities, the objective is set to understand the relationship between SCR and various atmospheric and ionospheric processes, during space weather and terrestrial events.For gamma-ray spectroscopy, it is important to test the performance of the NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors and to calibrate the gamma-ray spectrum in terms of energy. The present article describes the details of the experimental setup installed near the equator to study cosmic rays, along with the performance testing and calibration of the detectors under various conditions. A systematic shift in the gain is observed with varying temperature of the detector system. It is found that the detector’s response to the variations in the temperature is not just linear or non-linear type, but it depends on the history of the variation, indicating temperature hysteresis effects on NaI detector and PMT system. This signifies the importance of isothermal environment while studying SCR flux using NaI(Tl) detectors, especially for the experiments conducted during daytime such as solar eclipses etc.     

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.     

Comments on the percentage of occurrence methodology used in “a study of L band scintillations during the initial phase of rising solar activity at an Indian low latitude station” by H J Tanna,S P Karia and K N Pathak

Following Tanna et al. (2013), we computed the percentage of occurrence of S₄ index for the period of 2012–2015 using the data of the dual frequency GPS receiver at the Tripura University, Agartala station (23.76°N, 91.26°E) situated at the northern crest of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) region of the Indian Subcontinent. We have observed discrepancy in the results contradicting the actual scintillation occurrence. The distinctly noticeable discrepancy is that the maximum occurrence month is shifted to April 2013 instead of March 2014. The problem arises due to the denominator term used in the percentage of occurrence ratio i.e. the total number of days of observed scintillation activity during the complete period under consideration. But the conventional percentage of occurrence methodology uses the number of days of observation (the total number of days for which data is available) during each month in the denominator. It correctly assigns the maximum occurrence to March 2014 instead of April 2013 and the obtained monthly statistics follow the solar activity during this period.     

太阳闪烁影响下的星际通信链路参数设计

针对太阳闪烁作用于星际通信链路而产生的幅度闪烁、频谱扩展、相位闪烁、时延扩展问题，提出一种适用于星际通信链路的参数设计方法。该方法根据通信链路与太阳的几何关系，计算太阳风中等离子体作用于无线电波的幅度统计特性、时间谱特性，将计算结果作为通信链路的频率选择、传输信号带宽设计、调制方式选择、锁相环路带宽设计的约束条件，并以某空间探测任务为例进行了S、X、Ka三种频段下的信号传输性能仿真分析，结果表明，在太阳闪烁指数m<0.3的情况下，采用Ka频段+8PSK调制相结合的方式，对于太阳闪烁的抵抗能力最强。该方法设计的参数能够降低太阳闪烁对通信链路的影响，可作为工程实际系统设计的参照。