scholarly journals Climatological study of GPS total electron content variations caused by medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances

Author(s):  
N. Kotake ◽  
Y. Otsuka ◽  
T. Tsugawa ◽  
T. Ogawa ◽  
A. Saito
2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pin-Hsuan Cheng ◽  
Charles Lin ◽  
Yuichi Otsuka ◽  
Hanli Liu ◽  
Panthalingal Krishanunni Rajesh ◽  
...  

AbstractThis study investigates the medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) statistically at the low-latitude equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) region in the northern hemisphere. We apply the automatic detection algorithm including the three-dimensional fast Fourier transform (3-D FFT) and support vector machine (SVM) on total electron content (TEC) observations, derived from a network of ground-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers in Taiwan (14.5° N geomagnetic latitude; 32.5° inclination), to identify MSTID from other waves or irregularity features. The obtained results are analyzed statistically to examine the behavior of low-latitude MSTIDs. Statistical results indicate the following characteristics. First, the southward (equatorward) MSTIDs are observed almost every day during 0800–2100 LT in Spring and Winter. At midnight, southward MSTIDs are more discernible in Summer and majority of them are propagating from Japan to Taiwan. Second, northward (poleward) MSTIDs are more frequently detected during 1200–2100 LT in Spring and Summer with the secondary peak of occurrence between day of year (DOY) 100–140 during 0000–0300 LT. The characteristics of the MSTIDs are interpreted with additional observations from radio occultation (RO) soundings of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC as well as modeled atmospheric waves from the high-resolution Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) suggesting that the nighttime MSTIDs in Summer is likely connected to the atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs).


2004 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Afraimovich ◽  
E. I. Astafieva ◽  
S. V. Voyeikov

Abstract. We investigate an unusual class of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances of the nonwave type, isolated ionospheric disturbances (IIDs) that manifest themselves in total electron content (TEC) variations in the form of single aperiodic negative TEC disturbances of a duration of about 10min (the total electron content spikes, TECS). The data were obtained using the technology of global detection of ionospheric disturbances using measurements of TEC variations from a global network of receivers of the GPS. For the first time, we present the TECS morphology for 170 days in 1998–2001. The total number of TEC series, with a duration of each series of about 2.3h (2h18m), exceeded 850000. It was found that TECS are observed in no more than 1–2% of the total number of TEC series mainly in the nighttime in the spring and autumn periods. The TECS amplitude exceeds the mean value of the "background" TEC variation amplitude by a factor of 5–10 as a minimum. TECS represent a local phenomenon with a typical radius of spatial correlation not larger than 500km. The IID-induced TEC variations are similar in their amplitude, form and duration to the TEC response to shock-acoustic waves (SAW) generated during rocket launchings and earthquakes. However, the IID propagation velocity is less than the SAW velocity (800–1000m/s) and are most likely to correspond to the velocity of background medium-scale acoustic-gravity waves, on the order of 100–200m/s. Key words. Ionosphere (ionospheric irregularities, instruments and techniques) - Radio science (ionospheric propagation)


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Otsuka ◽  
K. Suzuki ◽  
S. Nakagawa ◽  
M. Nishioka ◽  
K. Shiokawa ◽  
...  

Abstract. Two-dimensional structures of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) over Europe have been revealed, for the first time, by using maps of the total electron content (TEC) obtained from more than 800 GPS receivers of the European GPS receiver networks. From statistical analysis of the TEC maps obtained 2008, we have found that the observed MSTIDs can be categorized into two groups: daytime MSTID and nighttime MSTID. The daytime MSTID frequently occurs in winter. Its maximum occurrence rate in monthly and hourly bin exceeds 70% at lower latitudes over Europe, whereas it is approximately 45% at higher latitudes. Since most of the daytime MSTIDs propagate southward, we speculate that they could be caused by atmospheric gravity waves in the thermosphere. The nighttime MSTIDs also frequently occur in winter but most of them propagate southwestward, in a direction consistent with the theory that polarization electric fields play an important role in generating the nighttime MSTIDs. The nighttime MSTID occurrence rate shows distinct latitudinal difference: The maximum of the occurrence rate in monthly and hourly bin is approximately 50% at lower latitudes in Europe, whereas the nighttime MSTID was rarely observed at higher latitudes. We have performed model calculations of the plasma density perturbations caused by a gravity wave and an oscillating electric field to reproduce the daytime and nighttime MSTIDs, respectively. We find that TEC perturbations caused by gravity waves do not show dip angle dependencies, while those caused by the oscillating electric field have a larger amplitude at lower latitudes. These dip angle dependencies of the TEC perturbation amplitude could contribute to the latitudinal variation of the MSTID occurrence rate. Comparing with previous studies, we discuss the longitudinal difference of the nighttime MSTID occurrence rate, along with the E- and F-region coupling processes. The seasonal variation, of the nighttime MSTID occurrence rate in Europe, is not consistent with the theory that the longitudinal and seasonal variations of the nighttime MSTID occurrence could be attributed to those of the Es layer occurrence.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
PinHsuan Cheng ◽  
Charles Lin ◽  
Yuichi Otsuka ◽  
Hanli Liu ◽  
Panthalingal Krishanunni Rajesh ◽  
...  

Abstract This study investigates the medium–scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) statistically at the low–latitude equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) region in the northern hemisphere. We apply the automatic detection algorithm including the three-dimensional fast Fourier transform (3-D FFT) and support vector machine (SVM) on total electron content (TEC) observations, derived from a network of ground-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers in Taiwan (14.5°N geomagnetic latitude; 32.5° inclination), to identify MSTID from other waves or irregularity features. The obtained results are analyzed statistically to examine the behavior of low-latitude MSTIDs. Statistical results indicate the following characteristics. First, the southward (equatorward) MSTIDs are observed almost every day during 0800-2100 LT in Spring and Winter. At midnight, southward MSTIDs are more discernible in Summer and majority of them are propagating from Japan to Taiwan. Second, northward (poleward) MSTIDs are more frequently detected during 1200-2100 LT in Spring and Summer with the secondary peak of occurrence between day of year (DOY) 100-140. The characteristics of the MSTIDs are interpreted with additional observations from radio occultation (RO) soundings of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC as well as modeled atmospheric waves from the high–resolution Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) suggesting that the nighttime MSTIDs in Summer is likely connected to the atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs).


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Cristhian Camilo Timoté ◽  
José Miguel Juan ◽  
Jaume Sanz ◽  
Guillermo González-Casado ◽  
Adrià Rovira-García ◽  
...  

Medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) are fluctuations in the plasma density that propagate through the upper layer of the atmosphere at velocities of approximately 100 m/s and periods reaching some tens of minutes. Due to their wavelengths, MSTIDs can degrade the performance of differential positioning techniques, such as real-time kinematics (RTK) or network-RTK (NRTK). This paper defines a novel methodology as a tool for relating the errors in NRTK positioning based on an MSTIDs indicator using the second difference in time of the slant total electron content (STEC). The proposed methodology performs integer ambiguity resolution (IAR) on the undifferenced measurements instead of using double-differenced carrier-phase measurements, as it is usual in RTK and NRTK. Statistical tests are applied to evaluate the degradation in the position errors caused by the impacts of MSTIDs on RTK and NRTK positioning over a data set spanning one year gathered from the CATNET network; a dual-frequency network of fixed permanent GNSS receivers located at the mid-latitudes of northeastern Spain. With the development of the proposed methodology for measuring the position degradation, another results of the present research are the establishment of thresholds for the proposed MSTIDs index, which can be used to monitor the positioning solution and to warn users when the measurements are affected by MSTIDs events, relating the position error to MSTIDs that affect not only the user receivers but also of the reference receivers within the network.


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