On the Relationship Between the Rate of Change of Total Electron Content Index (ROTI), Irregularity Strength ( C k L ), and the Scintillation Index ( S 4 )

2019 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 2099-2112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles S. Carrano ◽  
Keith M. Groves ◽  
Charles L. Rino
Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2877
Author(s):  
Chendong Li ◽  
Craig M. Hancock ◽  
Nicholas A. S. Hamm ◽  
Sreeja V. Veettil ◽  
Chong You

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) operation can be affected by several environmental factors, of which ionospheric scintillation is one of the most significant. Scintillation is usually characterized by two indices, namely the amplitude scintillation index (S4) and phase scintillation index (σφ). However, these two indices can only be generated by specialized GNSS receivers, which are not widely available all around the world. To popularize the study of scintillation, this article proposes to use more accessible parameters, namely multipath (MP) and rate of change of total electron content index (ROTI), to characterize scintillation. Using GPS data obtained on six days in total from three stations, namely PRU2 and SAO0P located in Sao Paulo, Brazil and SNA0P located in Antarctica, respectively, both the time series plots and 2D maps were generated to investigate the relationship of scintillation indices (S4 and σφ) with MP and ROTI. To prevent the effect of the real multipath error, a 30-degree satellite elevation mask is applied to all the data. As the scintillation indices S4 and σφ have a sampling interval of 1 min, MP and ROTI are calculated with the same sampling interval for a more direct comparison. The results show that the structural similarity (SSIM) and correlation coefficient (CC) between parameters was greater than 0.7 for 70% of outputs. In addition, the variogram and cross-variogram are applied to investigate the spatial structure of the MP, ROTI, S4 and σφ in order to support the results of SSIM and CC. With outputs in three forms, promising spatial and temporal relationships between parameters was observed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 2449-2456 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Dashora ◽  
R. Pandey

Abstract. A GSV 4004A GPS receiver has been operational near the crest of the equatorial anomaly at Udaipur, India for some time now. The receiver provides the line-of-sight total electron content (TEC), the phase and amplitude scintillation index, σφ and S4, respectively. This paper presents the first results on the nighttime TEC depletions associated with the equatorial spread F in the Indian zone. The TEC depletions are found to be very well correlated with the increased S4 index. A new feature of low-latitude TEC is also reported, concerning the observation of isolated and localized TEC enhancements in the nighttime low-latitude ionosphere. The TEC enhancements are not correlated with the S4 index. The TEC enhancements have also been observed along with the TEC depletions. The TEC enhancements have been interpreted as the manifestation of the plasma density enhancements reported by Le et al. (2003). Keywords. Ionosphere (Equatorial ionosphere; Ionospheric irregularities)


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teshome Dugassa ◽  
John Bosco Habarulema ◽  
Melessew Nigussie

Abstract. The relation between the occurrence of ionospheric irregularity and spatial gradient of total electron content (TEC) during the post-sunset hours over the equatorial region is studied. The ionospheric irregularities could pose serious challenges to satellite-based navigation and positioning applications when trans-ionospheric signals pass through them. Different instruments and techniques have been applied to study the behavior of these ionospheric irregularities. In this study, the Global positioning system (GPS) based derived total electron content (TEC) was used to investigate the spatial gradient of TEC between two nearby stations as an indicator of the occurrence of ionospheric irregularity over the East African sector. The gradient of TEC between the two stations (ASAB: 4:34° N, 114:39° E and DEBK: 3:71° N, 109:34° E, geomagnetic) located within the equatorial region of Africa were considered in this study during the year 2014. The rate of change of TEC based derived index (ROTIave) is also used to observe the correlation between the spatial gradient of TEC and the occurrence of ionospheric irregularities. The result obtained shows that most of the maximum positive/depletions in the spatial gradient of TEC observed in March and September equinoxes are more pronounced between 19:00 LT–24:00 LT as the large-scale ionospheric irregularities do. Moreover, the observed spatial gradient of TEC shows two peaks (in March and September) and they exhibit equinoctial asymmetry where the March equinox is greater than September equinox. The enhancement in the spatial gradient of TEC and ROTIave during the 15 evening time period also show similar trends but lag 1–2 hrs from the equatorial electric field (EEF). The spatial gradient of TEC between the two nearby stations could be used as an indicator of the occurrence of ionospheric irregularities.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Bhawre ◽  
A. K. Gwal ◽  
A. A. Mansoori ◽  
P. A. Khan

In the present study we have investigated the monthly and seasonal variability of total electron content (TEC) and amplitude scintillation index (S4) over two Indian polar stations Maitri (Antarctic) and Ny-Alesund (Arctic), during the low solar activity period 2008. We have used the Novatel’s dual frequency GPS receiver GSV4004A to accomplish this study. From our analysis we observed that TEC achieves its highest values during the months of November and December while during the month of May and June the lowest values of TEC were recorded at Maitri station. Similarly during summer season the highest values of TEC are recorded while in winter season lowest values of TEC are observed. The scintillations that occurred during the year 2008 at Maitri as well as at Ny-Alesund were generally found to be of weak type (S4?0.1), although few cases of moderate (S4?0.3) and strong (S4?0.5) scintillation were also observed. The occurrence characteristics of scintillations showed that maximum scintillations at Maitri occur during the month of July and August while least scintillations occur during the month of January and February. This type of ionospheric variability can be explained on the basis of solar irradiance at Polar Regions.Keywords: Total electron content; Scintillation index; Polar ionosphere.© 2013 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved.doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jsr.v5i2.12724        J. Sci. Res. 5 (2), 255-264 (2013)


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1161-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teshome Dugassa ◽  
John Bosco Habarulema ◽  
Melessew Nigussie

Abstract. The relation between the occurrence of ionospheric irregularities and the spatial gradient of total electron content (TEC) derived from two closely located stations (ASAB: 4.34∘ N, 114.39∘ E and DEBK: 3.71∘ N, 109.34∘ E, geomagnetic), located within the equatorial region, over Ethiopia, during the postsunset hours was investigated. In this study, the Global Positioning System (GPS)-derived TEC during the year 2014 obtained from the two stations were employed to investigate the relationship between the gradient of TEC and occurrence of ionospheric irregularities. The spatial gradient of TEC (ΔTEC∕Δlong) and its standard deviation over 15 min, σ(ΔTEC∕Δlong), were used in this study. The rate of change of TEC-derived indices (ROTI, ROTIave) were also utilized. Our results revealed that most of the maximum enhancement and reduction values in ΔTEC∕Δlong are noticeable during the time period between 19:00 and 24:00 LT. In some cases, the peak values in the spatial gradient of TEC are also observed during daytime and postmidnight hours. The intensity level of σ(ΔTEC∕Δlong) observed after postsunset show similar trends with ROTIave, and was stronger (weaker) during equinoctial (solstice) months. The observed enhancement of σ(ΔTEC∕Δlong) in the equinoctial season shows an equinoctial asymmetry where the March equinox was greater than the September equinox. During the postsunset period, the relation between the spatial gradient of TEC obtained from two closely located Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and the equatorial electric field (EEF) was observed. The variation in the gradient of TEC and ROTIave observed during the evening time period show similar trends with EEF with a delay of about 1–2 h between them. The relationship between σ(ΔTEC∕Δlong) and ROTIave correlate linearly with correlation coefficient of C=0.7975 and C=0.7915 over ASAB and DEBK, respectively. The majority of the maximum enhancement and reduction in the spatial gradient of TEC observed during the evening time period may be associated with ionospheric irregularities or equatorial plasma bubbles. In addition to latitudinal gradients, the longitudinal gradient of TEC has contributed significantly to the TEC fluctuations.


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