GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and Total Electron Content during partial solar eclipse in Malaysia

Abstract

The most famous and known effects of space weather is fluctuation in the amplitude and phase radio signal that propagates in the ionosphere. This fluctuation is also known as scintillation which will intense, degrades the signal quality, reduce the information content, or cause failure of the signal reception. During solar eclipse day, there are some fluctuations to the signal received by GPS (Global Positioning System). The analysis of fluctuation can be used to predict the behavior of ionosphere during solar eclipse. The phenomenon in solar activity which is solar eclipse will occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring the image of the Sun for the viewers on Earth. Scintillation at the ionosphere during the solar eclipse seems to be different compared to normal time. So, this research is mainly focuses on the effect of ionosphere corresponding to scintillation during solar eclipse. The method that will be used is analysing the GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor (GISTM) data obtained from UKM Bangi station and Langkawi station using MATLAB. Before that, raw data that obtained from GISTM station will be converted into ASCII format using PARSEIM software. The result will be recorded in graph and tables to see the different of parameters value during solar eclipse happened and two days before and after it happened. The finding from this research is Total Electron Content (TEC) was decreasing when solar eclipse occurs as well as amplitude scintillation that also decreasing. Geographic storm and aurora were not one of the effect of solar eclipse.