GPS Measurements of Ionospheric Irregularity Drifts and Their Initial Results

Abstract

AbstractPrinciple and methods on the estimation of F‐region ionospheric irregularity drifts based on scintillation and rapid‐fluctuated TEC patterns measured from spaced‐GPS receivers have been described, and the horizontal drift velocities of ionospheric irregularities on the quiet day and storm time have been estimated by using measured data. Based on analyses of observations from the short‐spaced GPS receiver array at Wuhan, the storm‐time ionospheric irregularities which resulted in scintillations and rapid TEC fluctuations showed westward drifts between 21:30 and 03:00 LT with drift velocities changing from ~40 to ~130 m/s. And based on analyses of observations from the ultra‐short spaced GPS receiver chain at Guilin, ionospheric irregularities which resulted in the L‐band radio wave scintillations, showed eastward drifts around local midnight ranging from ~70 to ~55 m/s on the quiet‐day and westward drifts ranging from ~150 to ~50 m/s before the midnight and eastward drifts after the midnight ranging from ~25 to ~65 m/s on the disturbed day. The idea of the F‐region irregularity drift estimation based on single GPS receiver and multi‐satellite observations has been proposed as well. A case study showed that it is feasible to estimate the ionospheric irregularity drifts with this method.