Abstract
Abstract. The comparative research of the influence of different types of auroral particle precipitation and polar cap patches (PCPs) on the global positioning system (GPS) signals disturbances in the polar ionosphere was done. For this purpose, we use the GPS scintillation receivers at Ny-Ålesund and Skibotn, operated by the University of Oslo. The presence of the auroral particle precipitation and polar cap patches was determined by using data from the EISCAT 42m radar on Svalbard. The optical aurora observations in 557.7 and 630.0 nm spectrum lines on Svalbard were used as well for the detection of ionospheric disturbances. The cusp identification was done with using SuperDARN (Hankasalmi) data. We consider events when the simultaneous EISCAT 42m and GPS data were available for the years 2010–2017, and in this paper we present, in detail, typical examples describing the overall picture, and we present the statistics for 120 events. We considered the dayside/cusp precipitation, substorm precipitation, daytime and nighttime PCPs, and precipitation associated with the interplanetary shock wave arrival. We demonstrate that substorm-associated precipitation (even without PCPs) can lead to a strong GPS phase (σϕ) scintillations up to ∼ 1.5–3 radians, which is much stronger than those usually produced by other types of considered ionosphere disturbances. The value of the substorm-phase scintillations in general correlate with the value of the geomagnetic field disturbance. But sometimes even a small geomagnetic substorm, when combined with the PCPs, produces quite strong phase scintillations. Cusp phase scintillations are lower than dayside PCPs scintillations. PCPs can lead to stronger ROT (rate of total electron content) variations than other types of ionosphere disturbances. So our observations suggest that the substorms and PCPs, being different types of the high-latitude disturbances, lead to the development of different types and scales of ionospheric irregularities.
Highlights
The global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have a great influence on human society today
Our observations suggest that the substorms and polar cap patches (PCPs), being different types of the high-latitude disturbances, lead to the development of different types and scales of ionospheric irregularities
The ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves in Pi3 frequency range embedded into the substorm structure contribute to the particle acceleration into the ionosphere and growth of the field-aligned currents (FACs), which leads to such strong values of the phase scintillation index
Summary
The global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have a great influence on human society today. Jin et al (2014) found that polar cap patches have their biggest impact on GPS signals once they reach the nightside auroral oval, in particular when combined with upward field-aligned currents (Clausen et al 2016). They found, that the strongest impact on scintillations occurred when these patches cross from the polar cap into the auroral oval to become auroral blobs (Jin et al, 2016) It was shown in the literature (Jin et al, 2014, 2016) that PCPs can produce GPS scintillations quite comparable with scintillations during the particle precipitation with the appearance of strong green aurora. We address the following question: what disturbances in the polar ionosphere (particle precipitation or polar cap patches) have a stronger impact on the scintillations of GPS signals?
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