Investigation of global ionospheric response of the severe geomagnetic storm on June 22-23, 2015 by GNSS-based TEC observations

Abstract

The magnetosphere and ionosphere have a crucial interaction during severe geomagnetic storms. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) provides high-quality ionospheric observations with high temporal and spatial resolution, is generally preferred to investigate the ionospheric variation. In this study, the storm-time ionospheric response of the June 2015 severe storm (Dstmin = −208 nT) was investigated by the Total Electron Content (TEC) data of the Global Ionosphere Maps (GIMs), COSMIC radio occultation (RO) and a chain of International GNSS Service (IGS) stations. GIMs were used to show the global TEC variation during the storm. COSMIC RO data were also utilized to investigate the TEC variation and electron density profiles in an anomaly area with a limited time interval. GNSS TEC data of the 16 IGS stations were utilized to investigate the ionospheric variability on different latitudes of hemispheres. The results showed that intense positive phases formed in high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) and the western longitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (NH), especially over the North Atlantic Ocean until the main phase of the storm. Besides, negative phases were observed in high latitudes and eastern longitudes of the NH. During the recovery phase of the storm, positive phases were seen in the low latitudes of the SH and the ionospheric conditions calmed down in the entire SH after the depletion of these phases. Negative phases were also observed almost wholly covered in the NH, which denser in the European-African sector. As a particular result, the electron density profiles of COSMIC RO showed that the ionospheric phases of the June 2015 storm not only related to TEC values but also the altitude of maximum electron density.