Observation of GPS TEC depletions due to equatorial plasma bubbles during solar flare

Abstract

Depletion layer in Total Electron Content (TEC) in ionospheric layer called plasma bubbles which usually occur during midnight. Plasma bubbles have been studied using different techniques including incoherent backscatter radar, ionogram analysis, airglow detection, rocket soundings and Global Positioning System (GPS) network phase fluctuations. This research is focus on the observation of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) due to solar flare event in Malaysia by using GPS Ionospheric and TEC Monitor (GISTM) Network. In this project, the data has been taken by GPS receiver only which is located at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) station. The important parameter for this research is the TEC that can be simulated by using MATLAB software in order to detect the occurrence of the Equatorial Plasma Bubbles (EPBs). TEC is extracted by using GPS receiver which is in binary format and the value of TEC is compared base on the decrement of TEC value within the scale. The result shown that plasma bubbles commence three days after the solar flare event occurred.