Abstract
In this study, we focus on plasma patches with very dense plasma in the southern hemisphere during the main phase of 2015 St. Patrick’s Day storm. With in situ electron densities exceeding 1.5 × 1012 m−3at 450–500 km altitude, the patches cause strong signal outages of the global positioning system (GPS) receivers on board Swarm satellites. By using the field-aligned currents derived from the Swarm magnetic measurements, we determined whether the satellites fly inside the auroral oval or not. Different influences on the spaceborne GPS receiver are seen when these patches are located at different latitude regions, e.g., inside the polar cap or auroral oval. The simultaneously measurements of 2 Hz electron density as well as 50 Hz magnetic signatures from Swarm show that when large-scale polar cap patches transported from dayside lower latitude entering the cusp region, irregularities with much finer scale-size are generated; associated with various instabilities inside the cusp region, the small-scale irregularities cause much more severe influence on the GPS signals. This is the first direct evidence to show that when plasma patches are located inside the cusp region, the spaceborne receiver experiences stronger outage of GPS signals.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.