Small-Scale Ionospheric Irregularities of Auroral Origin at Mid-latitudes during the 22 June 2015 Magnetic Storm and Their Effect on GPS Positioning

Yury Yasyukevich,Maria Globa,Alexander Kiselev,Anna Yasyukevich,Roman Vasilyev,Artem Vesnin,Semen Syrovatskii,Konstantin Ratovsky,Artem Setov

doi:10.3390/rs12101579

Abstract

Small-scale ionospheric irregularities affect navigation and radio telecommunications. We studied small-scale irregularities observed during the 22 June 2015 geomagnetic storm and used experimental facilities at the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISTP SB RAS) located near Irkutsk, Russia (~52°N, 104°E). The facilities used were the DPS-4 ionosonde (spread-F width), receivers of the Irkutsk Incoherent Scatter Radar (Cygnus A signal amplitude scintillations), and GPS/GLONASS receivers (amplitude and phase scintillations), while 150 MHz Cygnus A signal recording provides a unique data set on ionosphere small-scale structure. We observed increased spread-F, Cygnus A signal amplitude scintillations, and GPS phase scintillations near 20 UT on 22 June 2015 at mid-latitudes. GPS/GLONASS amplitude scintillations were at a quiet time level. By using global total electron content (TEC) maps, we conclude that small-scale irregularities are most likely caused by the auroral oval expansion. In the small-scale irregularity region, we recorded an increase in the precise point positioning (PPP) error. Even at mid-latitudes, the mean PPP error is at least five times that of the quiet level and reaches 0.5 m.

Highlights

Small-scale ionospheric irregularities affect radio telecommunications, because those irregularities can scatter electromagnetic signals [1]
The mo√st pronounced effect is observed when the irregularity scale is of the radiowave’s first Fresnel zone ~ λz
The storm is related to active region (AR) 12,371 on the Sun according to the SOHO LASCO CME catalog

Summary

Introduction

Small-scale ionospheric irregularities affect radio telecommunications, because those irregularities can scatter electromagnetic signals [1]. Intensive amplitude scintillations and GNSS signal losses-of-lock are usually observed in the high-latitude and equatorial ionosphere [3,4,5,6,7,8], where irregularities are effectively generated. Equatorial small-scale irregularities are usually seen as spread-F on ionograms. The auroral oval broadening is a reason for an irregularity to be generated at the middle latitudes [15,16]. Another reason is a large-scale ionospheric structure (including traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) [17])

Results

Discussion

Conclusion