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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 32, L12S03, doi:10.1029/2004GL021644, 2005

GPS TEC and scintillation measurements from the polar ionosphere during the October 2003 storm

C. N. Mitchell

Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath, UK


L. Alfonsi

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy


G. De Franceschi

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy


M. Lester

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK


V. Romano

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy


A. W. Wernik

Space Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland


Abstract

Severe ionospheric storms occurred at the end of October 2003. During the evening of 30 October a narrow stream of high electron concentration plasma crossed the polar cap in the antisunward ionospheric convection. A GPS scintillation receiver in the European high arctic, operating at 1.575 GHz, experienced both phase and amplitude scintillation on several satellite-to-ground links during this period. Close examination of the GPS signals revealed the scintillation to be co-located with strong gradients in Total Electron Content (TEC) at the edge of the plasma stream. The gradient-drift instability is a likely mechanism for the generation of the irregularities causing some of the scintillation at L band frequencies during this storm. The origin of the high TEC is explored and the possible implications of the work for scintillation forecasting are noted. The results indicate that the GPS scintillation over Svalbard can originate from traceable ionospheric plasma structures convecting from the American sector.

Received 30 September 2004; accepted 31 March 2005; published 3 May 2005.

Index Terms: 2435 Ionosphere: Ionospheric disturbances; 2437 Ionosphere: Ionospheric dynamics; 2439 Ionosphere: Ionospheric irregularities; 2475 Ionosphere: Polar cap ionosphere.

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Citation: Mitchell, C. N., L. Alfonsi, G. De Franceschi, M. Lester, V. Romano, and A. W. Wernik (2005), GPS TEC and scintillation measurements from the polar ionosphere during the October 2003 storm, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L12S03, doi:10.1029/2004GL021644.