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[1] In this work, an extension in latitude range and time span with respect previous studies on Medium Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (MSTID) propagation, is presented. So far they have been basically studied at mid latitude and for limited periods (less than few years) at solar maximum conditions. This extension has been possible due to the availability of local Global Positioning System (GPS) networks at mid-north hemisphere (California), mid-south hemisphere (New Zealand), high and low latitudes (Alaska and Hawaii), for the last 13, 11, 7 and 4 years respectively. Optimal algorithms specially suitable for mass data processing have been used, such as the Single Receiver Medium Scale Traveling Ionospheric activity index (SRMTID) and the phase difference method for MSTID propagation estimation. The results reveal that several of the main MSTID climatological trends at mid latitude are also shared at low and high latitude, also modulated in intensity also by the Solar Cycle. This is the case for local fall/winter day-time equatorward propagated MSTIDs with typical velocities and wavelengths of 150-250 m/s and 100-300 km respectively. Moreover the comparison of MSTID propagation estimation using different techniques, and their implications in terms of potential origins of MSTIDs, are also discussed.

1] A new GNSS Solar Flare Activity Indicator (GSFLAI) is presented, given by the gradient of the ionospheric Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) rate, in terms of the solar-zenithal angle, measured from a global network of dual-frequency GPS receivers. It is highly correlated with the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) photons flux rate at the 26-34 nm spectral band, which is geo-effective in the ionization of the mono-atomic oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. The results are supported by the comparison of GSFLAI with direct EUV observations provided by SEM instrument of SOHO spacecraft, for all the X-class solar flares occurring between 2001 and 2011 (more than 1000 direct comparisons at the 15 s SEM EUV sampling rate). The GSFLAI sensitivity enables detection of not only extreme X-class flares, but also of variations of one order of magnitude or even smaller (such as for M-class flares). Moreover, an optimal detection algorithm (SISTED), sharing the same physical fundamentals as GSFLAI, is also presented, providing 100% successful detection for all the X-class solar flares during 2000-2006 with registered location outside of the solar limb (i.e., detection of 94% of all of X-class solar-flares) and about 65% for M-class ones. As a final conclusion, GSFLAI is proposed as a new potential proxy of solar EUV photons flux rate for strong and mid solar flares, presenting high sensitivity with high temporal resolution (1 Hz, greater than previous solar EUV irradiance instruments), using existing ground GNSS facilities, and with the potential use as a solar flare detection parameter.

Ionospheric scintillation produces strong disruptive effects on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals, ranging from degrading performances to rendering these signals useless for accurate navigation. The current paper presents a novel approach to detect scintillation on the GNSS signals based on its effect on the ionospheric-free combination of carrier-phases, i.e. the standard combination of measurements used in Precise Point Positioning (PPP). The method is implemented using actual data, thereby having both its feasibility and its usefulness assessed at the same time. The results identify the main effects of scintillation, which consist of an increased level of noise in the ionosphericfree combination of measurements and the introduction of cycle-slips into the signals. Also discussed is how misdetected cycle-slips contaminate the Rate Of change of the TEC Index (ROTI) values, which is especially important for low-latitude receivers. By considering the effect of single jumps in the individual frequencies, the

In the context of the European Space Agency/European Space Operations Centre funded Study “GNSS Contribution to Next Generation Global Ionospheric Monitoring,” four ionospheric models based on GNSS data (the Electron Density Assimilative Model, EDAM; the Ionosphere Monitoring Facility, IONMON v2; the Tomographic Ionosphere model, TOMION; and the Neustrelitz TEC Models, NTCM) have been run using a controlled set of input data. Each model output has been tested against differential slant TEC (dSTEC) truth data for high (May 2002) and low (December 2006) sunspot periods. Three of the models (EDAM, TOMION, and NTCM) produce dSTEC standard deviation results that are broadly consistent with each other and with standard deviation spreads of ∼1 TECu for December 2006 and ∼1.5 TECu for May 2002. The lowest reported standard deviation across all models and all stations was 0.99 TECu (EDAM, TLSE station for December 2006 night). However, the model with the best overall dSTEC performance was TOMION which has the lowest standard deviation in 28 out of 52 test cases (13 stations, two test periods, day and night). This is probably related to the interpolation techniques used in TOMION exploiting the spatial stationarity of vertical TEC error decorrelation.