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

Mitchell, Cathryn N.; Alfonsi, Lucilla; Franceschi, Giorgiana De; Lester, M.; Romano, Vincenzo; Wernik, A. W.

doi:10.1029/2004gl021644

Cited by 165 publications

(158 citation statements)

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“…Previous work by Stolle et al (2006) and Mitchell et al (2005) also observed the same anti-sunward polar TOI over the north polar ionosphere in the evening of 30 October 2003 and associated scintillations. However, neither of these previous studies used a time-dependent imaging method capable of estimating the plasma velocity and were therefore not able to provide evidence to distinguish between precipitation and transportation, both of which can contribute to the source of the patches observed over Europe.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…The American Geophysical Union (AGU) published special issues of the Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR) and Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) dedicated to results from the October and November 2003 storms. For example, Foster and Rideout (2005) found that GPS Total Electron Content (TEC) greatly increased by up to 200 TEC units (TECu) over the west coast of the US on 30 October, and a study on ionospheric scintillation in the polar ionosphere during the Halloween storm period was carried out by Mitchell et al (2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A multi-diagnostic approach to understanding high-latitude plasma transport during the Halloween 2003 storm

et al. 2008

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Abstract. During the Halloween 2003 storm event, significant electron density enhancements at elevated F-layer altitudes were recorded by the EISCAT and ESR radars in northern Europe between 20:00 and 24:00 UT on 30 October. At the same time, a sequence of optical images from Qaanaaq in northern Greenland captured a series of eastward-propagating polar cap patches. In this paper, an advanced 4-D tomographic method based on the assimilation of global GPS data, coupled to a predictive Kalman filtering technique, has been used to reveal the linkage between these ionospheric structures. The combination of the various data sources has clearly established the time history of this extreme event, in which high-density plasma was uplifted in the dayside ionosphere and convected anti-sunward across the polar cap to European high latitudes at an elevated F-layer. Using this multi instrument approach, we can differentiate between those density structures observed at the ESR which occurred as a result of cross-polar transport and those more likely to have been produced by in-situ soft particle precipitation, a distinction which is supported by the ESR and EISCAT data. The multi-diagnostic approach reported here has the potential significantly to extend our current understanding of high latitude plasma transport and the origin of electron density enhancements.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-diagnostic approach to understanding high-latitude plasma transport during the Halloween 2003 storm

et al. 2008

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“…In recent years, more GPS scintillation monitors have been deployed at high latitudes, and several statistical and case studies of high latitude GPS scintillations have been conducted (De Franceschi et al 2008;Spogli et al 2009;Li et al 2010;Alfonsi et al 2011;Prikryl et al 2010Prikryl et al , 2011Prikryl et al , 2013Moen et al 2013;Jiao et al 2013). Mitchell et al (2005) found phase and amplitude scintillations to be colocated with strong gradients in the Total Electron Content (TEC) at the edges of the high electron density streams. Furthermore, scintillation climatology studies by Spogli et al (2009) demonstrated enhanced scintillation levels around magnetic midnight, which were consistent with the Magnetic Local Time (MLT) distribution of polar cap patches at night (Moen et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GPS scintillation effects associated with polar cap patches and substorm auroral activity: direct comparison

Jin

Moen

Miloch

2014

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

104

136

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We directly compare the relative GPS scintillation levels associated with regions of enhanced plasma irregularities called auroral arcs, polar cap patches, and auroral blobs that frequently occur in the polar ionosphere. On January 13, 2013 from Ny-Å lesund, several polar cap patches were observed to exit the polar cap into the auroral oval, and were then termed auroral blobs. This gave us an unprecedented opportunity to compare the relative scintillation levels associated with these three phenomena. The blobs were associated with the strongest phase scintillation (r / ), followed by patches and arcs, with r / up to 0.6, 0.5, and 0.1 rad, respectively. Our observations indicate that most patches in the nightside polar cap have produced significant scintillations, but not all of them. Since the blobs are formed after patches merged into auroral regions, in space weather predictions of GPS scintillations, it will be important to enable predictions of patches exiting the polar cap.

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“…The dependence of total electron content (TEC) and scintillation intensity on these factors has been recognized and studied at VHF/UHF frequencies for many years (Aarons, 1982;Basu et al, 1987;Kersley et al, 1988;Gola et al, 1992). More recently, GPS receivers have improved coverage at high latitudes (Aarons, 1997;Aarons et al, 2000;Mitchell et al, 2005;Alfonsi et al, 2008;Jayachandran et al, 2009;Spogli et al, 2009;Yin et al, 2009;Li et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatology of GPS phase scintillation and HF radar backscatter for the high-latitude ionosphere under solar minimum conditions

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Maps of GPS phase scintillation at high latitudes have been constructed after the first two years of operation of the Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN) during the 2008-2009 solar minimum. CHAIN consists of ten dual-frequency receivers, configured to measure amplitude and phase scintillation from L1 GPS signals and ionospheric total electron content (TEC) from L1 and L2 GPS signals. Those ionospheric data have been mapped as a function of magnetic local time and geomagnetic latitude assuming ionospheric pierce points (IPPs) at 350 km. The mean TEC depletions are identified with the statistical high-latitude and mid-latitude troughs. Phase scintillation occurs predominantly in the nightside auroral oval and the ionospheric footprint of the cusp. The strongest phase scintillation is associated with auroral arc brightening and substorms or with perturbed cusp ionosphere. Auroral phase scintillation tends to be intermittent, localized and of short duration, while the dayside scintillation observed for individual satellites can stay continuously above a given threshold for several minutes and such scintillation patches persist over a large area of the cusp/cleft region sampled by different satellites for several hours. The seasonal variation of the phase scintillation occurrence also differs between the nightside auroral oval and the cusp. The auroral phase scintillation shows an expected semiannual oscillation with equinoctial maxima known to be associated with aurorae, while the cusp scintillation is dominated by an annual cycle maximizing in autumn-winter. These differences point to different irregularity production mechanisms: energetic electron precipitation into dynamic auroral arcs versus cusp ionospheric convection dynamics. Observations suggest anisotropy of scintillationcausing irregularities with stronger L-shell alignment of irregularities in the cusp while a significant component of Correspondence to: P. Prikryl (paul.prikryl@crc.gc.ca) field-aligned irregularities is found in the nightside auroral oval. Scintillation-causing irregularities can coexist with small-scale field-aligned irregularities resulting in HF radar backscatter. The statistical cusp and auroral oval are characterized by the occurrence of HF radar ionospheric backscatter and mean ground magnetic perturbations due to ionospheric currents.

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

Cited by 165 publications

References 13 publications

A multi-diagnostic approach to understanding high-latitude plasma transport during the Halloween 2003 storm

A multi-diagnostic approach to understanding high-latitude plasma transport during the Halloween 2003 storm

GPS scintillation effects associated with polar cap patches and substorm auroral activity: direct comparison

Climatology of GPS phase scintillation and HF radar backscatter for the high-latitude ionosphere under solar minimum conditions

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