Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2262
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2262
25 Jul 2024
 | 25 Jul 2024

ScintPi measurements of low-latitude ionospheric irregularity drifts using the spaced-receiver technique and SBAS signals

Josemaria Gomez Socola, Fabiano Rodrigues, Isaac Wrigth, Igo Paulino, and Ricardo Buriti

Abstract. Previous efforts have used pairs of closely-spaced specialized receivers to measure Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals and to estimate ionospheric irregularity drifts. The relatively high cost associated with commercial GNSS-based ionospheric receivers limited somewhat their deployment and the estimation of ionospheric drifts. The development of an alternative low-cost GNSS-based scintillation monitor (ScintPi) motivated us to investigate the possibility of using it to overcome this limitation. ScintPi monitors can observe signals from geostationary satellites, which can greatly simplify the estimation of the drifts. We present results of an experiment to evaluate the use of ScintPi 3.0 to estimate ionospheric irregularity drifts. The experiment consisted of two ScintPi 3.0 deployed in Campina Grande, Brazil (7.213° S, 35.907° W, dip latitude ~14° S). The monitors were spaced by 140 m in the magnetic east-west direction and targeted the estimation of the zonal drifts associated with scintillation-causing equatorial spread F (ESF) irregularities. Routine observations throughout an entire ESF season (September 2022 – April 2023) were made as part of the experiment. We focused on results of irregularity drifts derived from geostationary satellite signals. The results show that the local time variation in the estimated irregularity zonal drifts is in good agreement with previous measurements and with the expected behavior of the background zonal plasma drifts. Our results also reveal a seasonal trend in the irregularity zonal drifts. The trend follows the seasonal behavior of the zonal component of the thermospheric neutral winds as predicted by the Horizontal Wind Model (HMW14). This is explained by the fact that low latitude ionospheric F-region plasma drifts are controlled, in great part, by Pedersen conductivity weighted flux tube integrated zonal neutral winds. The results confirm that ScintPi has the potential to contribute to new, cost-effective measurements of ionospheric irregularity drifts in addition to scintillation and total electron content. Furthermore, the results indicate that these new ScintPi measurements can provide insight into the ionosphere-thermosphere coupling.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

25 Feb 2025
ScintPi measurements of low-latitude ionospheric irregularity drifts using the spaced-receiver technique and SBAS signals
Josemaria Gomez Socola, Fabiano S. Rodrigues, Isaac G. Wright, Igo Paulino, and Ricardo Buriti
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 909–919, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-909-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-909-2025, 2025
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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.

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New low-cost, off-the-shelf GNSS receivers enable the estimation of zonal ionospheric...
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