Ionospheric precursors to scintillation activity

Abstract

Ionospheric scintillation is the rapid fluctuation of both phase and amplitude of trans-ionospheric radio waves due to small scale electron density irregularities in the ionosphere. Prediction of the occurrence of scintillation at L band frequencies is needed to mitigate the disruption of space-based communication and navigation systems. The purpose of this paper is to present a method of using tomographic inversions of the ionospheric electron density obtained from ground-based GPS data to infer the locateon and strength of the post-sunset plasma drift vortex. This vortex is related to the pre-reversal enhancement in the eastwards electric field which has been correlated to the subsequent occurrence of scintillation. © 2014 by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. All rights reserved.