research
Climatology of GPS scintillations over Antarctica under solar minimum conditions
- Publication date
- Publisher
Abstract
We analyse GNSS ionospheric scintillation data recorded in Antarctica to investigate the conditions of the near-
Earth environment leading to scintillation scenarios, producing a “scintillation climatology” over a large geomagnetic
quiet period.Within this scope we realize maps of scintillation occurrence as a function of the magnetic local
time (MLT) and of the altitude adjusted corrected geomagnetic coordinates (AACGM). The maps are realized
merging observations of two GISTMs (GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor) located at Mario Zucchelli
Station (74.7°S, 164.1°E) and Concordia Station (75.1°S, 123.2°E) in Antarctica during 2008. The results
highlight the possibility to investigate the impact of ionospheric irregularities on the phase and amplitude of GNSS
signals, evidencing the cusp/cap and auroral contributions. This works aims to contribute to the development of
nowcasting and forecasting tools for GNSS ionospheric scintillation