Optimum parameter for estimating phase fluctuations on transionospheric signals at high latitudes

• Published in: Advances in Space Research
• Main Authors: Forte, B., Materassi, M., Alfonsi, Lu., Romano, V., De Franceschi, G., Spalla, P.
• Other Authors: Forte, B.; Centre for Atmospheric Research, University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, SI-5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia, Materassi, M.; Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy, Alfonsi, Lu.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Romano, V.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, De Franceschi, G.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Spalla, P.; Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara”, CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy, Centre for Atmospheric Research, University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, SI-5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia, Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara”, CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2011
• Subjects: Scintillation; GPS monitors; Auroral latitudes; 01. Atmosphere::01.02. Ionosphere::01.02.04. Plasma Physics; 01. Atmosphere::01.02. Ionosphere::01.02.07. Scintillations; 05. General::05.01. Computational geophysics::05.01.03. Inverse methods; Alta; Svalbard
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2122/7022; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2010.04.033

Transionospheric radio signals may experience fluctuations in their amplitude and phase due to irregularity in the spatial electron density distribution, referred to as scintillation. Ionospheric scintillation is responsible for transionospheric signal degradation that can affect the performance of satellite based navigation systems. Usually, the scintillation activity is measured by means of indices such as the normalised standard deviation of the received intensity S4 and the standard deviation of the received phase r/ typically calculated over 1 min of data. Data from a GPS scintillation monitor based on 50 Hz measurements recorded at Dirigibile Italia Station (Ny-Alesund, Svalbard), in the frame of the ISACCO project (De Franceschi et al., 2006) are used to investigate possible adoption of an alternative parameter for the estimate of phase fluctuations: i.e., the standard deviation of the phase rate of change S/. This parameter is shown to better correlate with S4 being much less detrending dependent than r/. The couple (S4, S/) should be then considered a more physical proxy of radio scintillation than the couple (S4, r/). Published 2188–2193 1.7. Osservazioni di alta e media atmosfera 3.9. Fisica della magnetosfera, ionosfera e meteorologia spaziale JCR Journal restricted