[1] Using the GPS data from as many as 114 GPS stations of the International GPS Service for Geodynamics (IGS), the morphological features of the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) variations on the sunlit hemisphere during the 4B solar flare on 28 October 2003 is studied. It is found that the strongest sudden increase of TEC (SITEC) happened during the flare, and the magnitudes of SITEC vary at regions with different local solar zenith angle (SZA). In the northern hemisphere, the TEC enhancement is approximately symmetrical to the local noon, and its value is usually greater than 14 TECU (1 TECU = 10 16 /m 2 ) if the SZA is less than 60°. On the whole, as the SZA increases, the value of TEC enhancement in the northern hemisphere decreases. It is worth mentioning that even in the regions of SZA between 90°and 100°, the SITEC was still seen from the temporal TEC curves. Using a photochemical model, the electron production rate over the sunlit boundary region is calculated and some obvious features of SITEC over this region are analyzed. In the polar region, the effect of this flare on the ionosphere exceeds the effect of the ionospheric scintillations and it seems that the ionosphere in the northern polar region responses more sensitively to this flare. In the end, superimposed on the curves of the rate of TEC change, there are some small disturbances (spikes) synchronously appearing on all curves and thus indicating an existence of similar structures in the EUV band of the flare.

[1] This paper studies the ionospheric response to an X5.7/3B solar flare that occurred at 10:03 UT on 14 July 2000. With Global Positioning System (GPS) observations, temporal evolution of the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) values was obtained within the latitude range of 30°N $ 45°N and the longitude range of 15°E $ 45°E. It was found that dayside TEC values were enhanced during the flare event, which could be as large as 5 TECU (1 TECU = 10 16 /m 2 ) in regions with small solar zenith angles. The enhancement tended to depend on latitude, longitude and the solar zenith angle of the subionospheric point. However, the TEC enhancement derived from the latitude belt between 30°N and 45°N was not symmetrical about either the longitude or the local hour; it was smaller in the local morning than in the afternoon. The TEC enhancement in the Southern Hemisphere seems to be larger than that in the Northern Hemisphere for the same solar zenith angle. This implies that the background levels of the ionosphere and thermosphere had some influence on the TEC enhancement. The temporal variation of TEC shows minor correlative disturbances from 10:15 UT to 10:27 UT when the solar flare was in the maximum phase. It is likely that the minor disturbances resulted from the evolution of flare emission in the EUV domain.

[1] On the basis of ionospheric total electron content (TEC) enhancement over the subsolar region during flares, and combined with data of the peak X-ray flux in the 0.1-0.8 nm region, EUV increase in the 0.1-50 and 26-34 nm regions observed by the SOHO Solar EUV Monitor EUV detector, also with the flare location on the solar disc, the relationship among these parameters is analyzed statistically. Results show that the correlation between ionospheric TEC enhancement and the soft X-ray peak flux in the 0.1-0.8 nm region is poor, and the flare location on the solar disc is one noticeable factor for the impact strength of the ionospheric TEC during solar flares. Statistics indicate clearly that, at the same X-ray class, the flares near the solar disc center have much larger effects on the ionospheric TEC than those near the solar limb region. For the EUV band, although TEC enhancements and EUV flux increases in both the 0.1-50 and 26-34 nm regions have a positive relation, the flux increase in the 26-34 nm region during flares is more correlative with TEC enhancements. Considering the possible connection between the flare location on the solar disc and the solar atmospheric absorption to the EUV irradiation, an Earth zenith angle is introduced, and an empirical formula describing the relationship of TEC enhancement and traditional flare parameters, including flare X-ray peak and flare location information, is given. In addition, the X-ray class of the flare occurring on 4 November 2003, which led the saturation of the X-ray detector on GOES 12, is estimated using this empirical formula, and the estimated class is X44.

[1] In this paper, evidence of quake-excited infrasonic waves is provided first by a multi-instrument observation of Japan's Tohoku earthquake. The observations of co-seismic infrasonic waves are as follows: 1, effects of surface oscillations are observed by local infrasonic detector, and it seems these effects are due to surface oscillation-excited infrasonic waves instead of direct influence of seismic vibration on the detector; 2, these local excited infrasonic waves propagate upwards and correspond to ionospheric disturbances observed by Doppler shift measurements and GPS/TEC; 3, interactions between electron density variation and currents in the ionosphere caused by infrasonic waves manifest as disturbances in the geomagnetic field observed via surface magnetogram; 4, within 4 hours after this strong earthquake, disturbances in the ionosphere related to arrivals of Rayleigh waves were observed by Doppler shift sounding three times over. Two of the arrivals were from epicenter along the minor arc of the great circle (with the second arrival due to a Rayleigh wave propagating completely around the planet) and the other one from the opposite direction. All of these seismo-ionospheric effects observed by HF Doppler shift appear after local arrivals of surface Rayleigh waves, with a time delay of 8-10 min. This is the time required for infrasonic wave to propagate upwards to the ionosphere.

[1] The characteristics of the ionospheric response to the solar flare on Apr. 15, 2001 were studied using the total electron content (TEC) obtained at GPS observational stations in the whole sunlit hemisphere under International GPS Service for Geodynamics. It was found that the largest enhancement of the sudden increase of total electron content during this flare is $2.6 TECU (1 TECU = 10 16 m À2 ). The effects of solar flare radiation on the ionosphere can be recognized even in the region at 0600 or 1800 LT. Owing to ionospheric scintillation, the TEC enhancement could not be derived from temporal TEC variation curves in high latitudes. On the other hand, the synoptic picture of the sunlit ionospheric response to the flare was obtained, and the results showed the relationship of TEC enhancements with solar zenith angles. The larger the solar zenith angle, the smaller the TEC enhancement. Even minor fast changes in TEC during this flare are revealed in the changing rate of temporal TEC variations in midlatitudes and low latitudes. These small globally synchronous disturbances of TEC were compared with the solar X-ray fluxes of this flare observed by satellites, and a close correlation between those small ionospheric disturbances and the hard X-ray flux fluctuations was found. INDEX TERMS:2435 Ionosphere: Ionospheric disturbances; 2479 Ionosphere: Solar radiation and cosmic ray effects; 7519 Solar Physics, Astrophysics, and Astronomy: Flares; 7554 Solar Physics, Astrophysics, and Astronomy: X rays, gamma rays, and neutrinos; KEYWORDS: GPS, TEC, ionosphere, flare, IGS Citation: Zhang, D. H., and Z. Xiao, Study of the ionospheric total electron content response to the great flare on 15 April 2001 using the International GPS Service network for the whole sunlit hemisphere,

Abstract. With one bias estimation method, the latituderelated error distribution of instrumental biases estimated from the GPS observations in Chinese middle and low latitude region in 2004 is analyzed statistically. It is found that the error of GPS instrumental biases estimated under the assumption of a quiet ionosphere has an increasing tendency with the latitude decreasing. Besides the asymmetrical distribution of the plasmaspheric electron content, the obvious spatial gradient of the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) along the meridional line that related to the Equatorial Ionospheric Anomaly (EIA) is also considered to be responsible for this error increasing. The RMS of satellite instrumental biases estimated from mid-latitude GPS observations in 2004 is around 1 TECU (1 TECU = 10 16 /m 2 ), and the RMS of the receiver's is around 2 TECU. Nevertheless, the RMS of satellite instrumental biases estimated from GPS observations near the EIA region is around 2 TECU, and the RMS of the receiver's is around 3-4 TECU. The results demonstrate that the accuracy of the instrumental bias estimated using ionospheric condition is related to the receiver's latitude with which ionosphere behaves a little differently. For the study of ionospheric morphology using the TEC derived from GPS data, in particular for the study of the weak ionospheric disturbance during some special geo-related natural hazards, such as the earthquake and severe meteorological disasters, the difference in the TEC accuracy over different latitude regions should be paid much attention.

Abstract. An algorithm has been developed to derive the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) and to estimate the resulting instrumental biases in Global Positioning System (GPS) data from measurements made with a single receiver. The algorithm assumes that the TEC is identical at any point within a mesh and that the GPS instrumental biases do not vary within a day. We present some results obtained using the algorithm and a study of the characteristics of the instrumental biases during active geomagnetic periods. The deviations of the TEC during an ionospheric storm (induced by a geomagnetic storm), compared to the quiet ionosphere, typically result in severe fluctuations in the derived GPS instrumental biases. Based on the analysis of three ionospheric storm events, we conclude that different kinds of ionospheric storms have differing influences on the measured biases of GPS satellites and receivers. We find that the duration of severe ionospheric storms is the critical factor that adversely impacts the estimation of GPS instrumental biases. Large deviations in the TEC can produce inaccuracies in the estimation of GPS instrumental biases for the satellites that pass over the receiver during that period. We also present a semi quantitative analysis of the duration of the influence of the storm.

[1] Anomalous magnetic variations were observed by ground magnetometers in East Asia area after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Some earlier reports showed that the seismo-magnetic variations have obvious amplitude around the epicenter, we emphasis here that the variations can still be notable at stations 2000-4000 km away from epicenter, and we define it as teleseismic magnetic disturbances (TMDs). TMDs appear about 8 min later after the arrival of seismic Rayleigh waves at teleseismic distances and propagate at a horizontal velocity of 3.9 AE 0.1 km/s. The wave-like TMDs last for no longer than 10 min and have a main period of 2.1-3.3 min. TMDs are not generated by direct effects of processes in focal area crust or tsunami waves, instead, their properties consist with the Rayleigh wave model of seismo-ionospheric disturbances. Hence, we conclude that the TMDs are the magnetic manifestation of seismotraveling ionospheric disturbances (STIDs) generated by the interaction between the ionosphere and atmosphere through acoustic waves launched by traveling Rayleigh waves. Our findings contribute to the knowledge of seismo-electromagnetic effects in the atmosphere-ionosphere system and further our understanding of couplings between various spheres of the Earth.