Degradation of Kinematic PPP of GNSS Stations in Central Europe Caused by Medium-Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances During the St. Patrick’s Day 2015 Geomagnetic Storm

Abstract

In solar cycle 24, the strongest geomagnetic storm took place on March 17, 2015, when the geomagnetic activity index was as high as -223 nT. To verify the impact that the storm had on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)’s positioning accuracy and precision, we used 30-s observations from 15 reference stations located in Central Europe. For each of them, we applied kinematic precise point positioning (PPP) using gLAB software for the day of the storm and, for comparison, for a selected quiet day (13 March 2015). Based on the conducted analyses, we found out that the position root mean square (RMS) values on the day of the geomagnetic storm were significantly high and amounted to several dozen centimeters. The average RMS for the altitude coordinates was 0.58 m between 12:00 and 24:00 (GPS time), and 0.37 and 0.26 m for directions North and East, respectively. The compromised accuracy level was caused by a sudden decrease in the number of satellites used for calculations. This was due to a high number of cycle slips (CSs) detected during this period. The occurrence of these effects was strictly correlated with the appearance of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs). This was proven by analyzing changes in the total electron content (TEC) estimated for each station–satellite pair.

Ionospheric Behavior during the 10 June 2021 Annular Solar Eclipse and Its Impact on GNSS Precise Point Positioning

“…Unlike previous studies [61][62][63][64], the results presented by Valdés-Abreu et al [29], suggested that positioning errors also occur, regardless of whether the ROTI has rapid variations, with or without ROTI activity, in this type of DF-GNSS stations with the use of PPP-AR. Moreover, our results confirm that ionospheric disturbance sources can cause degradation of the GNSS accuracy (maximum 3D positioning error 10 cm and 3D-RMS 3 cm) when ROTI 0.25 TECu/min, ROTI 0.5 TECu/min, and without ROTI activity (see Table 1, and Figures 6-9).…”

ROTI‐Based Stochastic Model to Improve GNSS Precise Point Positioning Under Severe Geomagnetic Storm Activity

“…It is seen that most degradation stations (14 stations) locate in the middle latitude range of 40°N–60°N. Research in Poniatowski and Nykiel (2020) demonstrated that during the severe storm on 17 March 2015, frequent cycle slips were detected in GNSS measurements tracked by the stations located in the range of 40°N–60°N, thus degrading the GNSS PPP accuracy. The EAS‐ROTI model in PPP can improve the estimation reliability of GNSS measurement variances, but it is hard to mitigate the effects of cycle slips on PPP processing.…”

“…Poniatowski and Nykiel. (2020) evaluated the positioning performance of GNSS PPP from 15 tracking stations in Europe during geomagnetic storm on St. Patrick's Day (Dst min = −223 nT) in 2015. Their results indicated that the severe storm led to the GPS signal quality degradation, the number of visible satellites decrease and the cycle slips increase, resulting in the root mean square (RMS) values of GPS PPP reaching 0.26 m, 0.37 m and 0.58 m in the east, north and up directions, while these values during geomagnetic quiet condition are only 0.02 m, 0.02 m and 0.03 m. Using more than 5,500 GNSS stations data during the St. Patrick's Day storm, Yang, Mortan et al.…”

The Mechanism for GNSS‐Based Kinematic Positioning Degradation at High‐Latitudes Under the March 2015 Great Storm

“…The St. Patrick's storm on 17 March 2015 was the strongest during the 24 solar cycle. A considerable number of researchers have investigated the ionospheric disturbances as well as the GPS positioning performance associated with the great storm (Cherniak & Zakharenkova, 2015; Cherniak et al., 2015; Jacobsen & Andalsvik, 2016; Jin et al., 2017, 2019; Liu et al., 2016; Mansilla, 2019; Nava et al., 2016; Poniatowski & Nykiel, 2020; Prikryl et al., 2016; Prol et al., 2021; Yao et al., 2016; Zakharenkova et al., 2016, 2019). Particularly, Yang et al.…”

“…The St. Patrick's storm on 17 March 2015 was the strongest during the 24 solar cycle. A considerable number of researchers have investigated the ionospheric disturbances as well as the GPS positioning performance associated with the great storm Jacobsen & Andalsvik, 2016;Jin et al, 2017Jin et al, , 2019Liu et al, 2016;Mansilla, 2019;Nava et al, 2016;Poniatowski & Nykiel, 2020;Prikryl et al, 2016;Prol et al, 2021;Yao et al, 2016;Zakharenkova et al, 2016Zakharenkova et al, , 2019. Particularly, Yang et al (2020) conducted a comprehensive accuracy assessment of the kinematic PPP using more than 5,000 stations around the world, focusing on the relationship between the positioning degradation and the ionospheric plasma irregularities NIE ET AL.…”