Introducing a disturbance ionosphere index

Abstract

[1] Although ionospheric perturbations such as traveling ionospheric disturbances have a strong impact on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and other space-based radio systems, the description of individual perturbations is difficult. To overcome this problem, it is suggested to use a disturbance ionosphere index (DIX) that describes the perturbation degree of the ionosphere in a less specific form as a proxy. Although such an index does not describe the exact propagation conditions at the measurement site, the estimated index number indicates the probability of a potential impact on radio systems used in communication, navigation, and remote sensing. The definition of such a DIX must take into account the following major requirements: relevance to practical needs, objective measure of ionospheric conditions, easy and reproducible computation, and availability of a reliable database. Since the total electron content has been shown in many publications to act as an outstanding parameter for quantifying the range error and also the strength of ionospheric perturbations, we propose a DIX that is based on GNSS measurements. To illustrate the use of the index, recent storms monitored in 2011 and the Halloween storm are discussed. The proposed index is a robust and objective measure of the ionospheric state, applicable to radio systems which are impacted by a highly variable perturbed ionosphere.

Climatology of GPS phase scintillation at northern high latitudes for the period from 2008 to 2013

“…For typical scintillation strength in various regions of the high-latitude ionosphere including cusp, auroral oval and polar cap, we refer the reader to case studies (e.g., Jin et al, 2014;Prikryl et al, 2015a, b, c). It should be noted that proxy scintillation indices such as the rate of TEC index (ROTI) (Jacobsen and Dähnn, 2014) and disturbance ionosphere index (DIX) (Jakowski et al, 2012) could be used instead of σ to map scintillation with comparable results. Also, GPS climatology of scintillation and TEC in the Southern Hemisphere and interhemispheric comparison is of interest for future studies.…”

An ionospheric index suitable for estimating the degree of ionospheric perturbations

“…The ionospheric disturbance index proposed in this study (DIXSG) is a modified and further developed version of the one presented in Jakowski et al (2012) which itself is based on studies published in Jakowski et al (2006). Especially in this version with its focus on spatial gradients an implicit elevation weighting, distance dependency, scalability of the sensitivity and the ability to simplify the index to a chose-able number of levels has been included whereas an explicit temporal term has been dropped.…”

“…e.g. Jakowski et al (2012). To get the TEC-rate DSTEC the difference of two consecutive slant TEC measurement delayed by Dt (e.g.…”

“…Following the general approach of the Disturbance Ionosphere Index by Jakowski et al (2012) here, we present a specific version focusing on spatial gradients. We demonstrate that the Disturbance Ionosphere Index Spatial Gradient (DIXSG) is a comprehensive index for risk estimation and performance degradation for users in the navigation and communication domain and has the potential to be a valuable driver for an ionospheric warning scale.…”

Estimation of Scintillation Indices: A Novel Approach Based on Local Kernel Regression Methods

“…The variation in the carrier phase of GNSS signals is also commonly quantified using the rate of total electron content index (ROTI) [25][26][27]. Several other indices for quantifying phase variations have also been proposed [24,[28][29][30][31][32]. It is worth noting that all of these indices are directly related to the scintillation signal variance.…”