Ionospheric TEC variations at mid-latitudes obsereved using SBAS L1/L5 signals.

Abstract:

With the development of Satellite based augmentation systems (SBAS) the dual frequency L1/L5 observations from a number of geostationary satellites are now available. It provides the possibility to retrieve ionospheric total electron content (TEC) from these observations using the same approach as for dual frequency GPS/GLONASS observations.

In this work we study L1/L5 signals of Indian GAGAN geostationary satellites observed with geodetic GNSS receivers at several stations at mid-latitudes and estimate corresponding geostationary TEC and errors of such estimations. TEC RMS was found to reach up to 1.5 TECU with typical values of 0.25-0.5 TECU which is several times greater than for common GPS/GLONASS observations. TEC RMS also manifests UT-dynamics which is specific for the chosen geostationary satellite and not relevant to the receiver site and signal paths. SBAS TEC was found to be in good agreement with the data of nearest ionosondes taking into account low elevation angles of SBAS satellites already at mid-latitudes and spatial gradients of electron density along the ray paths.

We also present the wavelet analysis of geostationary TEC, providing typical periods of observed variations at different time scales (from tens of minutes to tens of days) and discuss the capabilities of SBAS TEC observations in connection with ionospheric effects of solar flares.