FIRST COMPARATIVE SCINTILLATION STUDY USING ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC GPS RECEIVER ARRAYS

Abstract

Arrays of dual-frequency GPS receivers operating in the Arctic and Antarctic monitor scintillation and ionospheric total electron content at high latitudes. Even under solar minimum conditions, events of significant phase scintillation have been observed in both polar caps. Climatology studies in both hemispheres show that phase scintillation as a function of magnetic local time and geomagnetic latitude primarily occurs in the nightside auroral oval and ionospheric cusp, with the scintillation regions shifting in latitude in response to varying geomagnetic activity. Preliminary results from the first comparative scintillation study supported by ground-based instruments including HF radars, ionosondes and all-sky imagers are presented. In the future, in-situ measurements by the Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (ePOP) will provide additional support to study the Arctic and Antarctic ionospheres.