Climatology of GNSS ionospheric scintillation at high and mid latitudes under different solar activity conditions

We analyze data of ionospheric scintillation over North European
regions for the same period (October to November) of two different years (2003 and
2008), characterized by different geomagnetic conditions. The work aims to develop
a scintillation climatology of the high- and mid-latitude ionosphere, analyzing the
behaviour of the scintillation occurrence as a function of the magnetic local time
(MLT) and of the altitude adjusted corrected magnetic latitude (Mlat), to characterize
scintillation scenarios under different solar activity conditions. The results
shown herein are obtained merging observations from a network of GISTMs (GPS
Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor) located over a wide range of latitudes
in the northern hemisphere. Our findings confirm the associations of the occurrence
of the ionospheric irregularities with the expected position of the auroral oval and
of the ionospheric trough walls and show the contribution of the polar cap patches
even under solar minimum conditions.