GPS measurements of ionospheric irregularity drifts and their initial results

Principle and methods on the estimation of F-layer ionospheric irregularity drifts based on scintillation and rapid fluctuated TEC patterns measured from spaced-GPS receivers have been described, and the horizontal drift velocities of ionospheric irregularities on the quiet day and storm time have been estimated by using measured data. Based on analyses of observations from the short spaced GPS receiver array at Wuhan, the storm-time ionospheric irregularities which resulted in scintillations and rapid TEC fluctuations showed westward drifts between 21 : 30 and 03 : 00 LT with drift velocities changing from similar to 40 to similar to 130 m/s, And based on analyses of observations from the ultra-short spaced GPS receiver chain at. Guilin, ionospheric irregularities which resulted in the L-band radio wave scintillations, showed eastward drifts around local midnight ranging from similar to 70 to similar to 55 m/s on the quiet-day and westward drifts ranging from similar to 150 to similar to 50 m/s before the midnight and eastward drifts after the midnight ranging from similar to 25 to similar to 65 m/s on the disturbed day. The idea of the F layer irregularity drift estimation based on single GPS receiver and multi satellite observations has been proposed as well. A case study showed that it is feasible to estimate the ionospheric irregularity drifts with this method.