GPS Solut
DOI 10.1007/s10291-009-0156-x
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Statistics of GPS ionospheric scintillation and irregularities
over polar regions at solar minimum
Guozhu Li • Baiqi Ning • Zhipeng Ren •
Lianhuan Hu
Received: 7 November 2008 / Accepted: 15 December 2009
Ó Springer-Verlag 2010
Abstract A statistical study of the occurrence charac-
teristic of GPS ionospheric scintillation and irregularity in
the polar latitude is presented. These measurements were
made at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard [78.9°N, 11.9°E; 75.8°N
corrected geomagnetic latitude (CGMLat)] and Larsemann
Hills, East Antarctica (69.4°S, 76.4°E; 74.6°S CGMLat)
during 2007–2008. It is found that the GPS phase scintil-
lation and irregularity activity mainly takes place in the
months 10, 11 and 12 at Ny-Alesund, and in the months 5,
6 at Larsemann Hills. The seasonal pattern of phase scin-
tillation with respect to the station indicates that the GPS
phase scintillation occurrence is a local winter phenome-
non, which shows consistent results with past studies of
250 MHz satellite beacon measurements. The occurrence
rates of GPS amplitude scintillation at the two stations are
below 1%. A comparison with the interplanetary magnetic
field (IMF) By and Bz components shows that the phase
scintillation occurrence level is higher during the period
from later afternoon to sunset (16–19 h) at Ny-Alesund,
and from sunset to pre-midnight (18–23 h) at Larsemann
Hills for negative IMF components. The findings seem to
indicate that the dependence of scintillation and irregularity
occurrence on geomagnetic activity appears to be associ-
ated with the magnetic local time (MLT).
Keywords GPS
Ionospheric scintillation

Polar latitude irregularity
IMF
G. Li (&)
B. Ning
Z. Ren
L. Hu
Beijing National Observatory of Space Environment,
Institute of Geology and Geophysics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
e-mail: gzlee@mail.igcas.ac.cn
Introduction
Sometimes when a radio signal acts on the disturbed ion-
osphere, the received signal will show rapid fluctuations in
amplitude and phase that are not consistent with the source
strength or modulation. These fluctuations of the radio
signals are known as scintillations. It is well known that
ionospheric scintillation has the potential to affect Global
Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers in a number
of ways, from degradation of accuracy such as the range
errors, to the loss of signal tracking. Required levels of
accuracy and availability may not be met during the
occurrence of scintillation, compromising positioning and
navigation applications (Aquino et al. 2005). Since iono-
spheric scintillation can cause considerable communication
hazards on radio systems and is therefore of great practical
interest (Banerjee et al. 1992), it is generally recognized
that further research about scintillation and irregularity
producing scintillation is required.
Over the past four decades, a great deal of research has
revealed that ionospheric scintillation is most likely to
occur in equatorial and auroral regions. At low latitudes,
the scintillation is primarily controlled by increasing
irregularities over the magnetic equator. After sunset, when
the eastward electric field is enhanced, irregular plasma
density depletions are generated on the bottom-side of the
nighttime equatorial F region and rises to higher altitudes
as a result of nonlinear evolution of the generalized
Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) and E 9 B instabilities (e.g., Basu
et al. 1978; Kelley 1989; Fejer et al. 1999). Most low-
latitude ionospheric scintillations and irregularities are
observed in the pre-midnight period, and have been sta-
tistically studied using ground-based and in situ satellite
measurements (Su et al. 2006; Li et al. 2007). In the auroral
zone, scintillations mainly occur in the nighttime period
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and exist at all local time in the polar cap region. A review
of the auroral zone F region irregularities has been given by
Rino et al. (1983), and a survey of theoretical aspects of
irregularity formation is found in Keskinen and Ossakow
(1983). Evidence indicates that the dayside auroral oval
plays a major role in the formation of large-scale ionization
structures (patches) in the polar ionosphere (Weber et al.
1984). These structures convect across the polar cap and
cause destabilization of the plasma, then develop inter-
mediate scale irregularities (responsible for scintillation of
radio signals) by the action of the gradient drift instability
mechanism (Tsunoda 1988). The destabilization process
also includes the current convective and the Kelvin–
Helmholtz instability (Basu et al. 1986). It is established
that precipitation of soft particles into the F region may
play a direct role in irregularity formation (Basu et al.
1983; Kersley et al. 1988). In addition to patches, which
convect into the polar cap, the sheared electric field in the
cusp/cleft region is a viable source of localized interme-
diate scale irregularities (Basu et al. 1988). Since patches
are associated with high plasma density, scintillations of
satellite signals due to irregularities in the velocity shear
region are expected to be weaker than patch-induced
scintillations (Basu et al. 1998).
When studying the morphology of scintillation and
irregularity at polar latitudes, Aarons et al. (1981) inves-
tigated the UHF scintillation activity by using 250-MHz
satellite beacon scintillation measurements at Thule,
Greenland. They reported that the seasonal pattern of the
polar cap irregularities shows very high intensity levels
during the winter months and lower levels during the
summer (sunlit) months. A significant result from this long-
term study was the noticeable difference in occurrence
depending on solar activity. This seasonal and solar cycle
dependence at Thule was confirmed in a study by Basu
et al. (1985), who also presented the measurements at
Goose Bay, Labrador. By monitoring signals from the
HILAT satellite at stations Sondre Stromfjord, Churchill
and Tromoso, MacDougall (1990) investigated the distri-
butions of scintillations over the northern polar region.
They found two enhanced regions of scintillation occur-
rence. One enhanced region of phase scintillation activity
was under the auroral oval. The other region is revealed
most clearly by amplitude scintillations and maximizes in
an annular region several degrees poleward of the auroral
oval. The polar-orbiting multi-satellites of the Navy Nav-
igation Satellite System (NNSS, 150 and 400 MHz signals)
were also used by Kersley et al. (1988) in observations at
Kiruna, Sweden. Their results were presented in the form
of scintillation occurrence rates and relate to the season, the
time of day and to geomagnetic activity, showed a pre-
midnight maximum and more scintillation activity in
summer and autumn than in winter and early spring. In a
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GPS Solut
later paper by Kersley et al. (1995), attention was con-
centrated on measurements from Ny-Alesund, Norway. A
marked difference in scintillation and irregularity occur-
rence with season was found. The seasonal pattern of
occurrence shows a winter maximum.
In the southern polar region, the amplitude scintillation
and TEC measurements at Casey in Antarctica were per-
formed by Beggs et al. (1994) and Tate and Essex (2001)
using NNSS signals. The patches were observed in the
polar cap region at various locations and times during the
April–August period of 1994–1995.
In recent years, observations of GPS scintillations at
high latitudes were reported by many authors (e.g., De
Franceschi et al. 2006; Meggs et al. 2008). Using GPS
observations from 11 high-latitude stations, Aarons (1997)
noted that phase fluctuation activity has a daily pattern
mainly controlled by the motion of the receiver location
into the auroral oval. Mitchell et al. (2005) found GPS
amplitude and phase scintillation co-located with steep
total electron content (TEC) gradient at the southwest of
Svalbard during the Halloween storm of October 2003.
Later, De Franceschi et al. (2008) examined the observa-
tions from a chain of GPS ionospheric scintillation and
TEC receivers in Northern Europe, and investigated the
dynamics of ionospheric plasma during the storm events of
30 October and 20 November 2003. A strong influence of
IMF on the formation and movement of patches was
reported.
As mentioned previously, many studies on scintillation
and irregularity occurrence have been performed in the
Arctic or Antarctic regions, but little has been done
regarding statistical studies of inter-hemispheric observa-
tions of GPS ionospheric scintillation, and there is no clear
established pattern for the seasonal occurrence of irregu-
larities in the polar cap. In 2007, two GPS receivers were
established at Ny-Alesund [78.9°N, 11.9°E; 75.8°N cor-
rected geomagnetic latitude (CGMLat)] and Larsemann
Hills (69.4°S, 76.4°E; 74.6°S CGMLat) to study scintilla-
tion and irregularity characteristics. The two stations are
nearly located at geomagnetic conjugate points. About
1 year data from both stations have been used in this paper
to investigate the scintillation and irregularity characteris-
tics with season and magnetic local time. We also analyze
the dependence of scintillation occurrence on IMF By and
Bz components at solar minimum.
Experimental observations
Ionospheric scintillation measurement was performed
using the GPS Ionospheric Scintillation/TEC Monitor
(GISTM), model GSV4004 (Van Dierendonck et al. 1993).
The system is NovAtel’s Euro4 dual-frequency receiver
GPS Solut
version of the OEM4 card with special firmware, which
was developed to maintain lock even under strong scintil-
lation conditions. The amplitude scintillation was moni-
tored by computing the S4 index, which is defined as the
standard deviation of the received signal power normalized
to the average signal power. It is calculated for each
1-minute period based on a 50-Hz sampling rate. The
GISTM also computes the S4 index due to ambient noise in
such a way that a corrected S4 index (without noise effects)
can be computed (Van Dierendonck et al. 1993). Phase
scintillation computation was accomplished by monitoring
the r/ index, the standard deviation of the detrended car-
rier phase and was computed over 1, 3, 10, 30 and 60 s
intervals. A high-pass sixth-order Butterworth filter was
used for detrending raw phase measurements. In the pres-
ent paper, the corrected S4 index and the average value of
60-second r/ are used in the following analyses.
Although these scintillation indices have been widely
used to monitor and measure the intensity of scintillation,
one should keep in mind that the derivation of the phase
scintillation index r/ has many problems and its interpre-
tation may be doubtful (Beach 2006). A series of experi-
ments were set up to study the effects of cutoff frequency
for amplitude and phase filtering (Forte 2005). Compre-
hensive discussion about the effects of filtering parameters
on scintillation can be found in Forte and Radicella (2002,
2004). In this study, only the measurements of signals
coming from satellites with an elevation angle greater than
30° and with a time of lock greater than 180 s were taken
into account. The geographical locations of both stations
are shown in the left panel of Fig. 1. The right panel is a
polar plot of CGMLat against magnetic local time (MLT),
in which the diurnal position of Ny-Alesund and Larse-
mann Hills are shown by solid and dash-solid circles at
Fig. 1 Geographical locations of Ny-Alesund and Larsemann Hills
(left panel) and geometry of scintillation observations in the MLT and
CGMLat polar coordinate system (right panel). The measurements
were made from the Chinese Arctic Yellow River station (located at
Ny-Alesund) and the Chinese Antarctic Zhongshan station (located at
75.8°N and 74.6°S CGMLat, respectively. A representation
of the average position of Feldstein auroral oval for quiet
geomagnetic conditions (Q = 3) is shown superposed on
the plot (Feldstein 1963; Holzworth and Meng 1975). It can
be seen that around magnetic noon both stations are under
the cusp/cleft region, and on the night-side, the observa-
tions are within the low-latitude region of the polar cap.
We should note that the positions of both stations
Ny-Alesund and Larsemann Hills with respect to the
auroral oval will change with season and magnetic activity.
Cases of GPS ionospheric scintillation
Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the scintillation and TEC
parameters derived from measurements made at Ny-Ales-
und. The left panels of Fig. 2 show the variation of
amplitude scintillation index S4 and phase scintillation
index r/ on August 4, 2007. From the left panels we can
note that no amplitude and phase scintillation were
observed. The lower value of scintillation index corre-
sponds to the noise level. The middle and right panels
indicate that the phase and amplitude scintillation events
were observed on October 4 and November 6, 2007,
respectively. The scintillation index is apparently larger
than the noise level. The two cases were characterized by
‘‘phase without amplitude’’ scintillation and ‘‘amplitude
without phase’’ scintillation (Fremouw et al. 1978). More
details on the structures possibly causing scintillations are
shown in Fig. 3. The left and right panels present the
scintillation/TEC measurements made by the satellites
PRN 3 and 23, respectively. It was observed that the phase
scintillation obtained from PRN 3 is co-located with the
sudden TEC enhancement. The enhancement is located at
Larsemann Hills).The bold solid (75.8°N) and dash-solid (74.6°S)
circles show the positions of the two stations, respectively. The
superposed shadow is the average position of auroral oval (Q = 3;
Feldstein 1963; Holzworth and Meng 1975)
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 GPS Solut

Fig. 2 Amplitude and phase

data from the GPS satellites
viewed on August 4, October 4
and November 6, 2007 as
recorded at Ny-Alesund.
Amplitude and phase
fluctuations are in noise level
(left), phase scintillation was
observed (r/ [ 10° and 15° cut
off angle—middle), amplitude
scintillation was observed
(S4 [ 0.25—right)

Fig. 3 Example of amplitude

and phase scintillations
measured from the GPS
satellites PRN 3 and 23. The
phase scintillation is co-located
with the sudden TEC
enhancements as shown in the
left panels. The right panels
indicate that there exists
amplitude scintillation but no
apparent phase scintillation and
TEC fluctuations. The red
asterisks in the bottom panels
mark the scintillation
occurrence above the threshold

123
GPS Solut
about 75°N CGMLat as shown in the left bottom panel.
The bold lines in the bottom panels show the GPS satellite
tracks assuming a thin shell ionosphere at 350 km altitude.
As Tsunoda (1988) suggested, the high-latitude large-scale
plasma structures have been divided into four classes: (1)
polar cap patches, (2) boundary blobs, (3) sun-aligned arcs
and (4) auroral blobs. Here the increase and decrease of
TEC probably signify the transit of polar cap patches
across the GPS propagation path. The right panels show
that when amplitude scintillation occurs, no apparent TEC
fluctuation and phase scintillation exists. These phenomena
are probably linked with the irregularity characteristics that
produce scintillation. Since the magnitude of amplitude
scintillation is dictated by the electron density deviation
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
(DN) of the Fresnel scale ð 2kzÞ; the irregularities are
located along the ray path (Basu et al. 1998). For the GPS
L1 frequency (1575.42 MHz, 0.19 m) and the slant range
to an assumed phase screen height of 350 km (z), the
Fresnel scale is about 370 m. Thus, the amplitude scintil-
lation is determined by the strength of small-scale irregu-
larities with hundreds to tens of meter in size. However, the
phase scintillation is dominated by large-scale irregularity
(Basu et al. 1999). The irregularity in anisotropy and the
drift of the irregularity also impact the index (Beach 2006).
During the period of Oct 4, 2007, no solar flare (X-ray and
EUV radiation) event was observed. The present observa-
tions of amplitude scintillation without phase scintillation
probably indicate that the small-scale irregularities, which
produce the amplitude scintillation, transit away from the
places of origin, where large-scale irregularities (patches)
Fig. 4 Contour plots of
percentage occurrence of
amplitude (S4 [ 0.25) and
phase scintillation (r/ [ 15°
and 10°) as a function of
corrected geomagnetic latitude
and month for observations
made at Ny-Alesund and
Larsemann Hills
exist. The dominant mechanisms for patch formation are
still unknown. Two of the most prominent mechanisms at
present are sporadic chopping of a pre-existing tongue of
high density plasma (Valladares et al. 1999), which lead to
density depletions in a preexisting tongue of high density
plasma entering the polar cap from noon collocated with
jets of high plasma velocity, and sporadic injection of high
density plasma (Lockwood and Carlson 1992), which lead
to density enhancements associated with high plasma
velocity flows.
In the following paragraphs, we shall focus our attention
on the statistics of scintillation and irregularity occurrence.
The threshold value of 0.25 for S4 index and 10°, 15° for
r/ index will be used.
Scintillation statistics at Ny-Alesund
and Larsemann Hills
The scintillation measurements started in July 2007 at Ny-
Alesund, and in March 2007 at Larsemann Hills. Unfor-
tunately, a failure of power supply for the Larsemann Hills
GPS receiver in December 2007 terminated the scintilla-
tion measurements. Thus, we used the amplitude and phase
data from August 2007 to July 2008 for Ny-Alesund and
March to November 2007 for Larsemann Hills in the
present statistical study. A contour plot of the percent
occurrence of scintillation is shown in Fig. 4. The left
panels show the number of total data points (specified on
the graph to give an idea of the size of the data base), the
123

percent occurrence of amplitude and phase scintillation as a
function of corrected geomagnetic latitude and month of
observation at Ny-Alesund. A maximum occurrence of
amplitude scintillation to the north of the station latitude
can be seen in months 11 and 12. In view of phase scin-
tillation activity with the threshold (r/ [ 15°), it mainly
takes place in the months 10, 11 and 12. For the lower
threshold of 10°, the left bottom panel also shows that the
scintillation is a winter phenomenon.
The observations from Larsemann Hills are shown in the
right panels of Fig. 4. For amplitude scintillation with the
threshold S4 [ 0.25, the right second panel indicates that
there is no scintillation activity. A maximum occurrence of
phase scintillation activity (r/ [ 15°) exists in the months
5 and 6. The right bottom panel shows a strong maximum
occurrence for months 5 and 6, and a moderate one for
months 4 and 7 exceeding the threshold r/ [ 10°. Over all,
two features can be noted from Fig. 4. The first one is that
the occurrence level of phase scintillation is significantly
higher than that for amplitude scintillation. This is con-
sistent with observations at Hammerfest (Geo.Lon/Lat,
23.7°E/70.7°N). Considering every day of year 2002,
Rodrigues et al. (2004) found that the GPS amplitude
scintillation occurrence rates (S4 [ 0.5) rarely exceed 1%,
however, strong phase scintillation above the threshold 0.6
occurred during more than 5% of the time. For auroral
regions, Klobuchar (2002) also suggested that amplitude
scintillation on the GPS L1 frequency does not seem to be a
significant concern. The second notable feature is that
phase scintillation mainly occurs in the local winter months
for both stations, which are of little or no sunlight. Kersley
et al. (1995) reported that there is no clear established
pattern for the seasonal occurrence of irregularities in the
polar cap. Besides many factors such as geographic loca-
tion and control of geomagnetic conditions, some of the
results with different seasonal pattern may be technique
dependent. Similar seasonal dependence in scintillation
occurrence with winter maximum has been noted by many
authors who used the VHF/UHF signals (e.g., Aarons et al.
1981). Using 250-MHz satellite beacon scintillation mea-
surements from Thule Air Base, Greenland, Aarons et al.
(1981) reported that a seasonal pattern of the polar cap
irregularities shows very high levels during the winter and
lower levels during the summer months. They suggested
that the seasonal variation of scintillation may be related to
E layer conductivity changes caused by the presence or
absence of sunlight at *100 km.
The diurnal variation of amplitude and phase scintilla-
tion occurrence is illustrated in Fig. 5 and presented in
polar form as a function of MLT and CGMLat from 70° to
90°. The panels from top to bottom show the number of
total data points, percent occurrence of amplitude and
phase scintillation. From the left second panel, it can be
123
GPS Solut
noted that the occurrence of amplitude scintillation
observed at Ny-Alesund maximizes in the magnetic after-
noon sector. It shows the presence of 100-meter scale
irregularities during daytime at 78°N CGMLat over the
time interval of 11–18 h MLT. For phase scintillation
exceeding the threshold r/ [ 15°, high occurrence is
found in the 08–13 h, 16–18 h and 23–02 h MLT sector at
Ny-Alesund. While at Larsemann Hills, the occurrence
maximizes between 05–11 h and 19–22 h MLT. For the
lower threshold of phase scintillation r/ [ 10°, the left
bottom panel shows maximum occurrence centered around
magnetic noon at Ny-Alesund. Larsemann Hills, the right
bottom panel of Fig. 5, shows a band of high occurrence
following the auroral oval from early morning to noon
sector. Between 18 h and 23 h MLT, strong occurrence can
also be noted. It can be seen from Fig. 1 that around
magnetic noon Ny-Alesund and Larsemann Hills are under
the cusp/cleft region with respect to the Q = 3 auroral
oval. This possibly indicates that the observed maximum
scintillation occurrence around the noon sector arising
from irregularities caused by precipitation into the daytime
cusp. The clouds of energetic particles ejected from the sun
and carried in the solar wind envelope of the earth’s
magnetosphere can generate irregularities or increase the
frequency of their occurrence in the ionosphere. Mangalev
et al. (1994) found that energetic particles precipitating in
the cusp region are able to influence the spatial distribution
of the ionospheric parameters in the E and F regions.
Dependence of scintillation
on IMF By and Bz components
The dependence of scintillation occurrence on magnetic
activity was studied by using the interplanetary magnetic
field (IMF) data. Because the lower occurrence level of
amplitude scintillation and the IMF data were not yet
available for July, 2008, attention is concentrated on phase
scintillation up to June 2008. For this study, the 15-s IMF
data from the ACE satellite are averaged over a 1-minute
interval for comparing the scintillation occurrence above
the threshold r/ [ 15° during the different polarity of By
and Bz components of IMF.
The statistical dependence of scintillation activity on the
polarity of the IMF By and Bz components is shown in
Fig. 6. It displays the percentage occurrence seen at
Ny-Alesund (left panels) and Larsemann Hills (right pan-
els) on CGMLat versus MLT polar plots. For Bz northward
conditions Bz [ 0, we can note from the top two panels
that there is a tendency for Ny-Alesund scintillation to
occur more frequently during the noon and midnight sec-
tors. For Larsemann Hills, the scintillation occurrence
shows a maximum from the early morning to the noon
GPS Solut

Fig. 5 Percentage occurrence

of amplitude (S4 [ 0.25) and
phase scintillation (r/ [ 15°
and 10°) as a function of
CGMLat and MLT for
observations made at
Ny-Alesund and Larsemann
Hills

sector. In comparing the IMF Bz northward and southward
conditions, the left second panel illustrates that for Bz
southward conditions, a maximum scintillation occurrence
exists during the period from later afternoon to sunset at
Ny-Alesund; the associated scintillation occurrence level is
apparently higher than that for Bz northward conditions.
For Larsemann Hills, the right second panel shows the
scintillation occurrence is maximized through the evening
from 18 h to 23 h MLT. The enhanced scintillation
occurrence indicates that the dependence of scintillation on
IMF Bz shows a correlation with magnetic local time.
When considering the scintillation dependence on IMF By,
the bottom four panels of Fig. 6 show clear evidence
of significant differences in the occurrence characteris-
tics of scintillation for positive and negative IMF By.
For Ny-Alesund observations, there is a relatively high

123
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Fig. 6 Percentage occurrence

of phase scintillation (r/[15°)
as a function of CGMLat and
MLT for observations made at
Ny-Alesund and Larsemann
Hills during different IMF By
and Bz conditions

occurrence during negative IMF By at later afternoon and
post-midnight sectors, about from 16 to 19 h MLT and
from 23 to 04 h MLT. There is also a difference shown by
the right bottom two panels, for the positive and negative
By at Larsemann Hills. An enhanced scintillation occur-
rence during negative IMF By is shown through the evening
from 18 to 23 h MLT. Together with the IMF By and Bz
components, the observations in the current work (Fig. 6)
indicate that the dependence of scintillation occurrence on
IMF components appears to be associated with magnetic
local time. As Aarons (1997) suggested, phase fluctuation
activity has a daily pattern mainly controlled by the motion
of the receiver location into the auroral oval. The auroral
oval expands equatorward with increasing magnetic

123
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activity. Sandholt et al. (1998) have classified the dayside
aurora into various types that depend on the IMF orienta-
tion and the magnetic local time of observation. For polar
cap patches, the irregularities are most likely to occur when
the Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field
(IMF) is southward, or when planetary magnetic index
Kp [ 4. Here the Ny-Alesund and Larsemann Hills phase
scintillations show IMF dependence at different MLT
sectors. The difference may be associated with the posi-
tions of Ny-Alesund and Larsemann Hills under different
geomagnetic conditions. Ny-Alesund is about 1° further
polarward of the Larsemann Hills position so that under
moderate or strong magnetic conditions, Ny-Alesund may
be inside the polar cap a bit more than Larsemann Hills.
Conclusions
The measurements of GPS ionospheric scintillation and
irregularity activities have been conducted at Ny-Alesund
and Larsemann Hills, which are located at the daytime cusp
and under the polar cap on the night-side with respect to the
average position of the auroral oval (Q = 3). This paper
focused on the investigations of GPS scintillation occur-
rence above specified thresholds for season, magnetic local
time, and the dependence on polarity of IMF By and Bz
components. The latitude/month plot illustrates the maxi-
mum occurrence of scintillation during the local winter
months (10, 11 and 12 at Ny-Alesund, and 5, 6 at Larse-
mann Hills). This is shown to be consistent with the 250-
MHz satellite beacon scintillation measurements from
Thule Air Base, Greenland performed by Aarons et al.
(1981). The E layer conductivity change caused by the
absence of sunlight at *100 km in the winter months is a
possible mechanism.
The diurnal variation of phase scintillation occurrence is
characterized by the higher occurrence during the 08–13 h,
16–18 h and 23–02 h MLT sector at Ny-Alesund. The
observations are similar to the results presented by Kersley
et al. (1995). Using radio transmissions from NNSS satel-
lites, they investigated the phase scintillation and irregu-
larities at Ny-Alesund. A noon maximum occurrence that
extends in a latitudinal belt into the afternoon and evening,
and a highest level of occurrence during the pre-midnight
sector in the polar cap was reported. At Larsemann Hills,
the present work shows the enhanced scintillation is found
in the 05–12 h and 18–23 h MLT sectors. The observed
noon maximum scintillation occurrence possibly indicates
that the irregularities producing scintillation may be caused
by precipitation into the daytime cusp/cleft region.
Under negative IMF By and Bz conditions, this paper
performs a comparison of phase scintillation above the
threshold 15° with the positive IMF By and Bz components.
The results indicate that the phase scintillation occurrence
level is found to be higher during the period from later
afternoon to sunset (16–19 h MLT) at Ny-Alesund, and
from sunset to pre-midnight (18–23 h MLT) at Larsemann
Hills. The enhanced scintillation occurrence indicates that
the dependence of scintillation on IMF components shows
a correlation with magnetic local time. This is possibly
linked with the IMF dependence of polar cap patches.
Acknowledgments This work was supported by the Chinese Arctic
and Antarctic Administration (20070209), National Natural Science
Foundation of China (40774091, 40574072) and National Important
Basic Research Project (2006CB806306). The authors acknowledge
CDAWeb for providing the IMF datasets.
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23(3):320–330 Author Biographies
Kersley L, Russell C, Rice D (1995) Phase scintillation and
irregularities in the northern polar ionosphere. Radio Sci Dr. Guozhu Li was born in
30(3):619–629 September, 1980 in China. He
Keskinen M, Ossakow S (1983) Theories of high-latitude ionospheric received his BS from Wuhan
irregularities: a review. Radio Sci 18(6):1077–1091 University in 2002 and PhD
Klobuchar J (2002) Ionospheric research issues for SBAS—A White degree from the Wuhan Institute
Paper. SBAS Ionospheric Working Group, Ver 225 of Physics and Mathematics,
Li G, Ning B, Liu L, Ren Z, Lei J, Su S-Y (2007) The correlation of Chinese Academy of Sciences
longitudinal/seasonal variations of evening equatorial pre-rever- in 2007. During 2007–2009, he
sal drift and of plasma bubbles. Ann Geophys 25:2571–2578 was a postdoctoral fellow. He
Lockwood M, Carlson HC Jr (1992) Production of polar cap electron devotes his time in studying the
density patches by transient magnetopause reconnection. Geo- ionospheric physics using the
phys Res Lett 19:1731 VHF radar, Digisonde, GPS
MacDougall J (1990) Distribution of irregularities in the northern receiver, in-situ satellite, etc.
polar region determined from HILAT observations. Radio Sci
25(2):115–124
Mangalev VS, Krisvilev VN, Mingaleva GI (1994) Precipitating soft Prof. Baiqi Ning was born in
corpuscle influence on the parameters of the ionosphere E and F April, 1957 in China. He
regions at the cusp region. Geomagn Aeron 34:200–204 received his BS from Wuhan
Meggs RW, Mitchell CN, Honary F (2008) GPS scintillation over the University in 1981 and PhD
European Arctic during the November 2004 storms. GPS Solut degree from the Wuhan Institute
12:281–287. doi:10.1007/s10291-008-0090-3 of Physics, Chinese Academy of
Mitchell CN, Alfonsi L, De Franceschi G, Lester M, Romano V, Sciences in 1993. He has been
Wernik AW (2005) GPS TEC and scintillation measurements researching in ionospheric radio
from the polar ionosphere during the October 2003 storm. probing and radio wave propa-
Geophys Res Lett 32:L12S03. doi:10.1029/2004GL021644 gation and has published more
Rino CL, Livingston RC, Tsunoda RT, Robinson RM, Vickrey JF, than 80 papers. Now he is a full-
Senior C, Cousins MD, Owen J, Klobuchar JA (1983) Recent time professor in the Institute of
studies of the structure and morphology of auroral zone F region Geology and Geophysics, Chi-
irregularities. Radio Sci 18:1167–1180 nese Academy of Sciences.
Rodrigues FS, Aquino MHO, Dodson A, Moore T, Waugh S (2004)
Statistical analysis of GPS ionospheric scintillation and short-

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Dr. Zhipeng Ren was born in

October, 1982 in China. He
received his BS from University
of Science and Technology of
China (USTC) in 2004 and PhD
degree from the Wuhan Institute
of Physics and Mathematics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
in 2009. Now, he is a postdoc-
toral fellow. He devotes his time
in studying the ionospheric/
thermospheric physics.

Dr. Lianhuan Hu was born in

April, 1982 in China. He
received his BS from Wuhan
University in 2004 and MS
degree from the Wuhan Institute
of Physics and Mathematics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
in 2007. He devotes his time in
studying the ionospheric
physics.

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