Comparative studies of high-latitude and equatorial ionospheric scintillation characteristics of GPS signals

The ionospheric scintillation phenomenon that affect the accuracy and integrity of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is mostly observed in high-latitude and equatorial regions. Scintillation events in these two regions, however, are usually influenced by different factors and thus have different characteristics. This paper makes use of real scintillation data collected at Gakona, Alaska, and Jicamarca, Peru during the current solar maximum to investigate and compare scintillation features observed at the two locations. Based on scintillation events extracted from the raw data, several statistical distributions have been established to characterize the intensity, duration and occurrence frequency of amplitude and phase scintillation. Results confirm that scintillation at low latitudes is generally more intense and longer lasting, while high-latitude scintillation is usually dominated by phase fluctuations and shorter events. The occurrence frequency of scintillation, on the other hand, are influenced by a variety of factors.