High-latitude upgrade to the wideband ionospheric scintillation model

The high-latitude sections of the Wideband ionospheric scintillation model (WBMOD) have been upgraded extensively, based on analysis of scintillation data from the Defense Nuclear Agency Wideband, HiLat, and Polar BEAR satellite-beacon experiments. Data collected at Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland; Tromso, Norway; Fort Churchill, Canada; and Bellevue, Washington (United States) over a 4-year period were analyzed, and the results of these analyses were used to construct a completely new model for the behavior of the height-integrated irregularity-strength parameter (CkL) at high latitudes. The new high-latitude CkL model includes variations with sunspot number, geomagnetic activity (Kp), latitude, local time, longitude, and season. The new WBMOD CkL models (equatorial and high-latitude) have been implemented in a more versatile code, denoted SCINTMOD, which has the capability to generate a wide range of user-controlled maps of scintillation effects over large spatial areas. Examples of the types of graphical output that SCINTMOD can generate are presented.