Automatic detection of ionospheric TEC depletions by using low-latitude GNSS data

In this paper, a method has been developed to automatically detect and characterize low-latitude ionospheric plasma bubbles which are a main source of scintillation effects. When the ionosphere is monitored by using GNSS beacon, plasma bubbles appear as TEC (total electron content) depletions. Therefore, plasma bubbles can be detected by identifying TEC depletions. This method of automatic detection is based on the variations of the slope of the relative TEC and the variance of the slope. The general characteristics of ionospheric TEC depletions, such as geographical location, beginning-time, ending-time and depth, can be provided automatically by this method. The reliability of this method is tested by using GNSS measurements recorded at Guilin during March 2014. The results show a good consistency between the automatic and manual identification.