The dependence of GPS positioning deviation on auroral activity

Abstract

The possibility of remote sensing ionosphere irregularities induced by auroral activity and affecting the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal is under consideration. The study reveals the dependence of GPS positioning temporal deviations on the auroral oval position and aurora disturbances throughout the polar region. The GPS data sets include the Antarctic and the Arctic GPS network receiver data, as well as the Kola Peninsula GPS original measurements. Auroral activity data include the satellite images of the auroral oval and the low light ground-based camera network data from the Barents Region. The aurora-induced ionosphere disturbances are supposed to be one of the main sources of GPS deviations in the Arctic and the Antarctic. A new method to study the impact of auroral disturbances on GPS positioning has been developed. The main idea of the method is to block the GPS receiver field of view in order to model the situation, with the GPS receiver inside the oval. Comparison of the GPS temporal deviations and the auroral intensity spatial and temporal variations show a good correlation in case studies.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Institutes who maintain the IMAGE Magnetometer Array, the scientific teams who provided access to data of the satellite auroral observations and Dr. I. Shagimuratov for presented data of GPS measurements in the Antarctic and fruitful discussions. The authors’ thanks also go to the Research Council of Norway through the project named Norwegian and Russian Upper Atmosphere Co-operation on Svalbard part 2 #196173/S30 (NORUSCA2), the Nordic Council of Ministers grant number i A09161 and the Russian Fund of Basic Research grant 10-05-98800-r-sever_a for their support of this study.