Low-Latitude Ionospheric Climatology Using Maximum And Minimum Eigen Algorithm

The Ionosphere region is highly variable in space and time with certain solar-related disturbances. The radio signals propagating through ionosphere region undergo scattering and dispersion, resulting in the amplitude and phase scintillation due to ionospheric irregularities. In this paper, a Maximum and Minimum Eigen (MME) algorithm for Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) has been implemented to detect the satellite PRNs which were corrupted by the irregularities in the ionospheric plasma density. GNSS data was collected and analyzed for the solar maximum year of 2013 from the Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor(GISTM) located at Koneru Lakshmaiah University in Guntur (GNT), Andhra Pradesh. MME algorithm detected 6018 events in 2013. Disturbances of larger magnitude were detected during the vernal equinox followed by a slightly lower magnitude during the autumnal equinox. Most of the disturbances were detected during summer solstice.