Ionospheric scintillation observed during October 2003 storm

Rapid fluctuations in the amplitude and phase of radio waves propagating through the ionosphere may be caused by small-scale plasma density irregularities. Ionospheric scintillation events have been observed on signals from GPS satellites during successive phases of October 2003 storm. Those observations have been made by means of a commercial single frequency GPS receiver, suitably operated in order to carry out the measurements of those fluctuations caused by small-scale electron density irregularities. The relationship between scintillation and TEC fluctuations is also investigated by means of dual frequency data from a close geodetic receiver. Structures of enhanced electron density have been observed during occurrence of scintillation and high TEC fluctuations events. Phase scintillation is characterized by means of a recently new proposed estimator, which provides a more robust information than classical phase scintillation index against data detrending effects.