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Satellite‐Beacon Ionospheric‐Scintillation Global Model of the Upper Atmosphere (SIGMA) III: Scintillation Simulation Using A Physics‐Based Plasma Model
Author(s) -
Deshpande Kshitija Bharat,
Zettergren Matthew David
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl082576
Subject(s) - scintillation , ionosphere , interplanetary scintillation , physics , atmosphere (unit) , gnss applications , satellite , geophysics , computational physics , meteorology , astronomy , plasma , solar wind , optics , detector , coronal mass ejection , quantum mechanics
Electromagnetic signals including Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals often experience fluctuations due to ionospheric density structures termed as scintillation. Physical processes contributing to these structures in polar cap regions likely include gradient‐drift instability. GNSS scintillations are frequently observed at high latitudes and are potentially useful diagnostics of how energy from the transient forcing in the cusp or polar cap region cascades, via instabilities, to small scales. This work interfaces a physics‐based plasma model (Geospace Environment Model of Ion‐Neutral Interactions) to a radio wave propagation model (Satellite‐beacon Ionospheric‐scintillation Global Model of the upper Atmosphere) to explore this cascade. In this work, Geospace Environment Model of Ion‐Neutral Interactions‐Satellite‐beacon Ionospheric‐scintillation Global Model of the upper Atmosphere is used to simulate signal propagation through gradient‐drift instability over Resolute Bay for comparison with GNSS observations during a geomagnetic storm presented earlier in this series of papers. Our spectral and multiscale analyses show close agreement for simulated and observed data, suggesting the use of our physics‐based platform for understanding and predicting the effects of ionospheric instabilities on navigation and communication.