High-Latitude Measurements of Ionospheric Scintillation Using the NSTB

Recent analysis of GPS data collected by the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) National Satellite Test Bed (NSTB) indicates that several occurrences of ionospheric scintillation were observed over Alaska on August 6 and 27, 1998. These events coincided with magnetic storms documented by the National Geophysical Data Center. During this period, a specialized L1 GPS receiver designed to monitor scintillation was colocated with the NSTB reference station at Fairbanks, Alaska. This configuration provides data from two different types of receivers: codeless dual-frequency reference measurements (survey grade) and high-bandwidth scintillation monitoring. The primary goal of this investigation was to determine the effect of scintillation on both single- and dual-frequency users in the auroral zone. The work included estimating the correlation between measured scintillation events and GPS receiver performance. Additionally, the worst-case spatial extent of the scintillation phenomenon was estimated by analyzing the distribution of highly active ionospheric pierce points at the F-layer (≅ 350 km altitude).