VARIATIONS OF THE TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT OBTAINED BY DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES AT MIDDLE LATITUDE STATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN REGION

M. MOSERT, C. BRUNINI, M. GENDE , E.GULARTE, D. BURESOVA, D. ALTADILL, B. DE LA MORENA, M. CABRERA

San Miguel de Tucumán

Otro; XXVI Reunión Científica de la Asociación Argentina de Geofísicos y Geodesias; 2012

Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

Our paper presents an analysis of the variations of the total electron content (TEC) using data from three middle latitude stations in the European region: Ebro (40.8°N, 0.49°E), El Arenosillo (37.1N; 353.3E) and Pruhonice (50.0° N; 15.0°E). The TEC measurements have been derived from GPS satellite signals (VTEC) and from Digisondes (ITEC). The differences between both estimations (that can be considered as a measure of the plasmaspheric contribution) have been analyzed. Comparisons between observations and IRI predictions (IRITEC) are also done. The diurnal variations of the three TEC estimations are quite similar. The VTEC values are larger than the ITEC values in the four seasons and two levels of solar activity. The plasmaspheric contribution is: greater during nighttime than during daytime in all seasons and stations, it is generally larger during the winter months than during the summer months, it is higher during low solar activity than during high solar activity and it decreases with increasing latitude. This study shows that it is possible to estimate the plasmaspheric electron content in places where ionospheric soundings are carried out simultaneously with GPS measurements.