AN ANALYSIS OF THE TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT OVER AN

MOSERT, M., M. GENDE , C. BRUNINI AND R.G. EZQUER

Praga Republica Checa

Workshop; IRI/Cost296 Workshop; 2007

The objective of this paper is to analyze the behavior of the vertical electron content obtained from GPS signals (GPSTEC)  during the high solar activity years: 2000 (Rz=117) and 2001 (Rz=111) at the station O´Higgins (63.3°S, 302.5°E geographic; 49° S magnetic ) located in the Argentine Antarctic Sector. The vertical electron content is derived from oblique GPS signals using La Plata Ionospheric Model, LPIM. The diurnal and seasonal variations of the GPSTEC values are analyzed. The daily peak is observed around the local noon in winter, fall and spring. In summer the maximum values are observed in the morning hours. This summer behaviour is similar to that observed in foF2 analyzing data from the Antarctic station San Martin (68.1°S; 293.0°E geographic; 53° S magnetic). The winter anomaly is not observed and the semi-annual anomaly is generally   presented during daytime. An analysis of the variability is also done using the variability indexes Cup =upper quartile/median, Clo=lower quartile/median, and V%= (standard deviation/mean) x100.