REPORT COVER

Summary of Ionospheric Scintillation in

Indonesia

Industry & University Joint Research Collaboration

Universitas Gadjah Mada
Komatsu Marketing & Support Indonesia

JUNE

2017
 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Ionospheric Scintillation

Ionospheric Scintillation, which causes significant effects on satellite signals for

communication and navigation, often takes place in equatorial region. Ionospheric scintillation is
a rapid fluctuation of radiofrequency signal phase and/or amplitude, generated as signal passes
through the ionosphere (Ekawati, 2011). Ionospheric irregularities associated with the plasma
bubble are a normal occurrence over equatorial and low-latitude regions. The plasma bubble is
generated in the bottom-side of the F region at the magnetic equator after sunset through the
RayleighTaylor (RT) plasma instability mechanism.

Figure 1. Ionospheric scintillation (www.nasa.gov)

5
Previous studies have investigated the morphological characteristics of the plasma bubble
(Abadi et al, 2013) and found that the plasma bubble extends from the magnetic equator to, or
beyond, the crest of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). Tsunoda (1985) resolved that

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seasonal and longitudinal occurrences of the plasma bubble are most frequent when the solar
terminator is most closely aligned with the geomagnetic meridian. Maruyama and Matuura
(1984) in Abadi et al (2013) reported a significant occurrence of the plasma bubble associated
with low to high solar activity in the equatorial region during equinoctial months in the Asian
sector (see also Burke et al., 2004). Based on GISM Chart (Global Ionosphere Scintillation
Model), scintillation activity indicated by S4. Strong scintillation is generally considered to occur
when S4 is greater than 0.5 (0.5 < S4 index 1) and is associated with strong scattering of the
signal in the ionosphere.

1.2. Solar Maximum and Its Effect to Ionosphere

Solar maximum is a phenomena where the sun enters a period of increased activity. It is
usually happened every 11 years (see Figure 2). During this period, the far ultraviolet (FUV)
portion of the solar spectrum intensifies, making the ionosphere denser and thicker. Frequent
solar flares eject up to 10 billion tons of plasma at speeds approaching 1,000 miles per second.
Flare-generated, high-energy protons and x-rays reach the earth nearly instantly. Flare-generated,
high-energy electrons will produce intense broadband bursts of radio waves from HF to above
the L-band. Called the sunspot cycle, this period of activity is the result of a solar dynamo in
which electric currents and magnetic fields are built up in the outer layer of the sun and then
destroyed in energetic outbursts.
The last sunspot maximum was in May 2013 and was a relatively weak maximum in
terms of sunspot count. However, many of the most intense solar outbursts have occurred during
below-average solar cycles. Solar maximum can produce magnetic storms, ionospheric storms,
and disruptions to radio signals, including the Global Positioning System and other GNSS
systems. In some cases, solar radio bursts will directly interfere with GNSS signals; in other
cases, ionospheric and magnetic storms will disrupt radio signals from satellites. For most users
of GPS receivers, space weather and scintillation will be at most a minor annoyance. However,
for users who depends on GPS signals to be truly continuously available with low dilution of
precision, few or no cycle slips, and no loss of tracking, then scintillation is an issue. For
5 that produce sub-decimeter accuracy are
example carrier phase differential techniques
particularly vulnerable. This is especially true in the equatorial area, yet scintillation at GPS
frequencies can happen anywhere on earth.

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 Figure 2. Sunspot cycle 24 number prediction (www.nasa.gov)

1.3. Ionosphereric Scintilation during Equinox

Ionospheric scintillation has been prolonged investigated to have seasonal behaviour. An

equinox is the moment in which the plane of Earth's equator passes through the center of the
Sun's disk, which occurs twice each year, around March and September. During this period, the
occurence of ionospheric scintillations are relatively higher compare to the other 10 months,
especially in the equiatorial area. At the equinox the Sun's ecliptic longitude is zero. Its latitude
will not be exactly zero since the Earth is not exactly in the plane of the ecliptic. Its declination
will not be exactly zero either. The modern definition of equinox is the instants when the Sun's
apparent geocentric longitude is 0 (northward equinox) or 180 (southward equinox).

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 Figure 3. The equinox diagram

IONOSPHERIC SCINTILLATION IN
2
INDONESIA

2.1. Result from Previous Research

A research conducted by LAPAN using Silicon Valleyss GPS Ionospheric Scintillation

and TEC Monitor (GISTM) system Model GSV4004B has been done to monitor Ionospheric
Scintillation over Pontianak (0.2oN 109.20oE, geomagnetic latitude is 6.09oN) and Bandung
(6.5oS 107.30E, geomagnetic latitude is 16.50S) as shown in Figure 4. Equatorial scintillation
happens when small-scale irregularities in the F region of the ionosphere affect the radio-
frequency signals. Influenced by the pressure gradients and gravity, the equatorial plasma present
in the F2 layers is forced downward along the magnetic field lines. This process creates a belt of
enhanced electron density from 15o to 20o on both sides of the geomagnetic equator as illustrated
in Figure 5 (a). This particular region where the electron density in enhanced is referred to as the
Equatorial Anomaly. The process by which they are created is known as the Fountain Effect.
This process is illustrated in Figure 5 (b), where the Equatorial Fountain is indicated by the ExB
drift, which drives the plasma upward. This plasma is the diffused along B field under the
influence of gravity, g, and pressure gradients p. This process happens in the daylight hemisphere
(Ekawati, 2011).

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 Figure 4. Location of GISTM over Pontianak and Bandung, LAPAN, Indonesia
(Ekawati 2011)

Figure 5. (a) Scintillation map showing the frequency of disturbances at solar maximum.
Scintillation is most intense and most frequent in two bands surrounding the magnetic equator,
up to 100 days/year. (b) Equatorial fountain that gives rise the equatorial anomaly
(Ekawati 2011)

Various scale sizes of irregularity exist inside the plasma bubble, causing a scintillation
radio signal from VHF up to the C band. Basu et al. (1978) investigated plasma depletion
irregularities associated with the plasma bubble and found several spatial scale sizes. Meter-scale
irregularities cause VHF backscatter, and hundred-meters- to kilometers-scale irregularities cause
scintillation on the UHF band. Recently, de Paula el al. (2010) observed the coexistence of both
kilometers and hundred meter scales in the underlying plasma bubble and also observed that the
drifting of hundred-meter scales at two conjugate sites were comparable (Abadi et al 2013)
Plasma bubbles are usually accompanied by field-aligned irregularities (FAIs) with
various spatial scales. FAIs on the scale of a few meters cause coherent VHF radar backscatter
(e.g., Woodman and LaHoz, 1976; Fukao et al., 2004), and those on a scale of a few hundred
meter induce ionospheric scintillations when a Global Positioning System (GPS) radio wave
penetrates into the horizontally moving FAI region (Beach and Kintner, 1999). Basu et al. (1983)
observed 257-MHz and 1.54-GHz scintillations associated with plasma depletions that were
detected with an in situ probe. Using the 47-MHz
5 EAR radar and a 630-nm all-sky imager at
Kototabang, Otsuka et al. (2004) found that 3.2-m scale FAIs were confined within plasma
bubbles. These observations indicate a GPS scintillation technique to be very useful to monitor

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continuously plasma bubble occurrences throughout day, season and year. GPS scintillations are
caused by FAIs with a spatial scale of about 350 m (first Fresnel size) within and around bubbles
(Ogawa et al, 2009).

Figure 6. Example of daily variations of black body temperature averaged over 2oS-2oN
and 0000-2400 UT, and GPS scintillation index S4 during March 1 (day 60)-April 30 (day 120),
2003 in Kototabang, Indonesia (Ogawa et al 2009)

In Pontianak and Bandung, research conducted by Ekawati (2011) analyzed the

comparison of the spatial distribution of ionospheric scintillation in both cities. Data was
obtained from GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor (GISTM) GSV4004B.
Percentage of strong scintillation occurrence over Pontianak and Bandung on March-April
compared with occurrence in September-October. Strong scintillations (0.5 < S4 index 1) over
Pontianak and Bandung in 2010 were compared to find out the spatial distribution of ionospheric
scintillation. Figure 7 shows the result of the research.

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 (a) (b)
Figure 7. (a) Occurrence of Strong Scintillation over Pontianak during 2010
(b) Ionospheric scintillation comparison between March-April and September-October

(a) (b)
Figure 8. (a) Occurrence of Strong Scintillation over Bandung during 2010
(b) Ionospheric scintillation comparison between March-April and September-October

Based on the Figure 7 and 8 the occurrence rate of strong scintillations in both of station
(Pontianak and Bandung) was high on March-April and on September-October. The scintillation
occurrence in March-April is higher than in September- October. It is mean that there are
asymmetry between scintillation occurrence on March-April and September-October. The
occurrence of scintillation over Pontianak was5 higher than Bandung, while on March and
September, the occurrence of scintillation over Bandung is higher than in Pontianak. Other result
shows there was anomaly of scintillation occurrence at August 16, 2010 related to two sunspot

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solar flare (C4-class) at August 14, 2010. The largest scintillation in Pontianak from March to
April occurred around DOY 110 of 0.6 whereas in September it occurred in DOY 278 of 0.5. For
the largest scintillation in Bandung in March occurred in DOY82 of 1.2 whereas in September to
October the highest scintillation of 0.5.
Research on ionospheric scintillations and zonal irregularity drifts in Indonesia in the
Kototabang city was also conducted by Otsuka et al (2006). The observation was done using
three single-frequency GPS receivers at the Equatorial Atmosphere Radar (EAR) site at
Kototabang, West Sumatra, Indonesia since January 2003.

Figure 9. Local time and daily variations of scintillation index (S4) obtained at
Kototabang in 2003 and 2004 (Otsuka et al 2006)

Figure 9 shows GPS scintillation index data (S4) from 2003 to 2004. From the
observation it can be seen that scintillation on GPS occurred at 20.00 s.d 01.00 local time. The
occurrence rate for scintillations between 20.00 01.00 LT is higher in March-April (15.1 % and
13. % for 2003 and 2004, respectively) than in September-October (7.1% and 6.7% for 2003 and
2004, respectively). Further research was conducted by Ogawa et al (2009) on Kototabang to
evaluate the scintillation characteristics in Kototabang city during January 2003June 2007
5
(during the declining phase of 11-year solar cycle). Ogawa et. al create a wavelet analysis of

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scintillation, mesospheric/lower thermospheric wind and black body temperature data to
investigate modulations of these parameters due to long-period (2 days) atmospheric waves.
Figure 10 shows results index of GPS scintillation (S 4) from 2003 to 2007 from Ogawa
et. al. Results from observations for period of 2003 to 2004 are almost identical with previous
research, but for period 2005 to 2006 shows the index of GPS scintillation data decreased from
the previous year.

Figure 10. Day-local time variations in GPS scintillation index S4 at Kototabang during
January 2003 June 2007 (Ogawa et al 2009)

In 2013, Asnawi, et al. (2015) conducted ionospheric studies in Bandung, Pontianak,

Kototabang, Manado and Kupang (Figure 11). Data of this research obtained from GPS
Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor (GISTM) during 2013. Figure 12 shows the result of
research (Asnawi, et al, 2015).

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Figure 11. The location of GISTM in Indonesia and Its IPP (Ionosphere Pierce Position) track
lines of 24 hours observation and elevation above 40 (Asnawi et al, 2015)

Figure 12. Spatial distribution occurrence of scintillation from S4 parameter start from
5 UT (Asnawi, et al, 2015)
14:00 UT (21.00 LT) until 00.00

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 Figure 13. Occurrence of high scintillation from S4 parameter on April 2013 From 10:00
to 23:00 UT (Asnawi, et al, 2015)
Figure 12 shows spatial distribution index of GPS scintillation (S4) in 2013. It shows that
there is an indication that high scintillation moves toward west direction. This is due to the
movement of the sunset which moves towards the west. This is corroborated by the results in
Figure 13 where the occurrence of high scintillation (S4> 0.5) on April 3rd for three observation
sites that is Manado, Pontianak and Kototabang at the same time from 10:00 UT to 23:00 UT or
around 17:00 to 06:00 at local time in Indonesia. The high scintillation starts from Manado,
around 11:30 UT, then followed by occurrence in Pontianak at 12:30 UT and Kototabang.

2.2. Summary of Previous Research

Research of ionospheric scintillation in Indonesia has been done 5 different locations in

Indonesia, Bandung (71'0.23"S, 10736'9.51"E), Pontianak, Kototabang (023'34.94"S,
10016'3.48"E), Manado (122'28.14"N, 12451'59.27"E) and Kupang (-10 9' 36"S, 123 39'
35.9994"E), as shown in Figure 4. Most research was conducted using GISM or GISTM receiver
from various manufacturer. Figure 14 shows the occurence of ionospheric scintillations in the
last 8 years, from 2006 until the peak of sun maximum in 2013.

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 Occurence

Year

Figure 14. Occurrence of high scintillation in the last 8 years (Sari et al, 2016)

The occurence of scintillation is highly correlated with the sun activity. This can be seen
by comparing Figure 14 with Figure 15. Sun activity can be denoted by the flux 10.7. The
occurence of scintillation in 2008 and 2009 was only 33% dan 28% respectively. This is due to
the fact that the solar activity of that year belongs to the minimum phase of the sun. The
occurrence of ionospheric synthesis began to increase in 2011 to 2013 with a percentage ranging
from 98% in the month of the equinox (March-April and September-October). Based on all of
the research in the abovementioned period, scintillations appeared after the sunset. Table 1 shows
the occurence of scintillations based on the time of occurence. During the sun maximum, the
peak of the occurence last for approximately one hour around 21.00 (Figure 16).

10.7 Flux

Year

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 Figure 15. The 10.7 Flux in the last 8 years (Sari et al, 2016)

Table 1. The occurence of scintillations based on the time of occurence

Year Time of Occurence

2006 19:00 23:00
2007 18:30 05:30
2008 19:00 05:30
2009 04:00 06:00
2010 18:30 00:00
2011 18:30 23:30
2012 19:00 00:00
2013 19:00 00:00

Beside of the occurence, scintillations magnitude tends to be significantly higher during

the equinoxes in every year of observation. The summary of S4 index in the last 10 years is
presented in Table 2.

Month

Local Time

Figure 16. The peak of scintillation occurence during the sun maximum in 2013

Table 2. Strong S4 index in the last 11 years in Indonesia

Year S4 Index Location 5Researcher Note

2003 0.8<S4<1.0 Kototabang Ogawa et al, Otsuka et al Ogawa et al:
2004 0.7<S4<0.9 Kototabang Ogawa et al Continous observation
2005 0.5<S4<0.7 Kototabang Ogawa et al starting after the solar

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2006 0.5<S4<0.7 Kototabang Ogawa et al, Sari et al maximum in 2002 until
2007 S4<0.6 Kototabang Ogawa et al, Sari et al 2007. Receiver problem
appeared on 2006 and
2007. Data ended at mid
2007.
2008 S4>0.5 Kototabang Sari et al Sari et al summarize the
2009 S4>0.5 Kototabang Sari et al occurrence of S4<0.5 from
2006 until 2013
2010 0.6<S4<1.0 Pontianak, Ekawati et al (LAPAN), Scintillation in March was
Bandung Sari et al higher than in September
on bandung and Pontianak
2011 S4>0.5 Kototabang Sari et al Sari et al study the relation
2012 S4>0.5 Kototabang Sari et al between occurrence and
sun 10.7 flux
2013 0.5<S4<0.8 Pontianak, Asnawi et al (LAPAN), Using 5 different GISTM
Bandung, Sari et al receivers on 5 different
Kototabang, locations. Strong
Manado, scintillation happened in
Kupang especially in Kototabang

CONCLUSION
3

From the summary of research on the previous chapter it can be concluded that:
1. Strong scintillations is mainly influenced by the solar activity. Data from Ogawa et. al
shows that strong scintillations appeared in 2003-2004, after solar maximum 2002.
Further research by Ogawa et. al. Shows that the magnitude of S4 is highly correlated
with the temperature of black body used in the experiment.
2. Before the solar maximum 2013, strong scintillations recorded in 2010 by Ekawati et.
al. The scintillations on March was higher than on September.
3. Scintillations happened mostly at 19.00 until 02.00 at local time in Indonesia. Various
research result shows that the peak of the scintillation is at 21.00-22.00.
4. Considering all the abovementioned conclusions, the possibility of using RTK GPS
5 The use of iCM for 24 hours of work need
for iCM in Indoensia is clearly potential.
to be anticipated in terms of GNSS 3D positioning where scintillations might appears.

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 4 REFERENCES

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