Impacts of Intense Geomagnetic Storms on NavIC / IRNSS System

TLDR: In this paper, the authors examined the total electron content (TEC) of navigation with the Indian Constellation (NavIC)/ Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) under the influence of an intense geomagnetic storm occurred on 8 September, 2017, in the low latitudes of the Indian re- gion.

Abstract: The Total Electron Content (TEC) of Navigation with the Indian Constellation (NavIC)/ Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) was examined under the influence of an intense geomagnetic storm occurred on 8 September, 2017, in the low latitudes of the Indian re- gion. One week (3 September, 2017 to 9 September, 2017) data from five stations located in the equatorial region and in the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) area in India are collected from Accord NavIC/IRNSS dual-frequency (L5 and S-band) receivers for the investi- gation. The diurnal TEC comparison between IRI-2007 empirical model and NavIC/IRNSS dual frequency model is done. Through a com- parative study, of TEC at the five locations, we clearly observed geomagnetic storms using dual-frequency NavIC/IRNSS receivers, while the diurnal TEC behavior of the IRI-2017 model was the same on all observation days. On the intense stormy day, we observed an increase of about 19 TECU for the area near the equator and decrease of about 20 TECU in the EIA region compared to other observed quiet days. As a result, positive correlation between TEC and storm occurrence were found in the equatorial region, while a negative one in EIA re- gion. In order to support dramatic change in TEC during intense geomagnetic storm, geomagnetic indices and solar wind/IMF parameters maps are added. The results have been further validated using TEC map from IGS data and thermosphere O/N2 ratio map from Global UV Imager (GUVI).