Precise point positioning performance in the presence of the 28 October 2003 sudden increase in total electron content

Abstract

Intense disturbances in the ionosphere may produce perturbations in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) radio signals that in the most severe cases produce receiver tracking problems, which in turn impact on GNSS positioning accuracy. In this paper we present a case study related to the sudden increase in total electron content (SITEC) induced by the X17.2 solar flare that occurred on 28 October 2003. This is the largest SITEC ever recorded by means of the rate of change of total electron content. A solar radio burst (SRB) occurred in the same period which caused GNSS signal fading and in some cases complete signal loss. Although SITEC contribution to the signal noise cannot be separated from that of SRB, in this paper we show that accuracy degradation may happen in kinematic precise point positioning (PPP) in several stations of the sunlit hemisphere when 30 s sampling rate data are analyzed. The observed errors in the position are the result of the difficulties that cycle slip (CS) detection strategies have to deal with the observables that have been affected by the SITEC.