GNSS ionospheric scintillation and TEC at high latitudes: INGV monitoring and studies

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is monitoring the high latitude ionospheric irregularities causing GNSS signals corruption since 2003 when a GISTM receiver (GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor) was deployed in Ny Alesund (Svalbard). Currently, INGV manages three GISTMs at Svalbard (two in Ny Alesund, another one in Longyearbyen) and two receivers in Antarctica at Concordia and Mario Zucchelli Stations. The GISTM receivers consist of NovAtel OEM4 dual-frequency receivers with special firmware specifically able to compute in near real time the amplitude and the phase scintillation from the GPS L1 frequency signals, and the ionospheric TEC (Total Electron Content) from the GPS L1 and L2 carrier phase signals. From this ground-based network, we are able to capture the dynamics of ionospheric plasma in a wide latitudinal range, from auroral to cusp/cap regions, considering the contribution of both hemispheres, in a bi-polar framework. The data collected are structured and archived in a dedicated database: www.eswua.ingv.it. The INGV activities in the field of the observation and the investigation of the ionospheric irregularities are included in several international collaborations addressing scientific issues as well as technological applications. This paper would like to give an overview of our recent activities about polar ionospheric imaging, scintillation climatology and scintillation mitigation matured also under the umbrella of the SCAR ICESTAR community and, currently, part of the initiatives of the SCAR Action Group “GPS Weather and Space Weather Forecast”chaired by INGV.