A Roadmap for a New Ionospheric Scintillation Monitoring Capability via the NOAA GOES Data Collection System

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) Data Collection System (DCS) has provided a space-based relay for in-situ environmental data since the first GOES spacecraft, GOES-1 in 1975. Over 32,000 active GOES Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) across the western hemisphere transmit environmental sensor data, such as hydrometeorological data, through Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio transmissions aimed at the GOES East and West Spacecraft, located at 75.2W and 137W in geostationary orbit. The spacecraft then relay the signal via a bent-pipe transponder circuit in the L-Band to receivers on the ground. Recently, it was determined that DCP UHF transmissions could provide utility in monitoring ionospheric amplitude scintillation, taking advantage of the both geographically large reception area of GOES DCS and the dense distribution of transmitter sources across North, Central and South America. As the GOES UHF transmissions are exposed to the effects of ionospheric amplitude scintillation, the GOES DCS ground system measures the associated signal strength, which when plotted over time illustrates the effects of scintillation. By identifying the ionospheric pierce points of each transmission and mapping the signal strength spatially and temporally, scintillation effects products can be derived which allow for near-real time, continuous monitoring of ionospheric amplitude scintillation across a large span of the western hemisphere.

This presentation outlines the proposed plans for harnessing the ionospheric monitoring capability of GOES DCS UHF signals, provides an update on recent testing performed to characterize the system’s sensitivity, and provides examples of data collected during the Gannon storm across multiple GOES DCS DCP locations. The roadmap for producing actionable products from GOES DCS UHF signal measurements has two primary stages, ionospheric scintillation effects visualization and determination of true ionospheric amplitude scintillation (S4). The first stage, creating an ionospheric scintillation effects visualization takes advantage of existing DCS data – average transmission signal reports and transmission error statistics – and relates it to ionospheric pierce points to produce a visualization tool showing regional disturbances in DCS UHF signals. This product is immediately of use to DCS users, in addition to providing a proxy for other UHF users in the affected areas. The second stage, producing a true S4 product from the DCS observations, requires development of new algorithms to account for the short duration of DCS transmissions (typically, less than 10 seconds) by combining multiple temporally grouped transmissions and through the use of DCS reference transmitters co-located at existing ionospheric monitoring sites. The Boston College Institute for Scientific Research (ISR) Space Weather Research and Technology Applications (SPARTA) Space Weather Center of Excellence is leading the efforts on the development of this algorithm. If the GOES DCS UHF scintillation monitoring plans are successful, the resulting dataset will provide unique insights into ionospheric scintillation, provide contributions to mid-latitude modeling efforts, and provide regionalized near-real time products for visualizing the impacts of space weather on radio communications.