Observations in equatorial anomaly region of total electron content enhancements and depletions

Abstract. A GSV 4004A GPS receiver has been operational near the crest of the equatorial anomaly at Udaipur, India for some time now. The receiver provides the line-of-sight total electron content (TEC), the phase and amplitude scintillation index, σ_φ and S₄, respectively. This paper presents the first results on the nighttime TEC depletions associated with the equatorial spread F in the Indian zone. The TEC depletions are found to be very well correlated with the increased S₄ index. A new feature of low-latitude TEC is also reported, concerning the observation of isolated and localized TEC enhancements in the nighttime low-latitude ionosphere. The TEC enhancements are not correlated with the S₄ index. The TEC enhancements have also been observed along with the TEC depletions. The TEC enhancements have been interpreted as the manifestation of the plasma density enhancements reported by Le et al. (2003).

Keywords. Ionosphere (Equatorial ionosphere; Ionospheric irregularities)