Investigation on Zonal Width of Low-Latitude F-Layer Irregularities in the South of China Based on C/N0 Observations from BDS GEO Satellites

Abstract

Statistical analysis was carried out in this work to estimate the zonal width (ZW) of low-latitude F-layer irregularities in the South of China by utilizing the 1-Hz carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) measurements of the B1I signals of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites (i.e., C01–C04) gathered by two adjacent geodetic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. We analyzed the C/N0 measurements obtained at HKCL (22.296°N, 113.908°E) and HKQT (22.291°N, 114.213°E) sites during April 2014–April 2015. The two sites are equipped with the geodetic GNSS receiver Trimble NetR9 and are located nearly along the zonal (i.e., east-west) direction with a distance of ~31.38 km. Our statistical results showed that the occurrence rate of the events in which ZW < 24 km, 24 km ≤ ZW < 284 km, and 284 km ≤ ZW < 568 km was ~2%, ~44%, and ~54%, respectively. Our statistical results were in agreement with those of previous studies. Moreover, this investigation proved the viability of the approach, which deduces the zonal width of low-latitude F-layer irregularities by utilizing the 1-Hz C/N0 data of the B1I signals of the BDS GEO satellites gathered by two adjacent GNSS receivers.