Investigation of the Impact of Solar Storms on the Global Positioning System Receivers at High Latitudes

R.J. Morton

Abstract:	Solar storms are natural phenomena that can disturb the Earth’s atmosphere and interfere with radio signals traveling from the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to receivers on the surface of the Earth. Because of the widespread use of GPS, it is important to know the extent of the impact of solar storms on GPS, so that we can be better prepared for these inevitable natural events. In this project, GPS stations distributed at high latitude areas were utilized to obtain raw GPS measurements during solar storms. Over 350MB of data were selected, downloaded, and then submitted to Canadian Natural Resources, a Canadian Government sponsored service, for online processing to generate each station’s precise coordinates. During a solar storm, solar and geomagnetic disturbances distort GPS signals propagating through the Earth’s atmosphere. The distorted signals will introduce errors in the computed GPS station coordinates. By analyzing the errors in the station coordinate solutions, we can establish quantitative relationships between the intensity of a solar storm, the geographic location of receivers, and the level of impact of the solar storm on GPS. Based on data recorded during 3 solar storms from over 50 GPS stations in northern and southern hemisphere high latitude areas, this paper demonstrates that the number of rejected receiver measurements and the number of rejected residuals during precise position calculations have an excellent potential for serving as useful indicators of GPS stress caused by the impact of solar storms. Furthermore, these indicators can also be used to monitor the level and intensity of solar storms at high latitudes.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2014 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 27 - 29, 2014 Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, California
Pages:	700 - 708
Cite this article:	Morton, R.J., "Investigation of the Impact of Solar Storms on the Global Positioning System Receivers at High Latitudes," Proceedings of the 2014 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, California, January 2014, pp. 700-708.
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