Space weather and high-latitude effects: an Academy perspective

There is global concern regarding the underlying causes and effects of space weather driven high-latitude Global Positioning System (GPS) signal scintillations. Through the gaze of the 26 August 2018 geomagnetic storm, this research focuses on both determining the underlying physical mechanisms causing these scintillations and developing a metric to represent their operational impact. During this event three primary sensors at Poker Flat Research Range collected data on the local geomagnetic conditions and their impacts. Connected Autonomous Space Environment Sensors (CASES) provide 100-Hz sampled GPS receiver data through which a method is being devised to separate the effects of satellite geometry from those of space weather induced scintillations. Simultaneously, 12 s multi-spectral Digital All Sky Imagery data, and 15 s Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar from a novel GPS five-beam mode are being evaluated to determine local plasma irregularity flow directions and rates. Cross-correlation methods in this study compare electron densities reported along each of five PFISR beams to detect when and where plasma structure patterns reoccur. Initial results indicate that this analysis technique can successfully be applied across data spanning four Arctic winters.