Observation of GPS ionospheric scintillation at UKM, Malaysia

Ionospheric scintillation can cause serious effects on communication systems, therefore the study of ionospheric scintillation is very crucial especially in the equatorial region where scintillation activity is maximum. The paper presents the month-to-month variations of amplitude and phase scintillations over Malaysia for a period of nine months from January to September 2010. The scintillation parameters are measured by the GPS ionospheric scintillation and TEC monitor (GISTM) using a dual-frequency GPS receiver at UKM, Malaysia (2.55°N, 101.46°E). The observations during the solar minimum show daytime amplitude scintillations were observed in the months of January and February with maximum value of S4 index between 0.2 and 0.3, from 10:00-14:00 LT, while phase scintillations were rarely observed. Nighttime amplitude scintillations were observed in March and August with maximum value of S4 index in the range of 0.2-0.4 at 22:00-24:00 LT and usually occurred with phase scintillations. It was found that amplitude scintillations rarely occurred at daytime but occurred frequently during nighttime.