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The ionosphere is the largest natural source of error for trans-ionospheric signals and existing geomagnetic or solar indices can only provide global and indirect information. Therefore, a temporally and spatially resolved ionospheric disturbance index is needed that objectively describes the current level of disturbance to the system and services for operators.

We have developed a prototype ionospheric disturbance index (DIX-SG) that is able to describe the ionospheric disturbance level with high spatial and temporal resolution. The index is based on measurements from 1Hz real time GNSS networks and provides a clear picture about global and regional ionospheric disturbances and their strength based on a simple but powerful numerical approach. As a real-time indicator that objectively and reliably describes the extent and strength of ionospheric disturbances, the DIX-SG could form an essential basis for future global space weather services.

The DIX-SG measurements are mapped into a regular grid (1°x1° lat/lon). Each grid cell presents the mean of the DIX-SG measurements located in this cell.

Product Specification

 

External parties	German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy
Data providers	IGS, EUREF, ASI, Greenland network of the Technical University of Denmark, UNAVCO
Input data	GPS dual-frequency measurements
Input sampling rates	1s
Reliability of data source	Data is preprocessed by DLR including e.g. cycle slip detection
Region of sensors	Global
Single-layer shell height	400 km
Spatial resolution	1° x 1° latitude-longitude-bins
Boundaries of grid	global
Temporal resolution	1 min
Time information	UTC Time
Reference coordinate system	ECEF coordinate system with WGS84 reference ellipsoid
Algorithms	The DIXSG algorithm is published: https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2018008 V. Wilken et al. (2018) An ionospheric index suitable for estimating the degree of ionospheric perturbations, J. Space Weather Space Clim. 8 A19
File format	JSON: this file format includes metadata and data