Ionospheric scintillation anomalies associated with the 2021 La Palma volcanic eruption detected with Gnss-R and Gnss-Ro observations

Abstract

Recent studies have shown possible signatures or precursors of seismic activity in the ionosphere. Our group is focusing on ionospheric scintillation associated with seismic activity. By the time this study was conducted, the sudden volcanic eruption in the Spanish La Palma island, starting on September 19th, opened a possibility to study the impact of this exceptional, well time-defined seismic event on the iono-sphere and the radio-wave propagation through it. A complete study measuring scintillation on GNSS signals and its correlation to seismic activity is presented in this extended abstract. In particular, scintillation data from two ground stations in the Canary Islands, NASA CYGNSS GNSS-Reflectometry and Spire GNSS Radio-Occultation measurements have been used. A linear correlation analysis has been conducted between S4, and the earthquakes generated energy in 6 h intervals. Small, and slightly positive regression coefficients have been found with almost all methods. © 2022 IEEE.