Ionospheric monitoring at INGV has a long history, which began with the installation of one of the first ionospheric observatories in the world in 1947. In recent time, the network has strongly increased its capability in terms of global distribution of the monitoring stations as well as concerning the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructure, which allow the near-real time acquisition, the historical data preservation and the online data dissemination. The network is currently composed of several GNSS receivers for TEC and scintillation monitoring aimed at studying and monitoring the ionospheric irregularities as well as ionosondes, performing ionospheric vertical radio soundings.

NETWORK MAP



STATION LIST

HF SYSTEM - IONOSONDES

CODE AREA LOCATION INSTRUMENT STATUS ACTIVE SINCE ACTIVE UNTIL DATA OWNER HOST INSTITUTION
bbj3r SOUTH AMERICA Bahia Blanca AIS-INGV Ionosonde Active 2016-01-01 to date
gm037 MEDITERRANEAN Gibilmanna AIS-INGV Ionosonde Active 2002-11-26 to date
ml10l AFRICA Broglio Space Center AIS-INGV Ionosonde Active 2023-07-13 to date
rm041 MEDITERRANEAN Rome AIS-INGV Ionosonde Active 2004-11-25 to date
ro041 MEDITERRANEAN Rome Lowell Digisonde DPS-4 Active 1997-01-01 to date
tuj2o SOUTH AMERICA Tucuman AIS-INGV Ionosonde Active 2007-09-01 to date

GNSS SCINTILLATION

CODE AREA LOCATION INSTRUMENT STATUS ACTIVE SINCE ACTIVE UNTIL DATA OWNER HOST INSTITUTION
abu0p AFRICA Abuja Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2022-12-05 to date
btn0s ANTARCTIC Mario Zucchelli Novatel GSV4004 Closed 2006-01-18 2019-01-04
cat0p MEDITERRANEAN Pizzi Deneri Observatory Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2023-08-08 to date
cha0p MEDITERRANEAN Chania Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2022-06-21 to date
dmc0p ANTARCTIC Dome C Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2017-01-29 to date
dmc0s ANTARCTIC Dome C Novatel GSV4004 Closed 2009-11-18 2022-09-25
dmc1p ANTARCTIC Dome C Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2022-11-23 to date
dmc1s ANTARCTIC Dome C Novatel GSV4004 Closed 2010-10-31 2022-09-25
dmc2p ANTARCTIC Dome C Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2022-11-26 to date
dmc2s ANTARCTIC Dome C Novatel GSV4004 Closed 2013-11-16 2022-09-25
han0p SOUTH EAST ASIA Hanoi Septentrio PolaRxS Active 2020-09-30 to date
hel0p EUROPE Helsinki Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2021-12-16 to date
ken0p SOUTH EAST ASIA Kenting Septentrio PolaRxS Active 2023-09-19 to date
kil0n AFRICA Kilifi Novatel GPStation-6 Active 2019-05-14 to date
klu0p SOUTH EAST ASIA KLUniversity Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2022-03-17 to date
lam0p MEDITERRANEAN Lampedusa Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2019-10-16 to date
lam0s MEDITERRANEAN Lampedusa Novatel GSV4004 Closed 2011-06-22 2018-11-07
lyb0p ARCTIC Longyearbyen Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2019-01-13 to date
lyb0s ARCTIC Longyearbyen Novatel GSV4004 Closed 2010-01-01 2017-10-07
mal0p AFRICA Broglio Space Center Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2022-04-05 to date
mzs0p ANTARCTIC Mario Zucchelli Septentrio PolaRxS Active 2016-11-29 to date
nai0p AFRICA Nairobi Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2023-10-11 to date
nic0p MEDITERRANEAN Nicosia Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2020-09-29 to date
nya0p ARCTIC Ny Alesund Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2015-11-09 to date
nya0s ARCTIC Ny Alesund Novatel GSV4004 Closed 2003-09-01 2020-09-17
nya1p ARCTIC Ny Alesund Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2020-01-02 to date
nya1s ARCTIC Ny Alesund Novatel GSV4004 Closed 2010-01-01 2020-09-17
sab0p CENTRAL AMERICA Saba Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2022-05-03 to date
san0p ANTARCTIC SANAE IV Septentrio PolaRxS Active 2015-12-27 to date
sao0p SOUTH AMERICA SaoPaolo Septentrio PolaRxS Active 2017-05-31 to date
seu0p CENTRAL AMERICA St. Eustatius Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2022-05-06 to date
sod0p EUROPE Sodankyla Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2023-04-18 to date
suo0p EUROPE Suomussalmi Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2023-10-12 to date
thu0p ARCTIC Thule Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2021-04-29 to date
tuc0p SOUTH AMERICA Tucuman Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2021-12-09 to date
ush0p SOUTH AMERICA Ushuaia Septentrio PolaRx5S Active 2021-12-02 to date

NETWORK INSTRUMENTS

ADVANCED IONOSPHERIC SOUNDER (AIS) 

AIS rack portatile1


AIS-INGV (Advanced Ionospheric Sounder) is an HF band radar designed and built at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia to study and monitor ionospheric dynamics through vertical ionospheric probing. AIS-INGV responds to the need to have a simple and efficient tool to investigate the Earth's ionosphere. It was designed using the most advanced radar techniques, with the result of reducing RF power, weight and dimensions while maintaining a highly reliable measurement capability even in noisy environment. The instrument is completed by the Autoscala software which analyzes the ionogram deriving the main ionospheric characteristics along with the density profile and TEC. The instrument built in various sample is installed in the following ionospheric observatories:

-Rome and Gibilmanna (Italy)
-Mario Zucchelli station (Antarctica)
-San Miguel de Tucuman (Argentina)
-Bahia Blanca (Argentina)
-Juan Carlos I, Spanish base at Livingstone Island (Antarctica)

DIGISONDE PORTABLE SOUNDER (DPS) 

digisonde photo large1


The DPS (Digisonde TM Portable Sounder) produce by of Massachusetts Lowell’s Center for Atmospheric Research (UMLCAR) is an ionosonde for probing the terrestrial ionosphere through the vertical and oblique sounding techniques. It exploits the modern radar techniques, such as pulse phase coding, digital pulse compression and Doppler integration, to obtain a small, compact low power system to monitor and study the ionospheric dynamics. Based on a multiple antennas and multiple receivers arrangements it is able to perform interferometric analysis of the received signal to support the basic vertical sounding with ordinary and extraordinary rays recognition, Doppler measurements and sky map facilities. The system is completed by Artist software able to scale ionograms automatically providing ionospheric parameters, density profile and TEC measurements.


SEPTENTRIO PolaRxS / PolaRx5S (SEP)

polar rxs  polar rx5s

 The PolaRxS and the newest PolaRx5S are multi-frequency multi-constellation receiver able to track GPS L1CA, L1P, L2C, L2P, L5; GLONASS L1CA, L2CA; Galileo E1, E5a, E5b, E5AltBoc; COMPASS B1, B2; SBAS L1. They are equipped with a low-noise OCXO oscillator and stores, for every satellite in view and for every available frequency, the raw phase (in cycles) and post-correlation I and Q samples acquired at a sampling rate of 50/100 Hz. They are able to provide, with a 1-minute resolution, the amplitude (S4) and phase (sF) scintillation indices, together with the Total Electron Content (TEC) and its rate of change (ROT).


NOVATEL GPSTATION 6 (NMC)

novatel1

NovAtel’s GPStation-6 technology combines a rugged enclosure with an ultra-low phase noise OCXO and advanced OEM628 receiver, providing a modernized GNSS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor (GISTM) receiver. With the 120-channel multi-constellation, multi-frequency OEM628 measurement engine at its core, the GPStation-6 provides advanced GISTM algorithms for Ionospheric Scintillation Monitoring (ISM) and Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements for all tracked signals. Depending on the GPStation-6 model, ISM and TEC measurements are output for a combination of the following GNSS constellations and signal types: GPS L1-C/A, L2-P(Y), L2C, L5; GLONASS L1, L2; Galileo E1, E5a, E5b, AltBOC; SBAS L1, L5; COMPASS; QZSS

NOVATEL GSV4004A / GSV4004B (NGP) 

GSV4004A and GSV4004B

The GSV4004A or the following GSV4004B are the receivers that constitute the “GPS IONOSPHERIC SCINTILLATION & TEC MONITOR (GISTM)” The primary purpose of the GISTM is to collect ionospheric scintillation and TEC data for all visible GPS satellites (up to 10), and up to 3 SBAS-GEO satellites, and output data logs, called “ISMR”. The GISTM’s data logging operation can be controlled to collect the ISMR data logs that are generated every minute. Raw 50-Hz phase and amplitude data logs are also available as GISTM output.