Eye on the Ionosphere: The Spatial Variability of Ionospheric Range Delay

The ionospheric range delay is highly variable both in space and in time. The ionospheric correlation distance is defined as the distance over which a measurement of the difference from monthly mean ionospheric range delay at one location can be used to determine the difference from mean conditions at a second location. The percentage improvement required is dependent upon the actual correlation coefficient, which must be relatively large to produce a significant improvement over differences from average conditions at two stations. Results of studies of the correlation distance show that, in order to obtain even a 28% improvement over monthly median conditions, the measurement location must be within approximately 3,000 km in longitude or 1,800 km in latitude from the location where the update from monthly mean conditions is required, at least in the mid-latitude region. Another study showed that, in order to be able to determine an improvement of 1 m in ionospheric range delay from average ionospheric conditions at a location remote from where the actual measurement of range delay is made, the measurement must be within approximately 500 km of that location. ? 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.