Assessment of long-term impact of solar activity on the ionosphere over an African equatorial GNSS station

The level of solar activity and its influence on ionospheric variability has received a focal interest among the ionospheric community. This paper examines the impact of long-term solar activity on the ionosphere over an African equatorial global navigation satellite system (GNSS) station based on a large database of solar and ionospheric datasets. The ionospheric total electron content (TEC) periodic variations, climatology and its relation to solar activity are investigated through wavelet analyses. It is observed that the magnitude and intensity of TEC fluctuations measured by GNSS receivers vary substantially with solar radiation intensity. To probe the processes accountable for the TEC periodicities in the region, the wavelet analysis is undertaken by considering solar indices (solar radio flux and sunspot number) and observed TEC values. The results show a clear strong periodicity of 27 days in the ionospheric TEC, sunspots and F10.7 solar flux power spectra, associated with the sun’s 27 days rotation period. The ultraviolet ray intensity and solar ionization were lower during the solar maximum period (2013 to 2014) of solar cycle 24 compared to the solar maximum period (2001 to 2002) of solar cycle 23, which is the key factor for driving the decreasing trend in TEC between 1999 and 2017. The ionospheric and solar climatology analysis indicates that ionospheric TEC behaviour could be a good indicator of long-term solar activity trend. A large mass of Africa lies within the equatorial and low latitudes making the ionosphere over the region being highly susceptible to low latitude electrodynamics. Results from this study would support the concerted efforts towards developing a reliable regional ionospheric forecasting model for technological applications relying on spaced-based navigation and satellite services.