Characterization of thunderstorm-generated travelling ionospheric disturbances by dense GNSS sensors network over Western Europe

Abstract

We used total electron content (TEC) measurements from 1200 ground-based GNSS receivers in Europe to study ionospheric effects of five convective storms that occurred between 2019 and 2024. The storms are of different types of activity by the meteorological classification (derecho, thunderstorm with sprites, Mediterranean storm, cold drop, ex-tropical storm “ex-Kirk), and are characterized by a stationary or a moving convective zone (thunderstorm). In all cases, we observe quasi-periodic travelling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) propagating nearly circularly from the center of the storms, for up to 1000 km of distance, and they are visible in TEC for many hours. The apparent horizontal phase speeds are found between 100 m/s to 160 m/s. The TIDs periods range from 13 min to 39 min. These characteristics are consistent with previous observations and theoretical results. For three out of the five storms, the temporal evolution of the waves could be clearly mapped, enabling the measurement of a wavelength of around 200–300 km and a non-isotropic radiation pattern according to the propagation directions, as predicted by the models. Our analysis also demonstrates that these TIDs might not be visible in TEC during the presence of TIDs of other origins, e.g., the solar terminator.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 2026 · DOI ↗