Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013
www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/
doi:10.5194/angeo-31-2085-2013
© Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License.
Annales 
Geophysicae
O
pen A
ccess
Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations over an African
station and an American station during the minimum and ascending
phases of solar cycle 24
A. O. Akala1, G. K. Seemala2, P. H. Doherty3, C. E. Valladares3, C. S. Carrano3, J. Espinoza4, and S. Oluyo5
1Department of Physics, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
2Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
3Institute for Scientific Research, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
4Jicamarca Radio Observatory, Lima, Peru
5Department of Physical Science, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
Correspondence to: A. O. Akala (akalaovie2004@yahoo.com)
Received: 10 April 2013 – Revised: 23 August 2013 – Accepted: 23 October 2013 – Published: 22 November 2013
Abstract. GPS-TEC data were observed at the same local
time at two equatorial stations on both longitudes: Lagos
(6.52◦ N, 3.4◦ E, 3.04◦ S magnetic latitude), Nigeria; and Pu-
callpa (8.38◦ S, 74.57◦ W, 4.25◦ N magnetic latitude), Peru
during the minimum (2009, 2010) and ascending (2011)
phases of solar cycle 24. These data were grouped into daily,
seasonal and solar activity sets. The day-to-day variations in
vertical TEC (VTEC) recorded the maximum during 14:00–
16:00 LT and minimum during 04:00–06:00 LT at both longi-
tudes. Seasonally, during solar minimum, maximum VTEC
values were observed during March equinox and minimum
during solstices. However, during the ascending phase of
the solar activity, the maximum values were recorded dur-
ing the December solstice and minimum during the June sol-
stice. VTEC also increased with solar activity at both lon-
gitudes. On longitude by longitude comparison, the African
GPS station generally recorded higher VTEC values than the
American GPS station. Furthermore, harmonic analysis tech-
nique was used to extract the annual and semi-annual com-
ponents of the amplitudes of the TEC series at both stations.
The semi-annual variations dominated the TEC series over
the African equatorial station, while the annual variations
dominated those over the American equatorial station. The
GPS-TEC-derived averages for non-storm days were com-
pared with the corresponding values derived by the IRI-2007
with the NeQuick topside option. The NeQuick option of
IRI-2007 showed better performance at the American sector
than the African sector, but generally underestimating TEC
during the early morning hours at both longitudes.
Keywords. Ionosphere (Equatorial ionosphere)
1 Introduction
The ionosphere over the equatorial latitudes is highly dy-
namic, and consequently poses serious threats to commu-
nication and navigation systems (Akala et al., 2010a, 2011,
2012). The ionospheric parameter that has an over-bearing
influence on the GPS based communication and navigation
systems is the total electron content (TEC) (Akala et al.,
2013). The range errors in GPS signals are directly pro-
portional to TEC; hence, any variations thereof are a mat-
ter of concern (Galav et al., 2010). Consequently, detailed
knowledge of TEC distributions and variations will be a re-
liable tool for successful GPS based navigation. To this end,
a number of regions have established regional networks of
GPS stations, to provide real-time forecasting of ionospheric
TEC variations for aviation applications. Unfortunately, such
a network has not been built in Africa.
The African continent has the largest landmass under the
equatorial anomaly strip, with an ionosphere that is char-
acterised with complex electrodynamic structures that are
not yet well understood. Perhaps, this could be largely due
to the sparse results of ionospheric studies from the conti-
nent. Earlier, Burke et al. (2004); Gentile et al. (2006, 2011),
Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.
2086 A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations
using the Defense Metrological Satellite Programme, DMSP;
Hei et al. (2005), using the Atmospheric Explorer E, AE-
E, and Fejer et al. (2008); Kil et al. (2009a, b), using Re-
public of China satellite, ROCSAT-1 observations, reported
the dominance of ionospheric irregularities (plasma bubbles)
over the equatorial African ionosphere during all the seasons
except the December solstice, in comparison with those of
other equatorial longitudes, namely: the Pacific, Indian and
American longitudes. For better understanding of the elec-
trodynamics over the African ionosphere, especially in the
equatorial region of the continent, it is pertinent to compare
the ionospheric behaviour over the region with other regions
with better history of ionospheric studies (e.g. South Amer-
ica).
Prior to the end of solar cycle 23, when GPS receivers were
installed at some locations across Africa, TEC data were gen-
erally lacking in Africa, and characterisation of TEC over the
region has majorly relied on empirical models (e.g. the Inter-
national Reference Ionosphere (IRI)) and in situ satellite (e.g.
TOPEX) measurements. At times, results from these models
do show discrepancies from real observations. Consequently,
analyses of real-time observations of ionospheric parameters
are significant indices for improving the overall effectiveness
of these models. IRI-2007 provides three different options
(NeQuick, IRI01-corr, and IRI-2001) for the topside elec-
tron density, and two options for bottomside thickness B0.
Of the three options of IRI-2007, NeQuick seems to provide
the best predictions of ionospheric TEC (Coisson et al., 2006;
Chauhan and Singh, 2010). For this reason, this study com-
pares only the NeQuick option of IRI-2007 with the GPS-
derived TEC.
We also investigated the annual and semiannual varia-
tions of TEC series at both stations. One basic mathemat-
ical apparatus that could illustrate annual and semiannual
variations of ionospheric data series, for better understand-
ing of ionospheric climatology is the orthogonal eigenfunc-
tions expansion technique (e.g. Fourier analysis) (Zhao et
al., 2005, 2007; Liu et al., 2009; A et al., 2012), in which
the first harmonic and higher-order harmonics are extracted.
The semiannual variation of the ionosphere has been stud-
ied to show ionization maxima in equinoxes and minima in
solstices (Rishbeth and Setty, 1961); the maxima arise from
the optimized effect of the thermospheric composition and
solar zenith angle at equinoxes when the thermospheric cir-
culation is most symmetric. Fuller-Rowell (1998) suggested
that the increased internal mixing at solstices can explain the
semiannual neutral density variation, and it was proposed
that the global-scale circulation at solstice acts like a huge
spoon to mix the major thermospheric species (oxygen and
nitrogen), causing less diffusive separation of the species
at solstices. As a consequence, the ratio of O/N2 has clear
annual and semiannual variations at most longitudes. Ther-
mospheric winds push plasma up and down geomagnetic
field lines and transport plasma from one hemisphere to the
other by modulating the field-aligned flows, which further
influences the latitudinal structure of plasma, thereby lead-
ing to hemispheric asymmetries (Watanabe et al., 1995).
Pending the time that a trustworthy GPS network will be
in vogue in Africa, contributions from individual GPS re-
ceivers, most of which were just installed towards the end
of the last solar cycle (cycle 23), basically for scientific stud-
ies, will continue to play pivotal roles in providing necessary
data analysis and interpretation on which the understanding
of ionospheric phenomenon over Africa could be based, es-
pecially in the equatorial region of the continent.
The goal of this study is to compare ionospheric TEC char-
acteristics over an African GPS station and an American GPS
station on diurnal and seasonal scales, and to study the per-
formance of IRI-2007 (NeQuick option) predictions of TEC
at both longitudes during the minimum and ascending phases
of solar cycle 24. The motive is to present preliminary re-
sults that could spur future investigations on the practicality
of using documented histories of TEC or general ionospheric
electrodynamics over the equatorial South American region
as the benchmark for defining the expected TEC/ionospheric
electrodynamics over other equatorial regions of the world
with limited archives of ionospheric studies (e.g. Africa). Ad-
ditionally, the previous deep solar minimum (2009) was the
lowest among the past few solar cycles, therefore, 2009 TEC
data present the opportunities for sensitivity studies of quiet-
time ionospheric phenomena. Furthermore, these low solar
activity observations may assist in the future modelling of the
lowest range error margins for GPS based navigation system
in the African and American equatorial sectors.
2 Data and method of analysis
GPS-TEC data at the same local time during the minimum
(2009 {Zurich sunspot number (Rz): 3.0 }; 2010 {Rz: 16.5 })
and ascending (2011 {Rz: 56.0 }) phases of solar cycle 24 at
two stations, namely; Lagos (6.52◦ N, 3.4◦ E, 3.04◦ S mag-
netic latitude), Nigeria [AFRICA] and Pucallpa (8.38◦ S,
74.57◦ W, 4.25◦ N magnetic latitude), Peru [SOUTH AMER-
ICA] were used for this investigation.
Several NovAtel GSV4004B GPS receivers, being man-
aged by Boston College were installed towards the end of the
last solar cycle (cycle 23) in the instrument arrays of Low-
latitude Ionospheric Sensor Network (LISN). Specifically,
the GPS receiver at Pucallpa became operational in March
2007, while that of Lagos became operational in February
2008. LISN is an international project that monitors iono-
spheric phenomenon, with special interest on the low-latitude
ionosphere. The project is being managed by the Geophysi-
cal Institute of Peru, in collaboration with other international
institutions. The data from all the instruments in the network
are usually uploaded to a Central Server, being hosted by the
Geophysical Institute of Peru.
LISN TEC data are archived in Receiver INdependent Ex-
change (RINEX) format. The RINEX formatted files for the
Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013 www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/
A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations 2087
 
 
 
Fig. 1. Diurnal variation of the mean VTEC values for all seasons at Lagos and Pucallpa stations 
during 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively. 
 
 
0
20
40
60
V
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
MAR EQUI, 2009LAG
PUC
JUN SOLS, 2009 SEP EQUI, 2009 DEC SOLS, 2009
0
20
40
60
V
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
MAR EQUI, 2010LAG
PUC
JUN SOLS, 2010 SEP EQUI, 2010 DEC SOLS, 2010
0
20
40
60
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
V
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
LT (Hrs)
MAR EQUI, 2011LAG
PUC
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
JUN SOLS, 2011
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
SEP EQUI, 2011
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
DEC SOLS, 2011
Fig. 1. Diurnal variation of the mean VTEC values for all seasons at Lagos and Pucallpa stations during 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively.
two stations under investigation for years 2009–2011 were
processed by the GPS-TEC RINEX files processing software
developed by the second author of this paper. Receiver and
satellites biases, obtained from the Data Centre of the Bern
University, Switzerland were carefully removed from the raw
slant TEC data to produce the corresponding true slant TEC.
The GPS-TEC RINEX files processing software converts the
true slant TEC to vertical TEC (VTEC) by assuming that
the ionosphere is a thin shell at an altitude of 350 km, via
a mapping function given by Mannucci et al. (1993); Ma and
Maruyama (2003).
Furthermore, in order to eliminate multipath effects from
the data, elevation angle cut-off of 30◦ was adopted. The pro-
cessed VTEC data were grouped into daily, seasonal and so-
lar activity (annual) sets. For the seasonal grouping of the
data, we used the associated three months of data for each
season: March equinox (February, March, and April), June
solstice (May, June, and July), September equinox (August,
September, and October), and December solstice (Novem-
ber, December, and January) (Akala et al., 2010b). All the
measurements within the hourly bin of a given dataset were
averaged together to provide a single data point for each lo-
cal time hour. The differences of the hourly averages of data
at Pucallpa from those at Lagos at the same local time (LT)
were evaluated to study the extent of data correlations at both
longitudes. We also determined the relative variations (RV)
of VTEC data at the African and American stations via:
RV = VTECAf −VTECAm
(0.5 · (VTECAf +VTECAm)) (1)
Twelve point Fourier analysis was performed on the annual
TEC data (monthly averages at a given local time as a repre-
sentative of each month) from both stations at the same local
time so as to derive the annual (A1) and semiannual (A2)
components of the amplitude of the TEC series. Thereafter,
these components were extracted and analysed. Finally, we
compared the hourly averages of the GPS-derived TEC for
each season at the two stations for non-storm days with the
corresponding values derived by the NeQuick option of IRI-
2007. A storm day was defined as a day with the Kp index
greater than 2. We specified 2000 km for upper boundary of
electron density profile and B0 Table option for bottomside
electron density profile shape parameter.
Furthermore, we determined the percentage deviations (%
Dev) of GPS-derived TEC data from those derived by IRI-
2007, using Eq. (2).
%Dev =
(
Obs− IRI
Obs
)
× 100 (2)
where Obs represents the GPS-derived TEC values, and IRI
represents those derived by IRI-2007.
www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/ Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013
2088 A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations
     
  
  
Fig. 2. Seasonal deviations of the mean VTEC values at Pucallpa from those at Lagos, during 
(a) 2009 (b) 2010, and (c) 2011. Corresponding relative variations during (d) 2009 (e) 2010, 
and (f) 2011. 
 
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
V
T
E
C
A
f 
-
V
T
E
C
A
m
 (
T
E
C
U
)
LT (Hrs)
2009MAR EQUI
JUN SOLS
SEP EQUI
DEC SOLS
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
R
e
la
ti
v
e
 V
a
ri
a
ti
o
n
LT (Hrs)
2009
MAR EQUI
JUN SOLS
SEP EQUI
DEC SOLS
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
V
T
E
C
A
f
-
V
T
E
C
A
m
(T
E
C
U
)
LT (Hrs)
2010MAR EQUI
JUN SOLS
SEP EQUI
DEC SOLS
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
R
e
la
ti
v
e
 V
a
ri
a
ti
o
n
LT (Hrs)
2010MAR EQUI
JUN SOLS
SEP EQUI
DEC SOLS
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
V
T
E
C
A
f 
-
V
T
E
C
A
m
(T
E
C
U
)
LT (Hrs)
2011MAR EQUI
JUN SOLS
SEP EQUI
DEC SOLS
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
R
e
la
ti
v
e
 V
a
ri
a
ti
o
n
LT (Hrs)
2011MAR EQUI
JUN SOLS
SEP EQUI
DEC SOLS
(d) (a) 
(b) 
(e) 
(f) 
(c) 
Fig. 2. Seasonal deviations of the mean VTEC values at Pucallpa from those at Lagos, during (a) 2009 (b) 2010, and (c) 2011. Corresponding
relative variations during (d) 2009 (e) 2010, and (f) 2011.
3 Results
Figure 1 shows the diurnal variations of the mean VTEC
values over Lagos and Pucallpa for all seasons during years
2009; 2010 (solar minimum) and 2011 (ascending phase of
solar activity). Diurnally, the mean VTEC values showed
early morning (post-sunrise) minimum, and post-midday
maximum.
During the solar minimum (2009) at the Lagos sta-
tion, March equinox (MAR EQUI) recorded the highest
VTEC value (∼ 28 TECU) at 16:00 LT. September equinox
(SEP EQUI) recorded VTEC peak value of 26.5 TECU at
16:00 LT. The diurnal plots of the mean VTEC for June and
December solstices (JUN SOLS and DEC SOLS) almost su-
perimposed, with a maximum value of about 22 TECU at
04:00 LT. A seasonal minimum value of about 5.3 TECU
at 04:00 LT was recorded during all the seasons. At Pu-
callpa, MAR EQUI recorded the highest VTEC value
(∼ 27.4 TECU) at 15:00 LT. JUN SOLS recorded VTEC
peak value of 21.5 TECU at 15:00 LT. SEP EQUI recorded
VTEC peak value of 26.9 TECU at 14:00 LT, while DEC
SOLS recorded a maximum value of about 22.9 TECU.
A common minimum TEC value of about 4.75 TECU at
05:00 LT was recorded during all the seasons.
In 2010, at the Lagos station, MAR EQUI recorded the
highest VTEC value (∼ 37.5 TECU) at 15:00 LT, while SEP
EQUI recorded VTEC peak value of 35.7 TECU at 15:00 LT.
The diurnal plots of the mean VTEC for JUN SOLS and
DEC SOLS superimposed, with maximum value of about
30.5 TECU at 15:00 LT. A common minimum TEC value
of about 4.66 TECU at 05:00 LT was recorded for all the
seasons. At the Pucallpa station, MAR EQUI recorded the
highest VTEC value (∼ 34.8 TECU) at 15:00 LT, while DEC
SOLS recorded VTEC peak value of 31.5 TECU at 15:00 LT.
SEP EQUI recorded VTEC peak value of 25.7 TECU at
15:00 LT and 23.5 TECU at 16:00 LT for the JUN SOLS.
A common minimum TEC value of about 4.91 TECU at
05:00 LT was recorded for all the seasons.
Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013 www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/
A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations 2089
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 3. Amplitudes of the annual (A1) and semiannual (A2)  components over the same local 
time at Lagos and Pucallpa stations  during (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011. Corresponding 
A1/A2 ratio at both stations during (d) 2009, (e) 2010 and (f) 2011. 
 
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
A
1
,  
A
2
LT (Hrs)
A1(LAG)
A1(PUC)
A2(LAG)
A2(PUC)
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
A
1
/A
2
LT (Hrs)
LAG
PUC
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
A
1
,  
A
2
LT (Hrs)
A1(LAG)
A1(PUC)
A2(LAG)
A2(PUC)
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
A
1
/A
2
LT (Hrs)
LAG
PUC
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
A
1
, A
2
LT (Hrs)
A1(LAG)
A1(PUC)
A2(LAG)
A2(PUC)
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
A
1
/A
2
LT (Hrs)
LAG
PUC
(a) 
(b) 
(c) (f) 
(e) 
(d) 
Fig. 3. Amplitudes of the annual (A1) and semiannual (A2) components over the same local time at Lagos and Pucallpa stations during (a)
2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011 Corres onding A1/A2 ratio t both stations during (d) 2009, (e) 2010 and (f) 2011.
In 2011, at the Lagos station, SEP EQUI and DEC
SOLS recorded the highest VTEC value (∼ 51 TECU), while
MAR EQUI recorded VTEC peak value of 45 TECU, all at
15:00 LT, and 36 TECU at 16:00 LT for the JUN SOLS. A
common minimum TEC value of 5.5 TECU at 05:00 LT was
recorded for all the seasons. At the Pucallpa station, DEC
SOLS recorded the highest VTEC value (∼ 51 TECU), SEP
EQUI recorded VTEC peak value of 48.3 TECU at 15:00 LT.
MAR EQUI recorded VTEC peak value of 37 TECU at
16:00 LT, with a minimum of 5.5 TECU at 05:00 LT for the
DEC SOLS and MAR EQUI. JUN SOLS recorded VTEC
peak value of 28.5 TECU at 14:00 LT, with a seasonal mini-
mum of 4.2 TECU at 06:00 LT for the JUN SOLS and SEP
EQUI. The observed enhancement in TEC records in the last
quarter of 2011 could be attributed to the corresponding en-
hancement in solar flux, signifying a gradual transition to the
year of high solar activity (Fig. 4a–b). Seasonally, with the
exception of the 2011 VTEC data which showed DEC SOLS
and SEP EQUI maximum, and minimum during JUN SOLS,
2009 and 2010 showed maximum VTEC peaks during the
MAR EQUI, and minimum during the JUN SOLS at both
stations.
Figure 2a–c show the seasonal deviations of the mean
VTEC values at Pucallpa from the mean VTEC values at
Lagos, at the same local time (LT) for 2009, 2010 and
2011 respectively. Figure 2d–e show the corresponding rel-
ative variations of VTEC at the two stations. The data at
the two stations are reasonably correlated during the pre-
sunrise hours (00:00–06:00), with marked disparities be-
tween 07:00–18:00 for the three years. Overall, the recorded
data at the Lagos station were higher than those recorded
at Pucallpa. However, the Pucallpa VTEC data leads those
of Lagos during the DEC SOLS, and the post-midnight and
post-sunset hours in MAR EQUI.
Figure 3a–c show the amplitudes of the annual (A1) and
semiannual (A2) components of the TEC series over La-
gos and Pucallpa the same local time at for 2009, 2010
and 2011 respectively. Figure 3d–e show the correspond-
ing A1/A2 ratio for the two stations. At the Lagos station,
the semiannual component is dominant, while the annual
component is dominant at the Pucallpa station. Figure 4a
www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/ Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013
2090 A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations
 
 
 
  
Fig. 4(a) Plots of monthly sunspot number and the maximum monthly average value of 
monthly VTEC for 2009, 2010, and 2011 (b) Plot of F10.7 cm solar flux for 2009, 2010, and 
2011. 
 
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0
20
40
60
80
100
M
o
n
th
ly
 s
u
n
sp
o
t 
n
u
m
b
e
r
M
a
x
 m
o
n
th
ly
 a
v
e
ra
g
e
 V
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
Year
LAG MAX GPS-TEC
PUC MAX GPS-TEC
Sunspot number
50
100
150
200
F
1
0
.7
 c
m
Year
2009 2010 2011 2012 
2009 2010 
2011 2012 
(a) (b) 
Fig. 4. (a) Plots of monthly sunspot number and the maximum monthly average value of monthly VTEC for 2009, 2010, and 2011 (b) plot
of F10.7 cm solar flux for 2009, 2010, and 2011.
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 5. Comparison of the diurnal variation of the mean GPS-VTEC values (storm days were 
isolated) with those derived from the IRI-2007 NeQuick topside option for all seasons at 
Lagos (LAG) during 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively. 
 
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
LAG, 2009 MAR EQUI
GPS-TEC
IRI-2007
LAG, 2009 JUN SOLS LAG, 2009 SEP EQUI LAG, 2009 DEC SOLS
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
LAG, 2010 MAR EQUI
GPS-TEC
IRI-2007
LAG, 2010 JUN SOLS LAG, 2010 SEP EQUI LAG, 2010 DEC SOLS
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
LT (Hrs)
LAG, 2011 MAR EQUI
GPS-TEC
IRI-2007
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
LAG, 2011 JUN SOLS
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
LAG, 2011 SEP EQUI
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
LAG, 2011 DEC SOLS
Fig. 5. Comparison of the diurnal variation of the mean GPS-VTEC values (storm days were isolated) with those derived from the IRI-2007
NeQuick topside option for all seasons at Lagos (LAG) during 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively.
shows the superimposition of the monthly sunspot number
on the maximum monthly average value of monthly VTEC
for the three years under investigation. VTEC values increase
with sunspot number, and the VTEC correlated well with
the sunspot number, especially as the solar activity increases.
Figure 4b shows the F10.7 cm solar flux plots for 2009, 2010,
and 2011. At both stations, VTEC correlated reasonably well
with the F10.7 cm solar flux.
Figure 5 shows the comparison of the diurnal variations
of the mean GPS-VTEC values with the storm days removed
Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013 www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/
A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations 2091 
 
 
 
Fig. 6. Comparison of the diurnal variation of the mean GPS-VTEC values (storm days were 
isolated) with those derived from the IRI-2007 NeQuick topside option for all seasons at Pucallpa 
(PUC) during 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively. 
 
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
PUC, 2009 MAR EQUI
GPS-TEC
IRI-2007
PUC, 2009 JUN SOLS PUC, 2009 SEP EQUI PUC, 2009 DEC SOLS
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
PUC, 2010 MAR EQUI 
GPS-TEC
IRI-2007
PUC, 2010 JUN SOLS PUC, 2010 SEP EQUI
PUC, 2010 DEC SOLS
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
T
E
C
 (
T
E
C
U
)
LT (Hrs)
PUC, 2011 MAR EQUI
GPS-TEC
IRI-2007
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
PUC, 2011 JUN SOLS
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
PUC, 2011 SEP EQUI
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
PUC, 2011 DEC SOLS
Fig. 6. Comparison of the diurnal variation of the mea GPS-VTEC values (storm days were isolated) with th se derived from the IRI-2007
NeQuick topside option for all seasons at Pucallpa (PUC) during 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively.
before the seasonal averaging for each local time hour, with
those derived from the IRI-2007 with the NeQuick topside
option for all the seasons at Lagos (LAG) during 2009, 2010,
and 2011 respectively. Figure 6 shows a similar comparison
for Pucallpa. The years of low solar minimum were charac-
terised with fewer storms, which made the diurnal variations
of the GPS-TEC values at both stations for all the seasons
when storm days were excluded in the seasonal averaging
for each local time hour to be similar to those obtained when
storm days were included (Figs. 1, 5 and 6). However, year
2011 was characterised with many storms, particularly in the
second half of the year. For the September equinox and De-
cember solstice of 2011 with more storm events, the diur-
nal variations of the seasonal averaging of TEC for each lo-
cal time hour when storm days were excluded showed lesser
values (in the order of 3 TECU) during the day, compared to
the diurnal variations of the seasonal averaging of TEC for
each local time hour when storm days were included. Table 1
shows the peak and minimum values of the IRI-2007-derived
TEC for all the seasons at the Lagos and Pucallpa stations
during 2009, 2010, and 2011, while Fig. 7 shows Percent-
age deviations of the IRI-2007-derived TEC from the GPS
observed VTEC values for all the seasons at both stations
during 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively.
4 Discussion
The observed post-midday maximum and post-sunrise min-
imum in the diurnal variations of VTEC (Fig. 1) are consis-
tent with previous theories, such as: (i) the onset and turn-off
of solar ionization (Rishbeth et al., 1963; Anderson et al.,
2002, 2004; Bilitza et al., 2004). (ii) Zonal component of
wind disturbance electric fields is usually westward during
the day and eastward at night, with resultant downward and
upward equatorial F region plasma drifts (Woodman and La
Hoz, 1976; Tsunoda, 1985, 2010). (iii) Effects of ambipolar
diffusion (Rishbeth et al., 1963; Titheridge, 1995; Akala et
al., 2010b).
In Fig. 2a–f, data points below zero of the vertical axes
imply that the hourly periods of the seasons where VTEC
values were higher at the American longitude, compared to
the African longitude, and data points above zero on the ver-
tical axes (which are prevalent) show the opposite. VTEC
values are generally higher at Lagos than Pucallpa during
the June solstices, September and March equinoxes. Con-
versely, VTEC values are generally higher at Pucallpa than
Lagos during the December solstices. This observed longitu-
dinal variations in VTEC could be attributed to many elec-
trodynamic factors namely: (i) enhancements in ionospheric
www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/ Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013
2092 A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations
 
 
 
 
Fig. 7. Percentage variations of the IRI-2007-derived TEC from the GPS observed VTEC 
values for all seasons at the Lagos and Pucallpa stations during 2009, 2010, and 2011 
respectively. 
 
 
-200
-150
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
200
%
 D
e
v
MAR EQUI, 2009
LAG
PUC
JUN SOLS, 2009 SEP EQUI, 2009 DEC SOLS, 2009
-200
-150
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
200
%
 D
e
v
MAR EQUI, 2010
LAG
PUC
JUN SOLS, 2010 SEP EQUI, 2010 DEC SOLS, 2010
-200
-150
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
200
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
%
 D
e
v
LT (Hrs)
MAR EQUI, 2011
LAG
PUC
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
JUN SOLS, 2011
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
SEP EQUI, 2011
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
LT (Hrs)
DEC SOLS, 2011
Fig. 7. Percentage variations of the IRI-2007-derived TEC from the GPS observed VTEC values for all seasons at the Lagos and Pucallpa
stations during 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively.
vertical plasma drifts over the African equatorial sector with
respect to those over the American equatorial sector during
June solstice, and equinoxes (Fejer et al., 2008; Kil et al.,
2009a, b, 2012). Klobuchar et al. (1991) showed that the ef-
fects of day-timeE×B drifts on TEC were more pronounced
at the crests of the equatorial anomaly than at the equator.
In earlier longitudinal morphology studies of global verti-
cal drifts variations of ionospheric plasma using ROCSAT-1
data by Fejer et al. (2008) and Kil et al. (2009b), the au-
thors reported the wave number (wave-4) structures in the
daytime vertical drifts. These structures recorded longitudi-
nal crests in the neighbourhood of 0◦ E, 100◦ E, 200◦ E, and
260◦ E during equinoxes, and June solstice, and the ampli-
tudes of these crests were also shown to increase with so-
lar activity. TEC increases with vertical drifts, significantly
to the off-equatorial regions via super-fountain effect (Balan
et al., 2009). The vertical drifts velocities at the crest are
higher (35 m s−1) than those at the trough (25 m s−1) dur-
ing the aforementioned seasons. As shown by our results
(Fig. 1), Lagos (geographic long: 3.4◦ E), with more vertical
drifts dynamics recorded higher VTEC values than Pucallpa
(geographic long: 285.4◦ E). (ii) Modulations of the zonal
electric field by the eastward propagating diurnal tide. (iii)
Field aligned currents, resulting from the E region Peder-
son conductivity, produced at the solar terminator (Tsunoda,
1985, 2010). (iv) Field-aligned flows due to neutral winds
could also support longitudinal variations of the topside
plasma densities (Balan et al., 1997, 2000). (v) Changes in
thermospheric circulations (Fuller-Rowell, 1998).
During the December solstices, higher VTEC values were
generally recorded at the American equatorial station (South-
ern Hemisphere) than the African equatorial station (North-
ern Hemisphere) (Figs. 1–2). Thermospheric circulation
transports neutral gases from the summer hemisphere to the
winter hemisphere; thereby making the asymmetry of the en-
ergy input with respect to the equator, resulting to transporta-
tion of more energy to the equatorial regions from the South-
ern Hemisphere during the December solstice than from the
Northern Hemisphere during the June solstice (Rishbeth et
al., 2000). Large-scale inter-hemispheric circulation results
into seasonal changes in the O/N2 ratio. Hence the increase of
ion production rate in winter hemisphere might overwhelm
Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013 www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/
A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations 2093
Table 1. Peak and minimum values of IRI-2007-derived TEC for all the seasons at Lagos and Pucallpa during 2009, 2010, and 2011.
LAGOS PUCALLPA
MAR EQUI JUN SOL SEP EQUI DEC SOLS MAR EQUI JUN SOL SEP EQUI DEC SOLS
Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min
VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC VTEC
Year (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU) (TECU)
2009 25.9 1.0 22.2 1.4 23.9 1.7 25.9 1.9 26.6 0.8 20.4 1.2 25.5 1.6 31.3 1.5
2010 29.0 1.7 27.1 2.2 28.9 2.9 26.5 2.8 29.6 1.4 23.8 1.9 28.6 2.3 34.4 2.4
2011 34.5 3.2 34.4 4.3 38.4 6.2 35.4 5.9 35.3 2.6 30.3 3.7 37.2 4.8 42.4 5.1
the increase in wintertime loss rate. The longitudinal varia-
tions of the December and June solstice pre-reversal velocity
enhancements are generally anti-correlated, which suggests
that they are being controlled by the magnetic field line inte-
grated conductivities.
Another explanation worthy of note was given by Torr
and Torr (1973), which suggested that the Southern Hemi-
sphere during the December solstice might have received
more energy than the Northern Hemisphere because the off-
set between the geographic and magnetic poles is larger in
the Southern Hemisphere. Our results; general higher VTEC
values at the American station over the African station dur-
ing December solstice (Figs. 1–2) agree with those of Kil
et al. (2009a, b), which reported a post-sunset crest in iono-
spheric vertical drifts around the American longitude during
December solstice. In addition, our results; general higher
VTEC values at the African station over the American station
are in agreement with those of Burke et al. (2004); Gentile et
al. (2006, 2011), which concluded that ionospheric plasma
bubbles are more dominant in the African longitude than the
American longitude during June solstice and equinoxes, and
that during the December solstice, this trend reverses. By
implication pre-reversal enhancements (PREs) are compar-
atively higher around the American longitude than African
longitude during December solstice, while during June sol-
stice and equinoxes, this trend reverses. The largest evening
velocity peaks occur in the region of largest field-aligned in-
tegrated conductivities and magnetic east zonal winds.
Seasonally, variations of VTEC are generally higher at
equinox and minimum during June solstice at both stations.
These results are consistent with previous studies, and the
physical processes involved could be explained by: (i) the
usual enhancements in zonal plasma drifts variations in the
F region during March equinox, and diminishing variations
during June solstice (Fejer, 1991, 2011; Valladares et al.,
1996). (ii) Alignment of the solar terminator with the geo-
magnetic flux tube (Tsunoda, 1985). (iv) Changes in solar
zenith angle, thermospheric composition, and global circula-
tions (Rishbeth and Setty, 1961; Millward et al., 1996). The
seasonal composition changes are induced by the prevailing
summer-to-winter general circulations (Duncan, 1969). The
driving forces of this general circulation are heating due to
solar radiation and energy from the solar winds (Millward et
al., 1996).
The current study only suspected many electrodynamic
processes that might have been responsible for the observed
longitudinal differences in VTEC at both longitudes. How-
ever, to put these mechanisms on a definitive footing, com-
parison of electrodynamic parameters, such as the magni-
tudes and directions of E×B drifts at both longitudes is
required. Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) can measure these
parameters. ISR has a long history of existence in South
America (Jicamarca, Peru), but only at the verge of being in-
stalled in Africa (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). Furthermore, mag-
netometers data can also be used to derive these parameters.
Anderson et al. (2002, 2004) gave detailed explanations of
how the strength and direction of E×B drifts could be de-
rived from the data acquired from a pair of magnetometers,
one within the equatorial electrojet (EEJ) strip, and the other
in the off EEJ region. Intermagnet magnetometers have long
existed in Africa and South America. Today, other magne-
tometer arrays have been included, e.g. MAGnetic Data Ac-
quisition System (MAGDAS) and the African Meridian B-
Field Education and Research (AMBER) [Africa]; and the
South American Meridional B-Field Array (SAMBA) [South
America].
The harmonic analysis of the data set shown in Fig. 3a–
f indicated that the annual component is dominant over Pu-
callpa, while the semiannual component is dominant over La-
gos. The average A1/A2 ratio for Pucallpa was higher than
that of Lagos for the three years investigated. This further
shows that A1 (annual component) dominated over Pucallpa,
while A2 (semiannual) component dominated over Lagos.
These results agree with those of Liu et al. (2009), which
reported that the annual component of the NmF2 data is com-
paratively more prominent in the Southern Hemisphere than
the Northern Hemisphere.
At both stations, the diurnal variations of the IRI-2007
with the NeQuick topside option derived TEC show the same
trend with those derived by GPS measurements (Figs. 5–6).
However, the diurnal variations of the IRI-2007 (NeQuick
option) TEC show double peaks, first around 09:00 LT, and
the second around 17:00 LT, while the corresponding GPS-
TEC values show single peaks. Furthermore, the minimum
values of IRI-2007 (NeQuick option) TEC underestimate the
corresponding GPS-TEC values, and they also occurred an
hour before the GPS-TEC diurnal minimum. At Lagos, dur-
ing 2009, the IRI-2007-derived TEC and GPS-TEC matched
reasonably well for all seasons, except for the discrepancies
www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/ Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013
2094 A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations
observed during the early morning hours. As the solar activ-
ity increased (2010–2011), the early morning discrepancies
collapsed to form reasonable match of the IRI-2007-derived
TEC and GPS-TEC, while obvious mis-matches were ob-
served during the day, with the IRI-2007 predictions under-
estimating TEC values, except for the December solstice of
2011, when the with IRI-2007 with the NeQuick topside op-
tion predictions overestimating TEC values.
At Pucallpa, during 2009, the IRI-2007-derived TEC and
GPS-TEC matched reasonably well for March and Septem-
ber equinoxes, and June solstice. IRI-2007 with the NeQuick
topside option overestimated TEC values during the Decem-
ber solstice. Discrepancies were generally observed during
the early morning hours. In 2010, with the exception of
March equinox where the IRI-2007 predictions underesti-
mated TEC values during the early morning hours and mid-
day, the matches of the IRI-2007 and GPS-derived TEC data
for all other seasons were reasonable, except for the ob-
served post-sunrise discrepancies. For 2011, during the day-
time, IRI-2007 predictions underestimated TEC values dur-
ing September equinox and December solstice. Generally,
discrepancies were observed in the morning hours. The early
morning variations between the IRI-2007 model values of
TEC and the GPS observed values could be attributed to the
fact that the shape of the electron density profile is not well
predicted by the IRI model option (Ezquer et al., 1995).
As shown in Fig. 7, IRI-2007 (NeQuick) model consis-
tently underestimated TEC between 00:00–06:00 LT for all
seasons during the solar minimum years at both stations. The
percentage deviations generally showed marked variations
between the hours of 01:00–09:00 LT and 21:00–23:00 LT
for all the seasons during 2009, 2010 and 2011, with pos-
itive deviations around 01:00–05:00 LT, and negative devia-
tions around 06:00–09:00 LT. The negative deviations around
06:00–07:00 LT were most pronounced for all the seasons
at the Pucallpa station (up to 200 % for some seasons). The
percentage deviations never exceeded 50 % during 10:00–
19:00 LT. Overall, the NeQuick option of IRI-2007 showed
better performance at the American equatorial station than
the African equatorial station, especially, as solar activity in-
creases. This could be attributed to long-time availability of
data from the American longitude, which has in turn sup-
ported update and improvement of IRI-models over the past
years.
5 Conclusions
We compared GPS-TEC at an African station and an Amer-
ican station during the minimum and ascending phases of
solar cycle 24. GPS-TEC data at the same local time at
two equatorial stations on both longitudes: Lagos (6.52◦ N,
3.4◦ E, 3.04◦ S magnetic latitude), Nigeria; and Pucallpa
(8.38◦ S, 74.57◦ W, 4.25◦ N magnetic latitude), Peru were
used for the investigation. The main conclusions of the study
are:
1. Maximum daily VTEC values were recorded during
14:00–16:00 LT and minimum during 04:00–06:00 LT
at both stations. VTEC values also increase with solar
activity at both stations.
2. Seasonally, during the solar minimum, maximum
VTEC values were observed during the March equinox
and minimum during the June solstice at both stations.
During the ascending phase of the solar activity, the
maximum values were recorded during December sol-
stice at Pucallpa and during September equinox and
December solstice at Lagos, while minimum VTEC
were recorded during the June solstice at both stations.
3. The correlation between data at the two longitudes was
reasonably good during the pre-sunset (00:00–06:00)
hours of the day, and not too correlated during the rest
of the day, significantly between 07:00–18:00 of the
day (Fig. 2).
– At Lagos, semiannual variations dominate over
annual variations, while at Pucallpa, the annual
variations dominate over semiannual variations
(Fig. 3).
4. Generally, on longitude by longitude comparison, the
African sector recorded higher VTEC values than the
American sector, except during December solstices.
5. IRI-2007 (NeQuick) model showed better perfor-
mance at the American longitude than the African lon-
gitude, especially, as solar activity increases. IRI-2007
with the NeQuick topside option underestimated TEC
values at both longitudes during early morning hours.
The model results also showed that TEC values were
higher at the American longitude than the African lon-
gitude, whereas, the GPS-TEC measurements showed
otherwise, although the December Solstices model re-
sults showed higher values at Pucallpa than Lagos,
which were reasonably consistent with observations
(Figs. 5–6).
Acknowledgements. The authors thank the Geophysical Insti-
tute of Peru/Jicamarca Radio Observatory for providing the
GPS-TEC data. The solar flux data were obtained from
the NOAA website (ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/space-weather/
solar-data/solar-features/solar-radio/noontime-flux/). The authors
thank the reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.
Topical Editor K. Hosokawa thanks two anonymous referees for
their help in evaluating this paper.
Ann. Geophys., 31, 2085–2096, 2013 www.ann-geophys.net/31/2085/2013/
A. O. Akala et al.: Comparison of equatorial GPS-TEC observations 2095
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