An effective TEC data detrending method for the study of equatorial plasma bubbles and traveling ionospheric disturbances

Abstract

Using a mechanical analogy of rolling a cylindrical barrel on a rough uneven surface, we developed a special method for detrending the GPS‐derived total electron content (TEC) data. This method is specifically designed to recognize the presence of depletions in the TEC time series data and handle them differently from wavelike features. We also demonstrate a potential application of this technique to map the detailed geographic profile of TEC depletions over the equatorial region, using the South American sector as an example.