Ionospheric Response to the Total Solar Eclipse of August 11,
1999, Inferred from the European GPS Data

E. L. Afraimovich, E. A. Kosogorov, and O. S. Lesyuta

Institute of Solar–Terrestrial Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Division,
P.O. Box 4026, Irkutsk-33, 664033 Russia

Received March 7, 2000; in final form, May 11, 2000

Abstract—Basic parameters of the ionospheric response to the total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999, have
been presented. The data of about 70 GPS stations located in the vicinity of the eclipse maximum phase in
Europe have been used. The weak geomagnetic disturbance (from –10 to –20 nT) characteristic of the given
period fundamentally simplified the problem of detecting the ionospheric response to the eclipse. An analysis
has revealed a pronounced decrease (depression) in the total electron content (TEC) over all GPS stations. The
delay of the minimal TEC value relative to the maximum phase near the eclipse band monotonically decreased
from 4 min at the Greenwich longitude (10:40 UT, LT) to 8 min at a longitude of 16 (12:09 LT). The TEC
depression depth and duration appeared turned out be 0.2–0.3 TEC units (TECU) and 60 min, respectively. The
obtained results are in good agreement with the data of earlier measurements and theoretical estimates.

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