The ionospheric response to the annular solar eclipse on 26th January 2009

Abstract

The paper examines the ionspheric responses to the annular solar eclipse on 26 January 2009 over Southern Atlantic, Australia and Indian Ocean. The solar eclipse event took place during quiet solar and magnetic activities with maximum Kp and Dst indices are 3 and -32 nT. The external contacts of penumbra U1 and U4 occurred at 06:02:39 UT in the South Atlantic and 09:54:44 UT in the Celebes Sea. The GPS Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements obtained from 5 GPS stations belonging to International GNSS Service (IGS) network over India, Australia, and Antarctica have been employed in the analysis. 5 stations had been selected to conduct this study. They are Syowa in Antarctica, Windhoek in Namibia, Indian Institute of Science in India, Ceduna and Kerguelen Islands in Australia. The observations showed clear depletion in the TEC level from about 0.4 to 20% during the eclipse period.