Solar Radio Burst events on September 6, 2017 and its impact on GNSS signal frequencies

Abstract

During the intense solar radio bursts on September 6, 2017, GNSS signal interferences were observed at ground stations in the European longitude sector from 20°N to 70°N for all GNSS satellites in view including GPS, GLONASS and Galileo. The solar radio noise reduced the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) with clear frequency dependence. The impact of the radio burst has been found at L2 and L5 frequencies, but not at L1 frequency. The ground observation of the solar radio spectrum between 1.0–2.0 GHz corresponds well to such frequency dependence. The maximum SNR reduction of ‐10 dB was found when the solar radio flux was pulsating around 2000 SFU level. Precise Point Positioning (PPP) results show that accuracy is reduced with stronger deviation for dual‐frequency solutions than for single‐frequency solutions based on L1 signal only. The positioning error refers rather to the solar EUV flare than to solar radio interferences. The results presented here are a clear indication of frequency‐dependent GNSS performance degradation during strong space weather events.