Traveling wave packets of total electron content disturbances as deduced from global GPS network data

We identified a new class of mid-latitude medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MS TIDs), viz. traveling wave packets (TWPs) of total electron content (TEC) disturbances. For the first time, the morphology of TWPs is presented for 105 days. Using the technique of GPS interferometry of TIDs we carried out a detailed analysis of the spatial-temporal properties of TWPs by considering an example of the most conspicuous manifestation of TWPs on October 18, 2001 over California, USA. The velocity and direction of TWPs correspond to those of mid-latitude MS TIDs obtained previously from analyzing the phase characteristics of HF radio signals as well as signals from geostationary satellites and discrete cosmic radio sources.