title: First light from a kilometer-baseline Scintillation Auroral GPS Array.
abstract: We introduce and analyze the first data from an array of closely spaced Global Positioning System (GPS) scintillation receivers established in the auroral zone in late 2013 to measure spatial and temporal variations in L band signals at 100-1000 m and subsecond scales. The seven receivers of the Scintillation Auroral GPS Array (SAGA) are sited at Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska. The receivers produce 100 s scintillation indices and 100 Hz carrier phase and raw in-phase and quadrature-phase samples. SAGA is the largest existing array with baseline lengths of the ionospheric diffractive Fresnel scale at L band. With an initial array of five receivers, we identify a period of simultaneous amplitude and phase scintillation. We compare SAGA power and phase data with collocated 630.0 nm all-sky images of an auroral arc and incoherent scatter radar electron precipitation measurements, to illustrate how SAGA can be used in multi-instrument observations for subkilometer-scale studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A seven-receiver Scintillation Auroral GPS Array (SAGA) is now at Poker Flat, Alaska SAGA is the largest subkilometer array to enable phase/irregularities studies Simultaneous scintillation, auroral arc, and electron precipitation are observed.
authors.affiliation: Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Datta-Barua
authors.affiliation: Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.affiliation: Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miladinovich
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Bust
authors.affiliation: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hampton
authors.affiliation: Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates Boulder, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crowley
keywords: Global Navigation Satellite Systems; Global Positioning System; aurora; ionosphere; irregularities; scintillation