The detection of ionospheric trough with GNSS measurements.

The main ionospheric trough represents a large scale depletion of plasma density elongated in longitude, which is typically observed at the boundary between high- and mid-latitude ionosphere. The trough is characterized  by a steep density gradient in a poleward direction and gradual on the equatorward site. According to the recent studies it begins in the late afternoon, moves equatorward during the night hours and rapidly retreats to higher latitudes at a dawn. Due to the dynamic of auroral oval, this ionospheric feature exhibits a high temporal variability and shifts equatorward during the geomagnetic activity. In this work we demonstrate the initial assessment of the ionospheric trough detection performed with GNSS-based relative STEC values. The basis of this indicator are time series of  geometry-free combination with removed background variations. The separation of these low-term effects is realized with a polynomial fitting applied to the particular arcs of data. Such processed data have an accuracy of phase measurements and provide an epoch-wise information on enhancement/depletion of plasma density. In order to evaluate the applicability of the proposed approach for the trough detection, we have analyzed the state of the ionosphere during different geomagnetic conditions. In our investigations we have used the data from several tens of stations located in the northern hemisphere, what makes possible to provide the comprehensive view of this ionospheric phenomenon. The results have confirmed that the network-derived relative STEC values can be successfully used for the monitoring ionospheric trough. Its signature is more pronounced for expanded auroral oval during increased geomagnetic activity and reach in such case a few TEC units.