Evaluating Total Electron Content (TEC) Detrending Techniques in Determining Ionospheric Disturbances during Lightning Events in A Low Latitude Region

Abstract

Total Electron Content (TEC) from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is used to ascertain the impact of space weather events on navigation and communication systems. TEC is detrended by several methods to show this impact. Information from the detrended TEC may or may not necessarily represent a geophysical parameter. In this study, two commonly used detrending methods, Savitzky–Golay filter and polynomial fitting, are evaluated during thunderstorm events in Hong Kong. A two-step approach of detection and distinguishing is introduced alongside linear correlation in order to determine the best detrending model. Savitzky–Golay filter on order six and with a time window length of 120 min performed the best in detecting lightning events, and had the highest moderate positive correlation of 0.4. That the best time frame was 120 min suggests that the observed disturbances could be travelling ionospheric disturbance (TID), with lightning as the potential source.