Data from ionosonde and global positioning system (GPS) total electron content (TEC) observations reveal a number of ionospheric phenomena during the total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017 over North America. The eclipse started over the West Coast at ∼16:00 UTC (∼07:53 LT) and ended over the East Coast at ∼20:00 UTC (∼14:46 LT). We identify a growth of plasma density irregularities and turbulence on the bottomside ionosphere during the eclipse totality (at ∼10:03 LT over Idaho Falls), signified by the distinct appearance of spread‐F echoes in the ionosonde data. In addition, data from the ionosonde observations also show some characteristic signatures of traveling ionospheric disturbances at ∼300‐km altitude during the eclipse. Finally, large reductions in TEC and ionospheric plasma densities (by 33–45%) due to the eclipse were observed in both the GPS TEC and ionosonde data.

This study characterizes Global Navigation Satellite System amplitude scintillation over Dakar (14.75°N, 17.45°W, magnitude latitude: 5.88°N), Senegal. The data, which we arranged on daily and monthly scales, cover 14 months: September–November 2012; February–December 2013; and January–February 2014. The data were further binned into three levels of scintillation using the S4 index: weak (0.3 ≤ S4 < 0.4), moderate (0.4 ≤ S4 < 0.7), and intense (S4 ≥ 0.7), over varying elevation angles (10°, 20°, and 30°). Daily occurrences of scintillation were most frequent around 22–02 LT. On a month‐by‐month basis, October recorded the highest occurrences of scintillations, while June recorded the least. Furthermore, contrary to Akala et al. (2014, 2015) who earlier reported January as off season for scintillation occurrences at some sites in Africa, namely, Lagos (Central West Africa), Nairobi, and Kampala (East Africa), the current study recorded some scintillation occurrences at Dakar (far west of West Africa) in January. It therefore implies that longitudinal variations do exist in the climatology of ionospheric scintillations over Africa. Consequently, detailed understanding of the climatology and daily distributions of ionospheric scintillations over equatorial Africa, which is our key objective in this study (from the perspective of Dakar), is the basic requirement for developing robust physics‐based scintillation models for the African equatorial region. Finally, we noted that the conventional adoption of high‐elevation masking angles during scintillation data processing, with a view to suppressing multipath effects usually hid important ionospheric‐induced scintillation data.

After sunset, in the equatorial regions ionospheric plasma irregularities are generated due to the generalized Rayleigh‐Taylor instability. Under favorable conditions these irregularities develop in the equatorial region while mapping along the magnetic field lines giving rise to large plasma depletion structures called Equatorial Plasma Bubbles with embedded smaller structures on their walls. The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) L1 band frequency is sensitive to irregularities of the size of 300–400 m in the first Fresnel zone, which cause scattering and diffraction of the signal and produce amplitude and/or phase scintillation. Severe scintillation of GNSS signals can in turn cause loss of lock of the receiver code and/or carrier loops. As a result, GNSS navigation and positioning solution can be adversely affected by the ionospheric scintillation. There are multiple GNSS receivers designed to monitor scintillations. These receivers are based on different hardware designs and use different methodologies to process the raw data. When using simultaneous data from different GNSS scintillation monitors it is important to evaluate and compare their performances under similar scintillation conditions. The scintillation monitoring techniques may be useful for many applications that use GNSS signal. The aim of this work is to evaluate the performance of six different GNSS receivers located at São José dos Campos (23.1°S, 45.8°W, dip latitude 17.3°S) during moderate and strong scintillation activity. The amplitude (S₄) and phase (σ_ϕ) scintillation indexes from these receivers were analyzed and compared for the nights February 20–21 and November 27–28, 2013.

Space weather science has been a growing field in Africa since 2007. This growth in infrastructure and human capital development has been accompanied by the deployment of ground-based observing infrastructure, most of which was donated by foreign institutions or installed and operated by foreign establishments. However, some of this equipment is no longer operational due to several factors, which are examined in this paper. It was observed that there are considerable gaps in ground-based space-weather-observing infrastructure in many African countries, a situation that hampers the data acquisition necessary for space weather research, hence limiting possible development of space weather products and services that could help address socio-economic challenges. This paper presents the current status of space weather science in Africa from the point of view of some key leaders in this field, focusing on infrastructure, situation, human capital development, and the research landscape.