Investigation of the relationship between ionospheric scintillations and equatorial spread F (ESF) during adverse space weather conditions is of paramount significance for developing ionospheric scintillation mitigation strategies for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. In this paper, we present correlation analysis between equatorial spread F (ESF) and L-band amplitude scintillations conducted at low-latitude Hyderabad station (17.47° N, 78.57° E) during the severe geomagnetic storm event of 17 March 2015 (St. Patrick's Day). Hyderabad location comes under the region between the magnetic equator and the northern crest of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). ESF information is derived from ionograms of ionosonde located at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Balloon Facility, Hyderabad, whereas amplitude scintillation index (S4) data have been obtained from the GPS receiver at Hyderabad (GAGAN network). Intense spread F (SSF) signatures were observed during post-sunset hours of 16 March (pre-storm day) and 17 March (storm day), 2015, where the spread F (SF) index is higher than 1 MHz. GPS satellite vehicle with pseudo-random noise code (PRN) 24 experienced strong scintillation (S4 = 1.06) at 18:53 UT on the pre-storm day of 16 March 2015. GPS PRN 30 satellite was affected severely on 17 March (storm day), when the observed S4 index is 0.99. Development of ESF and subsequent scintillations are due to the strong eastward prompt penetration electric fields over the Indian region. The inhibition of spread F and scintillations noticed on 18 March 2015 are because of disturbance dynamo electric fields and disturbance winds. The SSF occurrences were well correlated with scintillation index values at Hyderabad station, India. Variations of the virtual height of the F layer (h′F) and drift velocity (V_d) are related to the S4 values during the period of interest. The outcome of the preliminary results would be useful for development of ionospheric scintillation prediction algorithms for GPS users.

在不利的空间天气条件下，电离层闪烁与赤道扩散F（ESF）之间的关系的研究对于开发全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）接收器的电离层闪烁缓解策略至关重要。在本文中，我们介绍了在2015年3月17日（圣马丁岛）发生的严重地磁风暴事件期间，在低纬度海得拉巴站（北纬17.47°，东经78.57°）进行的赤道展宽F（ESF）与L波段振幅闪烁之间的相关性分析。帕特里克节）。海得拉巴的位置位于磁赤道与赤道电离异常（EIA）北顶之间的区域下方。ESF信息来自位于海得拉巴塔塔基础研究（TIFR）气球设施的离子探空仪的离子图，而振幅闪烁指数（S4）数据是从海得拉巴（GAGAN网络）的GPS接收器获得的。在2015年3月16日（风暴前日）和3月17日（风暴日）的日落后时段，观测到强烈的扩展F（SSF）特征，其中扩展F（SF）指数高于1 MHz。带有伪随机噪声代码（PRN）24的GPS卫星车辆在2015年3月16日的暴风雨日18:53 UT经历了强烈的闪烁（S4 = 1.06）。3月17日（暴风雨日），GPS PRN 30卫星受到严重影响），则观察到的S4指数为0.99。ESF的发展和随后的闪烁是由于印度地区强大的向东快速穿透电场所致。2015年3月18日发现抑制F扩散和闪烁是由于干扰发电机电场和干扰风。SSF的发生与印度海得拉巴站的闪烁指数值有很好的相关性。F层的虚拟高度的变化（ħ ' ˚F）和漂移速度（V _d）期间所关注的时期相关的S4值。初步结果的结果将有助于开发GPS用户的电离层闪烁预测算法。