Kamalu A.^1,, Edan J. D.²

This paper focused on the determination of Spatial and Temporal variability of TEC over parts of Northern Nigeria. It computed and analyzed the year 2011 and 2013 TEC data, obtained from the Nigerian Global Navigation Satellite Systems Reference Network (NIGNET)’s ground-based GPS receivers installed at Six (6) different locations across Northern Nigeria. Results show that, the annual magnitude of TEC of 2013 was higher than that of 2011. The Diurnal analysis indicates TEC variation was minimum at pre-dawn (0-5 TECU) and increased during the day time attaining a maximum in the afternoon and decrease before sunset at all stations. The highest monthly average value was in November (34.49 and 31.39 TECU) and the minimum value in January (13.21 TECU) and September (18.91 TECU) at BKFP Station for 2011 and 2013 respectively. For seasonal variation, the equinox has the highest value of the GPS-TEC, followed by winter and the lowest value in the summer in all the stations for both years. The highest value of GPS-TEC was recorded at equinox in the year 2013 at FUTY (26.66 TECU) and 2011 at BKFP (26.63 TECU) stations respectively. The lowest value, was in summer at CGGT 2011(17.32 TECU) and 2013 (22.58 TECU). The spatial variation shows that TEC varies with latitude more than longitude. Further research is recommended on ionospheric effects and TEC variability during solar minima and solar maxima, as the research focused on ascending phase of solar cycle 24.

GPS, Total Electron Content (TEC), ionosphere, NIGNET, solar cycle