Correlative ionospheric disturbances in the sunlit hemisphere during the flare on July 14, 2000

Using GPS data obtained from GPS sites located on the sunlit hemisphere during the flare on July 14, 2000, the ionospheric response to the flare was analyzed. A kind of tiny correlative ionospheric fluctuations were revealed from the temporal total electron content (TEC) curves derived from GPS measurements, and the values of this kind of disturbances are about 1015m−2. A comparative analysis of these disturbances and soft X-ray flux detected at GOES satellite during the flare is done. It is found that this kind of disturbances revealed in the temporal TEC curves did occur in a very large area of sunlit ionosphere and its behavior is mainly controlled by the characteristics of the flare’s extra radiation. Because the similar fluctuations are not found in the curve of soft X-ray flux, it is concluded that the flare extra radiation in EUV band should have corresponding fluctuations and it is the fluctuations that cause the TEC disturbances. The height, where the disturbances occur, should be in the F region.