Analysis of Ionospheric Response to the May 2024 Geomagnetic Superstorm Using Commercial Radio Occultation Satellites and Ground‐Based Instruments

Abstract This study investigates the ionospheric response to the May 2024 geomagnetic storm using electron density and scintillation data from space‐based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) satellites and ground‐based GNSS receivers. Electron density profiles retrieved from commercial RO observations revealed a distinct depletion in the F‐region and an enhancement in the E‐region at high latitudes during the storm, particularly during the recovery phase. These findings were supported and corroborated by observations from collocated digital ionosondes and incoherent scatter radar. A collocation analysis between scintillation indices retrieved from RO data and ground‐based ionospheric scintillation monitoring receivers demonstrated temporal and spatial agreement between the two data sets during the storm. RO‐derived scintillation indices exhibited clear altitude dependence, with strong scintillation in both the F‐ and E‐regions during the initial and main phases of the storm, and increased E‐region scintillation accompanied by suppressed F‐region scintillation during the recovery phase. The variations were consistent with background electron density conditions at different altitudes.