Analysis of the impact and effects of the solar storm on the ionosphere from May 8 to 16, 2024

Solar storms can cause severe disturbances to the state of Earth’s ionosphere and affect navigation and positioning performance. According to the ionospheric disturbance event occurring during the solar storm from May 8 to 16, 2024, the changes of ionospheric total electron content, ionospheric total electron content change rate, ionospheric F₂ layer critical frequency, satellite navigation single point positioning error and so on at different latitude stations in the eastern and western hemispheres are analyzed. The analysis result shows that the sun-lit hermisphere of the ionosphere will respond to X-ray flares, but the main source of the disturbance is the geomagnetic storm caused by the solar wind southward magnetic field energy injection. The responses at the top and bottom of the ionosphere during solar storms are not synchronized; The single point positioning error of satellite navigation will increase significantly during the solar storm, especially in the vertical direction it will increase to about ±10 m. It will continue to exist during the recovery phase of ionospheric storms, and gradually weaken with the calm of the ionospheric state.