Observed characteristics of ionospheric winds.
Ionospheric winds characteristics from observation of motions and growth of sunlit trails of alkali vapor compared to rocket probing of electron concentration
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Ionospheric winds characteristics from observation of motions and growth of sunlit trails of alkali vapor compared to rocket probing of electron concentration
Subsonic parachute-borne blunt probes for charged particle measurement in ionosphere
Topside ionosphere constitution, examining electron and ion distribution, charged particle scale height, ion composition, electron and ion temperatures and magnetosphere
Mass spectrometric determination of nighttime topside ionosphere composition
Virtual heights and absorption of radio waves in ionosphere, discussing methods of computation
Subsonic parachute-borne blunt probes for charged particle measurement in ionosphere
Nighttime ionosphere maintained by downward flux of electrons from protonosphere as shown by columnar electron contents measurements, noting decay rate
Global response of topside ionosphere to magnetic disturbances at solar minimum studied from electron concentration measurements at 640 km
Vertical incidence ionospheric absorption measurements from ground station criteria for recognizing winter anomaly
Ionospheric electron content variation across sunrise and sunset lines deduced from radio-beacon satellite transmissions
Changes in topside ionosphere during large magnetic storm, studying electron density, slab thickness, scale height, etc
In remote radar sounding, it is highly desirable to operate at low frequencies to improve depth of penetration. For spaceborne sounders, the lowest operating frequency is limited by the effect of the ionosphere due to significant dispersion of the radar waves at near plasma frequency.
The ionospheric storm evolution process was monitored during the January 10, 1997 magnetic cloud event, through measurements of the inonospheric total electron content (TEC) from 150 GPS stations. The first significant response of the inonospheric TEC to the geomagnetic storm was at 0300 UT as an auroral/subauroral enhancement around the Alaskan evening sector.
We can extend robustly the radio occultation data record by 6 years (+60%) by developing a singlefrequency processing method for GPS/MET data. We will produce a calibrated data set with profile-byprofile data characterization to determine robust upper bounds on ionospheric bias. Part of an effort to produce a calibrated RO data set addressing other key error sources such as upper boundary initialization. Planned: AIRS-GPS water vapor cross validation (water vapor climatology and trends).
Broadcast messages of the FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) include the grid ionosphere vertical error (GIVE).
Thunderstorms have been observed to introduce infrasonic oscillations in the ionosphere, but it is not clear what processes or which parts of the thunderstorm generate the oscillations. In this paper, we present a new technique that uses an array of ground-based GPS total electron content (TEC) measurements to locate the source of the infrasonic oscillations and compare the source locations with thunderstorm features to understand the possible source mechanisms. The location technique utilizes instantaneous phase differences between pairs of GPS-TEC measurements and an algorithm to best fit the measured and the expected phase differences for assumed source positions and other related parameters. In this preliminary study, the infrasound waves are assumed to propagate along simple geometric raypaths from the source to the measurement locations to avoid extensive computations. The located sources are compared in time and space with thunderstorm development and lightning activity. Sources are often found near the main storm cells, but they are more likely related to the downdraft process than to the updraft process. As a result, the sources are also commonly found in the convectively quiet stratiform regions behind active cells and are in good coincidence with extensive lightning discharges and inferred high-altitude sprites discharges.
Within the fully integrated magnetosphere-ionosphere system, many electrodynamic processes interact with each other. We review recent advances in understanding three major meso-scale coupling processes within the system: the transient field-aligned currents (FACs), mid-latitude plasma convection, and auroral particle precipitation. (1) Transient FACs arise due to disturbances from either dayside or nightside magnetosphere. As the interplanetary shocks suddenly compress the dayside magnetosphere, short-lived FACs are induced at high latitudes with their polarity successively changing. Magnetotail dynamics, such as substorm injections, can also disturb the current structures, leading to the formation of substorm current wedges and ring current disruption. (2) The mid-latitude plasma convection is closely associated with electric fields in the system. Recent studies have unraveled some important features and mechanisms of subauroral fast flows. (3) Charged particles, while drifting around the Earth, often experience precipitating loss down to the upper atmosphere, enhancing the auroral conductivity. Recent studies have been devoted to developing more self-consistent geospace circulation models by including a better representation of the auroral conductance. It is expected that including these new advances in geospace circulation models could promisingly strengthen their forecasting capability in space weather applications. The remaining challenges especially in the global modeling of the circulation system are also discussed.
In this paper, we consider theoretically nonlinear ion-cyclotron gradient-drift dissipative structures (oscillitons) in low ionospheric plasmas. Similar to Nonlinear Optics and Condensed Matter Physics, the Ginzburg-Landau equation for the envelope of electric wave fields is derived, and solutions for oscillitons in the form of solitons with chirp are examined. The whole dissipative structure constitutes a soliton with a moving charge-neutral density hump. Conditions for excitation and properties of the structures are considered.