The Ionospheric Mid-Latitude Summer Nighttime Anomaly

This paper presents monthly variations of the mid-latitude summer nighttime anomaly (MSNA) of the ionosphere for the first time by using global observations of the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3/C), NASA TIMED-GUVI, ground-based radars and GPS receiver network. The MSNA is characterized by greater nighttime (19:00 LT - 24:00 LT, or period of larger solar zenith angles) ionospheric electron density than that during daytime (08:00 - 18:00 LT, or period of smaller solar zenith angles) at middle latitudes during solstices. The anomaly shown in the southern hemisphere during December solstice was previously known as the Weddell Sea Anomaly (WSA) occurring around the Antarctica and the nearby Pacific Ocean, while a WSA-like electron density structure also occurs in the northern hemisphere around June solstice. This study demonstrates that the anomalies occurred in both the northern and southern hemispheres share similar character of greater nighttime density. Moreover, the latitude-altitude cross-section plots of the electron density structure show very similar time-varying electron density evolutions of the MSNA. In both hemispheres, the anomalies with similar electron density characteristics and variations caused by the similar mechanism prompts us to name this phenomenon the mid-latitude summer nighttime anomaly.