Bibliography

Low-latitude plasma blobs above Africa: Exploiting GOLD and multi-satellite in situ measurements

Low-latitude plasma blobs are localized density enhancements of electron density that are occasionally observed in the night-time tropical ionosphere. Two-dimensional (2D) imaging of this phenomenon has been rare and frequently restricted to Central/South America, which is densely covered with ground-based airglow imagers and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. In Africa, on the contrary, no 2D image of a blob has been reported. Here we present two low-latitude blob events above Africa, one in the Northern summer and the other in winter, in the 2-dimensional Far-UltraViolet (FUV) images from the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission. Additionally, multiple satellites (four spacecraft per event) on the Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) encountered the blob events, some within the GOLD images and some outside. The LEO data support the robustness of GOLD observations and bridge time gaps between the consecutive images. Properties of the two blob events above Africa generally support the conclusions in a previous case study for Central/South America. Plasma therein exhibited higher O+ fraction and faster ion flow toward outer L-shells than the ambient. The blobs were conjugate to locally intensified Equatorial Ionization Anomaly crests without conspicuous equatorward-westward propagation. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of GOLD and multiple LEO satellites in monitoring the ionosphere above Africa, which is a fascinating laboratory of low-latitude electrodynamics but still waiting for more observatories to be deployed.

Park, Jaeheung; Min, Kyoung; Eastes, Richard; Chao, Chi; Kim, Hee-Eun; Lee, Junchan; Sohn, Jongdae; Ryu, Kwangsun; Seo, Hoonkyu; Yoo, Ji-Hyeon; Lee, Seunguk; Woo, Changho; Kim, Eo-Jin;

Published by: Advances in Space Research      Published on: may

YEAR: 2022     DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2022.05.021

COSMIC-2; GOLD; ICON; Low-latitude blobs; NextSat-1; swarm

Disappearance of the Polar Cap Ionosphere During Geomagnetic Storm on 11 May 2019

Multi-instrument data from Jang Bogo Station (JBS) in Antarctica were utilized to study ionospheric responses to the 11 May 2019 moderate geomagnetic storm. These include Vertical Incident Pulsed Ionospheric Radar (VIPIR)/Dynasonde, Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI), GPS vertical total electron content (vTEC), and magnetometer. The VIPIR/Dynasonde observed long-lasting (\textgreater11 hr) severe depletion of the electron density in the F-region ionosphere over JBS. During the depletion interval, GPS TEC also correspondingly decreased, FPI neutral temperature was significantly enhanced, and the polar magnetic field variations showed positive and negative excursions in the Y (east) and Z (vertical) components, respectively. GK-2 A satellite, located ∼2.5 hr west of JBS, observed negative magnetic field perturbations in the azimuthal BD component at geosynchronous orbit during the depletion of ionospheric plasma. Such a BD perturbation at geosynchronous orbit is due to the field-aligned currents flowing out of the ionosphere. From these observations we suggest that transpolar ionospheric currents connected to the field-aligned currents flowing on a substorm wedge-shaped circuit act as a source of polar atmospheric heating during the moderate geomagnetic storm interval and that elevated heavy molecular gases (O2 and N2) by atmospheric heating contribute to the electron density depletion via increased recombination rate.

Kwon, H.-J.; Kim, K.-H.; Jee, G.; Seon, J.; Lee, C.; Ham, Y.-B.; Hong, J.; Kim, E.; Bullett, T.; Auster, H.-U.; Magnes, W.; Kraft, S.;

Published by: Space Weather      Published on:

YEAR: 2022     DOI: 10.1029/2022SW003054