Bibliography

Ionospheric Response Over Brazil to the August 2018 Geomagnetic Storm as Probed by CSES-01 and Swarm Satellites and by Local Ground-Based Observations

The geomagnetic storm that occurred on 25 August 25 2018, that is, during the minimum of solar cycle 24, is currently the strongest ever probed by the first China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01). By integrating the in situ measurements provided by CSES-01 (orbiting at altitude of 507 km) and by Swarm A satellite (orbiting at ca., 460 km) with ground-based observations (ionosondes, magnetometers, and Global Navigation Satellite System receivers), we investigate the ionospheric response at lower- and mid-latitudes over Brazil. Specifically, we investigate the electrodynamic disturbances driven by solar wind changes, by focusing on the disturbances driving modifications of the equatorial electrojet (EEJ). Our proposed multisensor technique analysis mainly highlights the variations in the topside and bottomside ionosphere, and the interplay between prompt penetrating electric fields and disturbance dynamo electric fields resulting in EEJ variations. Thanks to this approach and leveraging on the newly available CSES-01 data, we complement and extend what recently investigated in the Western South American sector, by highlighting the significant longitudinal differences, which mainly come from the occurrence of a daytime counter-EEJ during both 25 and 26 August at Braziliian longitudes and during part of 26 August only in the Peruvian sector. In addition, the increased thermospheric circulation driven by the storm has an impact on the EEJ during the recovery phase of the storm. The observations at the CSES-01/Swarm altitudes integrated with the ground-based observation recorded signatures of equatorial ionospheric anomaly crests formation and modification during daytime coupled with the positive ionospheric storm effects at midlatitude.

Spogli, L.; Sabbagh, D.; Regi, M.; Cesaroni, C.; Perrone, L.; Alfonsi, L.; Di Mauro, D.; Lepidi, S.; Campuzano, S.; Marchetti, D.; De Santis, A.; Malagnini, A.; Scotto, C.; Cianchini, G.; Shen, Xu; Piscini, A.; Ippolito, A.;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on:

YEAR: 2021     DOI: 10.1029/2020JA028368

Geomagnetic storms; Equatorial Electrojet; in situ plasma density; ionospheric elctroduamics; Ionospheric storms; low-latitude ionosphere

Global-scale Observations of the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly

Abstract The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk ultraviolet spectrograph has been imaging the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA), regions of the ionosphere with enhanced electron density north and south of the magnetic equator, since October 2018. The initial 3 months of observations was during solar minimum conditions, and they included observations in December solstice of unanticipated variability and depleted regions. Depletions are seen on most nights, in contrast to expectations from previous space-based observations. The variety of scales and morphologies also pose challenges to understanding of the EIA. Abrupt changes in the EIA location, which could be related to in situ measurements of large-scale depletion regions, are observed on some nights. Such synoptic-scale disruptions have not been previously identified.

Eastes, R.; Solomon, S.; Daniell, R.; Anderson, D.; Burns, A.; England, S.; Martinis, C.; McClintock, W.;

Published by: Geophysical Research Letters      Published on:

YEAR: 2019     DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084199

Equatorial ionosphere; ionospheric irregularities; ionospheric dynamics; Ionospheric storms; forecasting; airglow and aurora

Positive and negative ionospheric storms occurring during the 15 May 2005 geomagnetic superstorm

This study focuses on the 15 May 2005 geomagnetic superstorm and aims to investigate the global variation of positive and negative storm phases and their development. Observations are provided by a series of global total electron content maps and multi-instrument line plots. Coupled Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Plasmasphere electrodynamics (CTIPe) simulations are also employed. Results reveal some sunward streaming plumes of storm-enhanced density (SED) over Asia and a well-developed midlatitude trough over North America forming isolated positive and negative storms, respectively. The simultaneous development of positive and negative storms over North America is also shown. Then, some enhanced auroral ionizations maintained by strong equatorward neutral winds appeared in the depleted nighttime ionosphere. Meanwhile, the northern nighttime polar region became significantly depleted as the SED plume plasma could not progress further than the dayside cusp. Oppositely, a polar tongue of ionization (TOI) developed in the daytime southern polar region. According to CTIP simulations, solar heating locally maximized (minimized) over the southern (northern) magnetic pole. Furthermore, strong upward surges of molecular-rich air created O/N₂\ decreases both in the auroral zone and in the trough region, while some SED-related downward surges produced O/N₂\ increases. From these results we conclude for the time period studied that (1) composition changes contributed to the formation of positive and negative storms, (2) strengthening polar convection and increasing solar heating of the polar cap supported polar TOI development, and (3) a weaker polar convection and minimized solar heating of the polar cap aided the depletion of polar plasma.

Horvath, Ildiko; Lovell, Brian;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on: 09/2015

YEAR: 2015     DOI: 10.1002/2015JA021206

CTIP/CTIPe simulations; Ionospheric storms; midlatitude trough; polar TOI; SED plume; thermospheric composition

Ionospheric F-region response to geomagnetic disturbances

The F2-region reaction to geomagnetic storms usually called as an ionospheric storm is a rather complicated event. It consists of so called positive and negative phases, which have very complicated spatial and temporal behavior. The main morphological features of ionospheric storms and the main processes governing their behavior were understood at the end of the 1900s and described in a series of review papers. During the recent decade there were many publications dedicated to the problem of ionospheric storms. In this paper a concept of ionospheric storm morphology and physics formulated at the end of the 1990s is briefly summarized and the most interesting results obtained in the 2000s are described. It is shown that the main features of the studies of the previous decade were: the use of GPS TEC data for analyzing the ionospheric storm morphology, attraction of sophisticated theoretical models for studying the processes governing ionospheric behavior in disturbed conditions, and accent to analysis of ionospheric behavior during prominent events (very strong and great geomagnetic storms). Also a special attention was paid to the pre-storm enhancements in foF2 and TEC.

Danilov, A.D.;

Published by: Advances in Space Research      Published on: 08/2013

YEAR: 2013     DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2013.04.019

Geomagnetic disturbances; Ionosphere; Ionospheric storms

Physical mechanisms of the ionospheric storms at equatorial and higher latitudes during the recovery phase of geomagnetic storms

The paper studies the physical mechanisms of the ionospheric storms at equatorial and higher latitudes, which are generally opposite both during the main phase (MP) and recovery phase (RP) of geomagnetic storms. The mechanisms are based on the natural tendency of physical systems to occupy minimum energy state which is most stable. The paper first illustrates the recent developments in the understanding of the mechanisms during daytime MPs when generally negative ionospheric storms (in Nmax and TEC) develop at equatorial latitudes and positive storms occur at higher latitudes, including why the storms are severe only in some cases. The paper then investigates the relative importance of the physical mechanisms of the positive ionospheric storms observed at equatorial latitudes (within \textpm15\textdegree) during daytime RPs when negative storms occur at higher latitudes using CHAMP Ne and GPS-TEC data and Sheffield University Plasmasphere Ionosphere Model. The results indicate that the mechanical effect of the storm-time equatorward neutral winds that causes plasma convergence at equatorial F region could be a major source for the positive storms, with the downwelling effect of the winds and zero or westward electric field, if present, acting as minor sources.

Balan, N.; Otsuka, Y.; Nishioka, M.; Liu, J; Bailey, G.;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on: 05/2013

YEAR: 2013     DOI: 10.1002/jgra.50275

Geomagnetic storms; Ionospheric storms; physical mechanisms

Retrieval of thermospheric parameters from routine ionospheric observations: assessment of method\textquoterights performance at mid-latitudes daytime hours

A new method has been developed to retrieve neutral temperature T_n and composition [O], [N₂], [O₂] from electron density profiles in the daytime mid-latitude F₂-region under both quiet and disturbed conditions. A comparison with CHAMP neutral gas density observations in the vicinity of Millstone Hill Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) has shown that the retrieved neutral gas densities coincide with the observed ones within the announced accuracy of CHAMP observations, provided that accurate N_e(h) ISR profiles are used for the retrieval. The performance of the method has also been tested ingesting Digisonde N_e(h) profiles. In this case the agreement with CHAMP neutral gas density observations is less successful. Possible factors that can influence the performance accuracy are investigated. These are mostly related to limitations due to the ionogram scaling and inversion methods, including performance limitations of the sounding technique itself, like for instance during G-conditions. Several tests presented here demonstrate that discrepancies in the hmF2 values provided by the Digisondes could have an important impact on the performance of the method. It should be noted that in all tests performed here using Digisonde N_e(h) profiles, the topside part is approximated with the NeQuick model and any assessment concerning the impact of the topside profiler on the accuracy of the method is beyond the scope of this investigation. Despite the limitations related to the use of Digisonde profiles, the proposed method has the potential to monitor the thermosphere at least with ISR N_e(h) profiles. Digisonde electron density profiles can also be used if quality improvements are made concerning the ionogram inversion methods.

Mikhailov, A.V.; Belehaki, A.; Perrone, L.; Zolesi, B.; Tsagouri, I.;

Published by: Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate      Published on: 06/2012

YEAR: 2012     DOI: 10.1051/swsc/2012002

ionosphere/atmosphere interactions; ionosphere: instruments; Ionospheric storms; techniques; thermospheric dynamics; topside ionosphere

Ionospheric storm time dynamics as seen by GPS tomography and in situ spacecraft observations

During major geomagnetic storms anomalous enhancements of the ionospheric density are seen at high and middle latitudes. A number of physical mechanisms have been invoked to explain these storm time density anomalies including an expansion of high-latitude electric plasma convection to midlatitudes, thermospheric neutral winds, and changes in the ionospheric composition. However, it remains unclear which mechanism plays the dominant role in the formation of storm time density anomalies, partly because of insufficient coverage of the measurements of global electric convection and thermospheric winds at midlatitudes. This paper describes a novel technique for extracting the storm time E × B convection boundary from in situ measurements of plasma bulk motion obtained by LEO DMSP satellites. The convection boundary estimated from the DMSP data during major magnetic storm of 20 November 2003 has been compared with the global distributions of the ionospheric plasma deduced from characteristics of GPS signals acquired by a ground-based network of GPS receivers. The tomographic inversion of GPS data using a three-dimensional time-dependent inversion technique reveals the spatial and temporal evolution of the storm time density anomaly. Comparison between the tomographic reconstructions of the ionospheric plasma distributions and in situ DMSP measurements of plasma bulk motion suggests that the convective flow expanded low enough in latitude to encompass, in part, the formation of the midlatitude TEC anomaly. Some features of the TEC dynamics observed during the 20 November 2003 storm, however, suggest that mechanisms other than the expanded ionospheric convection (such as thermospheric neutral winds) are also involved in the formation of the midlatitude anomaly.

Pokhotelov, D.; Mitchell, C.; Spencer, P.; Hairston, M.; Heelis, R.;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on:

YEAR: 2008     DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JA013109

Ionospheric storms; Tomography; plasma convection