亚极光区极化流发生期间电离层离子下行的统计

亚极光区极化流是地球磁层–电离层耦合过程中最重要的现象之一,对电离层具有重要的调制作用.多数情况下,亚极光区极化流发生时会伴随局地离子上行流动,目前已对其有充分的研究,但对离子下行的研究却甚少.本文分析了DMSP卫星在2001-2015年间16个地磁暴中的观测数据,在483个亚极光区极化流事件中找到102个离子下行事件...     

Field-aligned plasmaspheric flows at moderate latitudes

In a model of the plasmasphere, coupled time-dependent continuity, momentum and energy equations are solved for thermal O⁺, H⁺ and electrons. The field-aligned mass flow coupling and thermal coupling of conjugate ionsopheres via the protonosphere are studied. For solstice conditions, thermal coupling between conjugate hemispheres gives rise to very strong upward flows of O⁺ in the topside ionosphere of the summer hemisphere at the time of sunrise in the conjugate (winter) ionosphere; a less marked effect (but with downward flow) occurs in the summer ionosphere at winter sunset. In addition, there are strong upward and downward flows of O⁺ at local sunrise and sunset, respectively, in both hemispheres. At both L = 1.5 and L = 3, the 24-hour time-integrated interhemispheric H⁺ flux is in the summer - winter direction. At L = 1.5 its magnitude is in good agreement with the magnitude of the time- integrated field-aligned plasma (O⁺ + H⁺) flux at 1000 km altitude; there is no such agreement at L = 3.     

Model for the VLF/LF radio signal anomalies formation associated with earthquakes

The influence of quasi-static electric field of seismic origin on the characteristics of the internal gravity waves (IGWs) in the Earth’s ionosphere is considered. The electric field in the ionosphere arises due to the injection of charged aerosols into the atmosphere, formation of an EMF in the near Earth atmosphere and perturbation of the conductive electric current in the global electric circuit. Amplification of the electric current in seismic zone is accompanied by the formation of perturbation of the lower ionosphere that affects the amplitude and phase of VLF/LF signals. The action of the electric field on the IGWs is connected with the appearance of the Ampere’s force in the ionosphere. In the spectral range of these waves the latter acts on the neutral component of the ionosphere plasma. As the result of this interaction the ionosphere starts to support the discrete spectrum of oscillations. Periods of their maximums increase as numbers of natural sequence. The existence of such peculiarities of the waves in the ionosphere is confirmed by observations.     

利用热力学与统计物理方法研究电离层E层的形成

将太阳光子作为反应物引入电离层化学反应中, 运用化学热力学方法, 获得低电离层光化学反应的反应度及其化学平衡常数, 进而得到低电离层的电子密度, 并通过统计物理方法推导出相应的化学平衡常数. 结果显示, 运用热力学方法得到的低电离层电子密度与Chapman理论几乎完全一致, 表明利用热力学方法研究电离层的形成是可行的. 分别用热力学方法和统计物理方法得到的平衡常数之间存在一定的差异, 分析表明, 这是因为光化学过程中并非所有光子能量都转化成了电离能, 其中有一部分能量转化为热能或使粒子处于激发态, 这种差异的存在使利用统计物理方法推导电离层等离子体温度成为可能.      

Models of the plasmaspheric thermal plasma distribution

Our current understanding of the thermal plasma in the atmosphere and its coupling to the ionosphere is reviewed. Existing models appear adequate to explain the gross behavior of the cold thermal plasma, but there remain some vexing problems. Notably, (1) why does the density in flux tubes appear to saturate at lower values than are predicted theoretically, (2) what causes the sunset peak in measured Te, and (3) why does the equatorial plasmapause signature differ in latitude from the ionosphere signatures. The more difficult problem of what happens during the early stages of refilling after a magnetic storm, when the high altitude plasma is likely to be supersonic and collisionless, has received much attention, but the results are not definite. A number of papers have dealt with the interaction of supersonic counterstreaming fluxes and there are now models that can handle the transition from supersonic to subsonic flows although the transition from a collisionless to a collision-dominated plasma remains difficult to deal with.     

Shear flow energy redistribution stipulated by the internal-gravity wavy structures in the dissipative ionosphere

The linear mechanism of generation, intensification and further nonlinear dynamics of internal gravity waves (IGW) in stably stratified dissipative ionosphere with non-uniform zonal wind (shear flow) is studied. In case of the shear flows the operators of linear problem are non-selfadjoint, and the corresponding Eigen functions – nonorthogonal. Thus, canonical – modal approach is of less use studying such motions. Non-modal mathematical analysis becomes more adequate for such problems. On the basis of non-modal approach, the equations of dynamics and the energy transfer of IGW disturbances in the ionosphere with a shear flow is obtained. Exact analytical solutions of the linear as well as the nonlinear dynamic equations of the problem are built. The increment of shear instability of IGW is defined. It is revealed that the transient amplification of IGW disturbances due time does not flow exponentially, but in algebraic – power law manner. The effectiveness of the linear amplification mechanism of IGW at interaction with non-uniform zonal wind is analyzed. It is shown that at initial linear stage of evolution IGW effectively temporarily draws energy from the shear flow significantly increasing (by an order of magnitude) own amplitude and energy. With amplitude growth the nonlinear mechanism turns on and the process ends with self-organization of nonlinear solitary, strongly localized IGW vortex structures (the monopole vortex, the transverse vortex chain or the longitudinal vortex street). Accumulation of these vortices in the ionospheric medium can create the strongly turbulent state.     

The properties of the low altitude magnetic belt in the Venus ionosphere

When the solar wind dynamic pressure is high, the Venus ionosphere usually contains a belt of steady magnetic field at the very lowest altitudes to which Pioneer Venus probes. The current layer that flows on the high altitude side of this low altitude belt is centered at an altitude which ranges from 170 to 190 km with a most probable altitude of 182 km. This altitude is independent of solar zenith angle and hence the current system is flowing horizontally rather than vertically as proposed by Cloutier and co-workers. The lower edge of the magnetic belt was probed only on the lowest altitude passes of Pioneer Venus. This boundary is even more stable in location. The belt has decayed to 90% of its maximum strength usually by 162 km and to 50% of its maximum strength by 155 km. We interpret these data to indicate that the observed magnetic structure of the Venus ionosphere is a product of temporal evolution rather than of spacecraft motion through a spatially varying static structure.     

Low-energy ion flows into the magnetosphere

Ion flows from the ionosphere into the magnetosphere fall into two main categories: cold (<1eV), “classical” polar wind and heated (>1eV), suprathermal ion outflows. A wealth of new understanding of these outflows has resulted from the Dynamics Explorer Mission. This review describes both the confirmation of the predicted classical polar wind as well as the revelation of a great variety of low-energy suprathermal outflows: the cleft ion fountain, the nightside auroral fountaion (X-events, toroids and field-aligned flows) and polar cap outflows. The main emphasis is placed on flows at energies below about 50eV, observed by the Retarding Ion Mass Spectrometer (RIMS) on board the Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite; limited comparisons are made with results from other instruments which sample different energy ranges.     

基于IGS电离层TEC格网的扰动特征统计分析

电离层总电子含量（TEC）是研究空间天气特性的重要参量,通过分析电离层TEC,可以了解空间环境的变化特征.利用IGS提供的1999—2016年全球电离层TEC格网数据,按照地磁纬度将全球划分为高、中、中低、低磁纬四个区域,计算不同区域的电离层扰动;利用大量统计数据选取电离层扰动事件的判定阈值,分析电离层扰动与太阳活动、时空之间的关系;计算电离层扰动指数与地磁活动之间的相关系数.结果显示:电离层扰动与太阳活动变化具有较强的正相关特性.在太阳活动低年,电离层扰动事件发生的概率约为1.79%,在太阳活动高年发生扰动的概率约为10.18%.在空间分布上,无论是太阳活动高年还是低年,高磁纬地区发生扰动事件的概率均大于其他磁纬出现扰动事件的概率.计算得到的中磁纬和中低磁纬地区电离层扰动指数与全球地磁指数Ap的相关系数分别为0.57和0.56,说明电离层扰动指数与Ap具有较好的相关关系;高磁纬电离层扰动指数与Ap的相关系数为0.44;低磁纬扰动指数与Ap的相关系数为0.39.以上结果表明,不同区域电离层扰动与全球地磁指数Ap的相关性不同,测定区域地磁指数可能会提高与电离层扰动的相关性.      

电离层等效电流体系对行星际激波的响应研究

行星际激波是导致地球磁层-电离层系统发生扰动的重要原因之一,其可以通过对磁层-电离层系统电流体系的改变来影响地磁变化.本文采用全球三维磁流体力学数值模拟方法,分析了行星际激波作用下电离层等效电流体系的即时响应.模拟结果表明,在激波作用下伴随着异常场向电流对的产生,电离层在午前午后出现一对反向的等效电流涡.这对涡旋一边向极侧和夜侧运动,一边经历强度增强和减弱直至消失的过程.激波过后等效电流体系图像逐渐演化为激波下游行星际条件控制的典型图像.这个响应过程与行星际激波强度有关,激波强度越强,则反向的等效电流涡旋强度越大,寿命也就越短.      

Lower ionosphere response to external forcing: A brief review

There are two ways of external forcing of the lower ionosphere, the region below an altitude of about 100 km: (1) From above, which is directly or indirectly of solar origin. (2) From below, which is directly or indirectly of atmospheric origin. The external forcing of solar origin consists of two general factors – solar ionizing radiation variability and space weather. The solar ionization variability consist mainly from the 11-year solar cycle, the 27-day solar rotation and solar flares, strong flares being very important phenomenon in the daytime lower ionosphere due to the enormous increase of the solar X-ray flux resulting in temporal terminating of MF and partly LF and HF radio wave propagation due to heavy absorption of radio waves. Monitoring of the sudden ionospheric disturbances (SIDs – effects of solar flares in the lower ionosphere) served in the past as an important tool of monitoring the solar activity and its impacts on the ionosphere. Space weather effects on the lower ionosphere consist of many different but often inter-related phenomena, which govern the lower ionosphere variability at high latitudes, particularly at night. The most important space weather phenomenon for the lower ionosphere is strong geomagnetic storms, which affect substantially both the high- and mid-latitude lower ionosphere. As for forcing from below, it is caused mainly by waves in the neutral atmosphere, i.e. planetary, tidal, gravity and infrasonic waves. The most important and most studied waves are planetary and gravity waves. Another channel of the troposphere coupling to the lower ionosphere is through lightning-related processes leading to sprites, blue jets etc. and their ionospheric counterparts. These phenomena occur on very short time scales. The external forcing of the lower ionosphere has observationally been studied using predominantly ground-based methods exploiting in various ways the radio wave propagation, and by sporadic rocket soundings. All the above phenomena are briefly mentioned and some of them are treated in more detail.     

Polar ionosphere and geomagnetic response for the flux transfer events: A case study

On April 15th 2003, Cluster crossed the dayside magnetopause boundary and observed a series flux transfer events (FTEs) during the interval from 0630 to 0730 UT. During this period, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) showed a negative z component and a positive y component. Simultaneous corresponding transient plasma flows were identified in the near-conjugate polar ionosphere by the CUTLASS Finland HF radar, and the geomagnetic field disturbances were observed by the IMAGE ground-based magnetometers. By combing these data and applying the Cooling model, we show that the transient plasma flows and the geomagnetic field disturbances are closely related to the dayside FTEs.     

Effects of large-scale magnetic fields in the Venus ionosphere

Theoretical models of the ionosphere of Venus have been constructed in the past without due consideration of the fact that the ionosphere is sometimes magnetized. This paper examines some differences between the magnetized and unmagnetized dayside Venus ionosphere using the Pioneer Venus Orbiter Langmuir probe and magnetometer data. Particular attention is given to the evaluation of the altitude profiles of the thermal electron heating and comparison of the magnitude of the magnetic force(¯vׯB) ׯB with other forces in the ionosphere. Several examples illustrate how heating profiles are different in the magnetized ionosphere with effective heating below ～200 km altitude reduced by orders of magnitude compared to the field-free ionosphere. The force associated with the magnetic field is comparable to other forces in the magnetized ionosphere. The measured plasma density, electron temperature and magnetic field thus suggest that large-scale magnetic fields should be included in future ionosphere models.     

化学物质释放人工改变电离层

考虑中性气体在电离层高度的扩散过程和相应的电离层离子化学过程，研究了利用主动化学物质释放来改变电离层的方法，理论计算了H2O和SF6两种气体释放后电离层随时间的响应过程，结果表明，在电离层高度上气体的扩散过程非常迅速，电离层F区的电子密度有很大程度的减少，而扩散慢且化学反应快的气体对电离层的影响更大，就更加有利于电离层洞的形成。     

对流层特大暴雨天气对电离层变化的影响

研究气象活动对电离层变化的影响．利用时序叠加方法，通过对1958-1998年期间发生在武汉的5次特大暴雨天气事件对武汉上空电离层变化的影响进行分析，发现：(1)特大暴雨能够引起低电离层，fbEs和，f0Es参量较明显地减小；(2)特大暴雨对电离层F区寻常波描迹的最低虚高h′F和电离层等效峰高hpF的参量也有一定影响，且随着雨量的增大这种影响作用也会增加；(3)特大暴雨对电离层其他参量影响甚弱或没有影响．本文认为，特大暴雨天气事件对电离层的影响主要来自于动力过程，特别是特大暴雨激发的或相伴的大气重力波、潮汐波和行星波等长周期大尺度过程的作用．     

Field-aligned expansion of plasma clouds in the ionosphere

The field-aligned expansion of plasma clouds in the ionosphere was studied with different mathematical models and for a wide range of conditions. In all cases, the expanding plasma cloud acted as an electrostatic snowplow, creating an O⁺ hole in the ionosphere coincident with the cloud and O⁺ bumps on the two sides of the cloud that are aligned with the geomagnetic field.     

Adaptation of the bottomside electron density profile of the IRI model to data of topside radiosounding

A method is proposed for reconstructing the electron density profiles N(h) of the IRI model from ionograms of topside satellite sounding of the ionosphere. An ionograms feature is the presence of traces of signal reflection from the Earth's surface. The profile reconstruction is carried out in two stages. At the first stage, the N(h) –profile is calculated from the lower boundary of the ionosphere to the satellite height (total profile) by the method presented in this paper using the ionogram. In this case, the monotonic profile of the topside ionosphere is calculated by the classical method. The profile of the inner ionosphere is represented by analytical functions, the parameters of which are calculated by optimization methods using traces of signal reflection, both from the topside ionosphere and from the Earth. At the second stage, the profile calculated from the ionogram is used to obtain the key parameters: the height of the maximum hmF2 of the F2 layer, the critical frequency foF2, the values of B0 and B1, which determine the profile shape in the F region in the IRI model. The input of key parameters, time of observation, and coordinates of sounding into the IRI model allows obtaining the IRI-profile corrected to real experimental conditions. The results of using the data of the ISIS-2 satellite show that the profiles calculated from the ionograms and the IRI profiles corrected from them are close to each other in the inner ionosphere and can differ significantly in the topside ionosphere. This indicates the possibility of obtaining a profile in the inner ionosphere close to the real distribution, which can significantly expand the information database useful for the IRTAM (IRI Realmax Assimilative Modeling) model. The calculated profiles can be used independently for local ionospheric research.     

Fading in the HF ionospheric channel and the role of irregularities

It is well known that the ionosphere affects radio wave propagation especially in the high frequency (HF) range. HF radio waves reflected by the ionosphere can reach considerable distances, often with changes in amplitude, phase, and frequency. The ionosphere is a dispersive in frequency and time, bi-refractive, absorbing medium, in which multipath propagation due to traveling irregularities is very frequent. The traveling irregularities undulate the reflecting ionospheric layer, introducing variations in signal amplitude (fading). In this multipath time variant channel fading is mainly considered, even though it is not the sole effect. Echo signals from a single reflection, as in ionospheric vertical sounding (VIS) techniques, are affected by a certain degree of variability even in quiet ionospheric conditions. In this work the behavior of the ionospheric channel is studied and characterized by observing the power variation of received echoes using the VIS technique. Multipath fading was analyzed quantifying the power variation of the signal echo due to irregularities on a temporal scale from 0.5 to 256 s. An experimental set-up derived from an ionosonde was implemented and the analysis was performed employing a special numerical algorithm operating off-line on the acquired time sequence of the signal. The gain-loss of the irregularity shapes are determined in some special cases.     

The solar wind control of the equatorial ionosphere dynamics during geomagnetic storms

The interplanetary magnetic field, geomagnetic variations, virtual ionosphere height h′F, and the critical frequency foF2 data during the geomagnetic storms are studied to demonstrate relationships between these phenomena. We study 5-min ionospheric variations using the first Western Pacific Ionosphere Campaign (1998–1999) observations, 5-min interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and 5-min auroral electrojets data during a moderate geomagnetic storm. These data allowed us to demonstrate that the auroral and the equatorial ionospheric phenomena are developed practically simultaneously. Hourly average of the ionospheric foF2 and h′F variations at near equatorial stations during a similar storm show the same behavior. We suppose this is due to interaction between electric fields of the auroral and the equatorial ionosphere during geomagnetic storms. It is shown that the low-latitude ionosphere dynamics during these moderate storms was defined by the southward direction of the B_z-component of the interplanetary magnetic field. A southward IMF produces the Region I and Region II field-aligned currents (FAC) and polar electrojet current systems. We assume that the short-term ionospheric variations during geomagnetic storms can be explained mainly by the electric field of the FAC. The electric fields of the field-aligned currents can penetrate throughout the mid-latitude ionosphere to the equator and may serve as a coupling agent between the auroral and the equatorial ionosphere.