Mid-latitude thermospheric wind changes during the St. Patrick’s Day storm of 2015 observed by two Fabry-Perot interferometers in China

In this work, we utilize thermospheric wind observations by the Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPI) from the Kelan (KL) station (38.7°N, 111.6°E, Magnetic Latitude: 28.9°N) and the Xinglong (XL) station (40.2°N, 117.4°E, Magnetic Latitude: 30.5°N) in central China during the St. Patrick’s Day storm (from Mar. 17 to Mar. 19) of 2015 to analyze thermospheric wind disturbances and compare observations with the Horizontal Wind Model 2007 (HWM07). The results reveal that the wind measurements at KL show very similar trends to those at XL. Large enhancements are seen in both the westward and equatorward winds after the severe geomagnetic storm occurred. The westward wind speed increased to a peak value of 75?m/s and the equatorward wind enhanced to a peak value of over 100?m/s. There also exist obvious poleward disturbances in the meridional winds during Mar. 17 to Mar. 19. According to the comparison with HWM07, there exist evident wind speed and temporal differences between FPI-winds and the model outputs in this severe geomagnetic storm. The discrepancies between the observations and HWM07 imply that the empirical model should be used carefully in wind disturbance forecast during large geomagnetic storms and more investigations between measurements and numerical models are necessary in future studies.     

Radio and optical investigations of storm time evolution of post-midnight equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) and their drifts over Indian sector

We investigated the spatio-temporal evolution of disturbed time post mid-night Equatorial Plasma Bubbles (EPBs) using Canadian Advanced Digital Ionosonde (CADI) located at dip equatorial station, Tirunelveli (8.73°N, 77.7°E, 0.23°N Dip. Lat.), an all-sky imager (ASI) observations at low latitude station Panhala (16.48°N, 74.6°E, 11.1°N Dip. Lat.) and Gadanki Ionospheric Radar Interferometer (GIRI) at Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.2°E; 6.5°N Dip. Lat.) which is situated at few degrees towards east and south of Panhala on 02–03 February 2017 night. During this night, IMF Bz showed its periodic variation starting from 16:00 UT to 23:00 UT accompanied by decrease in SYM-H to as low as ?35 nT indicating the onset of weak magnetic storm. The analyzed results suggested that cause of post-midnight EPBs could be due to manifestation of fluctuating eastward/westward electric field due to combined under-shielding/over-shielding Electric Fields and disturbance dynamo electric fields that led to rise and fall of the F-layer over dip equator. Interestingly, the EPBs over Panhala showed eastward motion initially that quickly reversed to westward later. Along with westward motion they also started growing until 21:30 UT. However, most of these EPBs disappeared with time except the one that started descending/shrinking towards southern side (i.e. towards equator). The rising and shrinking of EPBs is found to be fairly correlated with the equatorial vertical drifts. The westward drift of EPBs at Panhala and its anti-correlation with vertical drifts has been confirmed from CADI zonal/vertical drifts. Accordingly, the study also investigated the role of storm induced vertical Hall electric field as a possible cause for westward drifts and its anti-correlation with vertical drifts. However, GIRI observations do not show any significant westward drift on this night at Gadanki suggesting that there is a longitudinal gradient in the zonal drift of these EPBs. In addition to longitudinal drift reversal, the latitudinal gradient in zonal drifts also has been noticed. The present work highlights the role of storm induced disturbances in the generation and evolution of post-midnight EPBs which is believed to be triggered by weak magnetic disturbances in the deep low solar minimum.     

The impact of coronal mass ejection on the horizontal geomagnetic fields and the induced geoelectric fields

This work investigates the influence of coronal mass ejection (CME) on the time derivatives of horizontal geomagnetic and geoelectric fields, proxy parameters for identifying GICs. 16 events were identified for the year 2003 from the CORONAS-PHOTON spacecraft. Five of the events (May 29, June 9, October 28, October 29, and November 4) were extensively discussed over four magnetic observatories, were analyzed using the time derivatives of the horizontal geomagnetic (dH/dt) and geoelectric (E_H) fields obtained from data of the INTERMAGNET network. It was observed that energy distributions of the wavelet power spectrum of the horizontal geoelectric field are noticed at the nighttime on both 29 May and 9 June 2003 across the stations. Daytime and nighttime intensification of energy distribution of the wavelet power spectrum of the horizontal geoelectric field are observed on both 28 and 29 October 2003 due to strong westward electrojet. The 4 November 2003 event depicts daytime amplification of energy distributions of the wavelet power spectrum across the stations. The highest correlation magnitude is obtained in the event of 4 November 2003 between dH/dt and E_H relationships during the intense solar flare of class X 17.4. We observed that the correlation magnitude between dH/dt and E_H increases with increase in CME activity. We concluded that the response of the surface impedance model for different stations plays a key role in determining the surface electric field strength, due to large electric field changes at different stations.     

Can an impulsive variation of the solar wind plasma pressure trigger a plasma bubble? A case study based on CSES,Swarm and THEMIS data

During the August 25, 2018 geomagnetic storm, the new borne CSES-01 satellite and the Swarm A satellite detected a really large equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) in the post-midnight sector over western Africa. We investigated the features of this deep ionospheric plasma depletion using data from the Langmuir probes on-board CSES-01 and Swarm A satellites, and data from the high-precision magnetometer and the electric field detector instruments on-board CSES-01. Using also plasma and magnetic field data from THEMIS-E satellite we found that, during the passage of the magnetic cloud that drove the geomagnetic storm, an impulsive variation lasting about ten minutes characterized the solar wind (SW) pressure. The analysis of the delay time, between the occurrence of such impulsive variation and the detection of the plasma bubble, suggests a possible link between the SW pressure impulsive variation as identified by THEMIS-E and the generation of the EPB as detected by CSES-01 and Swarm A. We put forward the hypothesis that the SW pressure impulsive variation might have triggered an eastward prompt penetrating electric field that propagated from high to equatorial latitudes, overlapping in the nightside region to the zonal westward electric field, causing either a reduction or an inversion, at the base of the EPB triggering.     

Time series modeling and analysis of trends of daily averaged ionospheric total electron content

A 10.7 cm solar radio flux F10.7, geomagnetic planetary equivalent amplitude (Ap index), and period variations were considered in this paper to construct a linear model for daily averaged ionospheric total electron content (TEC). The correlation coefficient of the modeled results and International GNSS Service (IGS) observables was approximately 0.97, which implied that the model could accurately reflect the realistic variation characteristics of the daily averaged TEC. The influences of the different factors on TEC and its characteristics at different latitudes were examined with this model. Results show that solar activity, annual and semiannual cycles are the three most important factors that affect daily averaged TEC. Solar activity is the primary determinant of TEC during periods with high solar activity, whereas periodic factors primarily contribute to TEC during periods with minimum solar activity. The extent of the influences of the different factors on TEC exhibits obvious differences at varying latitudes. The magnitude of the semiannual variation becomes less significant with the increase in latitude. Furthermore, a geomagnetic storm causes an increase in TEC at low latitudes and a decrease at high latitudes.     

Investigation of PMSE dependence on high energy particle precipitation during their simultaneous occurrence

This paper is based on the observations of Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSE) with the EISCAT VHF 224?MHz radar during the summer month 08–12 July 2013. The effect of high energy particle precipitation on PMSE intensity, particularly during their simultaneous occurrence for longer time interval (longer than or equal to 3-h) has been investigated. The correlation between the two phenomena has been computed using the Spearman rank and Pearson linear correlation coefficient. The variations in high energy particle precipitation reaching down to altitude of 91?km and PMSE intensity in the altitude range of 80–90?km are positively correlated. The electron density irregularity due to ionization caused by precipitating particles might be one of the possible reasons for this positive correlation. Moreover, some other background parameters i.e. K-indices (proxy of high energy particle precipitation) and electron fluxes during the simultaneous occurrence of the two phenomena also support one of the possible reasons given for explanation of the observed positive correlation. The X-rays and proton fluxes have no noticeable effect on PMSE echoes in this study.     

Earthquake induced dynamics at the ionosphere in presence of magnetic storm

The modifications induced in the dynamics of the ionosphere by the major Japan earthquake (EQ) of March 11, 2011 (epicenter at 38.322°N, 142.369°E, M = 8.9) in presence of a magnetic storm are examined by mapping latitudinal variations of F-layer ionization density (NmF2) from 22 stations covering the epicenter zone. The changes forced into the Total Electron Content (TEC) by the major EQ in the magnetic storm ambiance are also examined from the GPS data collected at Guwahati (26° 10′ N, 91° 45’ E), situated in the major fault system of East Asia. The contributions of pre-seismic electric field as well as of magnetic storm time electric field in the observed density variations are brought into the ambit of discussion. The influence of lower atmosphere in shaping TEC features during the study case is highlighted. The effects of solar activity on density variations during such complex ambiances are also addressed.     

On the mid-latitude ionospheric storm association with intense geomagnetic storms

The bulk association between ionospheric storms and geomagnetic storms has been studied. Hemispheric features of seasonal variation of ionospheric storms in the mid-latitude were also investigated. 188 intense geomagnetic storms (Dst ≤ 100 nT) that occurred during solar cycles 22 and 23 were considered, of which 143 were observed to be identified with an ionospheric storm. Individual ionospheric storms were identified as maximum deviations of the F2 layer peak electron density from quiet time values. Only ionospheric storms that could clearly be associated with the peak of a geomagnetic storm were considered. Data from two mid-latitude ionosonde stations; one in the northern hemisphere (i.e. Moscow) and the other in the southern hemisphere (Grahamstown) were used to study ionospheric conditions at the time of the individual geomagnetic storms. Results show hemispheric and latitudinal differences in the intensity and nature of ionospheric storms association with different types of geomagnetic storms. These results are significant for our present understanding of the mechanisms which drive the changes in electron density during different types of ionospheric storms.     

Latitudinal features of Total Electron Content over the African and European longitude sector following the St. Patrick’s day storm of 2015

GNSS TEC values have been obtained from 18 stations distributed from the magnetic equator to nearly 80°N magnetic dip in the African and west-European longitude sector corresponding to the March 17–18, 2015 geomagnetic storm. Significantly depleted ionosphere have been observed at stations north of 50°N geographic on March 18, 2015 following the above storm over a longitude swath 11.9°–21°E covering the Eastern Africa and Western European longitude sector. High ROTI values were noted on March 17^th at locations around 80°N magnetic dip. Two prominent peaks in PCN were noted around 09:00 UT and 14:00 UT on March 17, 2015 and around 15:00 UT on March 18, 2015. Daytime thermospheric (O/N₂) ratio was markedly less on March 18th at latitudes above 60°N geographic which is suggested to be the major driver behind depleted high latitude ionosphere during the recovery phase of the storm on March 18, 2015.     

Ionospheric response to the storm-time disturbance of 29 May, 2010

The Ionospheric F2-layer peak parameters response to a magnetic storm had been investigated over Ilorin, Nigeria (Lat. 8:53°N, Long. 4.5°E, dip angle, −2.96°), Jicamarca, Peru (11.95°S, 76.87°W, dip angle, 0.8°) and Hermanus, South Africa (34.42°S, 19.22°E, dip angle, −60.77°), using percentage enhancement/depletion values. Our results showed an enhancement in NmF2 at all of these stations. Averagely, pre-noon and post-noon peaks are highest at Ilorin during quiet time. The similar pattern observed for quiet condition between Ilorin and Jicamarca was due to their latitudinal positions. For disturbed NmF2 condition, Jicamarca and Ilorin recorded higher peaks at nighttime than during the daytime for the storms main phase, and the reverse over Hermanus. The nighttime and daytime increases were observed respectively at Ilorin and Hermanus during the recovery period. The hmF2 variation recorded higher enhancement at Jicamarca during the daytime and at Hermanus at nighttime during the main phase. During the recovery phase, the highest enhancement was recorded during the daytime at Jicamarca, and over Hermanus at nighttime. These observations find their explanation in the magnetospheric current, solar wind and E × B drift.