Analyzing the behavior of mid-latitude upper atmosphere ionospheric plasma and airglow I630 from IS radar and Fabry—Perot interferometer data

The dynamics of the parameters of ionized and neutral components of Earth’s upper atmosphere at midlatitudes near the equinox was studied for several days under quiet geomagnetic conditions. The ionospheric parameters were obtained by an incoherent scatter radar; the parameters of the neutral atmosphere at ionospheric altitudes, from characteristics of the atomic oxygen glow at a wavelength of 630 nm with a Fabry—Perot interferometer. Synchronous variations similar in relative amplitudes were detected in the glow intensity and plasma concentration, the nature of which was explained using numerical modeling, as well as a combination of model and empirical data. It is shown that the vertical wind effect is of decisive importance for the vertical transport of plasma and the enhancement of the atomic oxygen glow in the period of time considered. The phenomenon under study was associated with the midnight temperature maximum, which was first observed at 52° N. A method for calibrating optical measurements using radiophysical data is presented in the approximation of the dominant role of plasma parameter variations over neutral atmosphere parameter variations.

Abstract. Measurements of equatorial thermospheric winds, temperatures, and 630 nm relative intensities were obtained using an imaging Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI), which was recently deployed at Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia (11.6° N, 37.4° E, 3.7° N magnetic). The results obtained in this study cover 6 months (53 nights of useable data) between November 2015 and April 2016. The monthly-averaged values, which include local winter and equinox seasons, show the magnitude of the maximum monthly-averaged zonal wind is typically within the range of 70 to 90 ms−1 and is eastward between 19:00 and 21:00 LT. Compared to prior studies of the equatorial thermospheric wind for this local time period, the magnitude is considerably weaker as compared to the maximum zonal wind speed observed in the Peruvian sector but comparable to Brazilian FPI results. During the early evening, the meridional wind speeds are 30 to 50 ms−1 poleward during the winter months and 10 to 25 ms−1 equatorward in the equinox months. The direction of the poleward wind during the winter months is believed to be mainly caused by the existence of the interhemispheric wind flow from the summer to winter hemispheres. An equatorial wind surge is observed later in the evening and is shifted to later local times during the winter months and to earlier local times during the equinox months. Significant night-to-night variations are also observed in the maximum speed of both zonal and meridional winds. The temperature observations show the midnight temperature maximum (MTM) to be generally present between 00:30 and 02:00 LT. The amplitude of the MTM was ∼ 110 K in January 2016 with values smaller than this in the other months. The local time difference between the appearance of the MTM and a pre-midnight equatorial wind was generally 60 to 180 min. A meridional wind reversal was also observed after the appearance of the MTM (after 02:00 LT). Climatological models, HWM14 and MSIS-00, were compared to the observations and the HWM14 model generally predicted the zonal wind observations well with the exception of higher model values by 25 ms−1 in the winter months. The HWM14 model meridional wind showed generally good agreement with the observations. Finally, the MSIS-00 model overestimated the temperature by 50 to 75 K during the early evening hours of local winter months. Otherwise, the agreement was generally good, although, in line with prior studies, the model failed to reproduce the MTM peak for any of the 6 months compared with the FPI data.

Abstract. The midnight temperature maximum (MTM) has been observed in the lower thermosphere by two Fabry–Pérot interferometers (FPIs) at São João do Cariri (7.4° S, 36.5° W) and Cajazeiras (6.9° S, 38.6° W) during 2011, when the solar activity was moderate and the solar flux was between 90 and 155 SFU (1 SFU = 10−22 W m−2 Hz−1). The MTM is studied in detail using measurements of neutral temperature, wind and airglow relative intensity of OI630.0 nm (referred to as OI6300), and ionospheric parameters, such as virtual height (h′F), the peak height of the F2 region (hmF2), and critical frequency of the F region (foF2), which were measured by a Digisonde instrument (DPS) at Eusébio (3.9° S, 38.4° W; geomagnetic coordinates 7.31° S, 32.40° E for 2011). The MTM peak was observed mostly along the year, except in May, June, and August. The amplitudes of the MTM varied from 64 ± 46 K in April up to 144 ± 48 K in October. The monthly temperature average showed a phase shift in the MTM peak around 0.25 h in September to 2.5 h in December before midnight. On the other hand, in February, March, and April the MTM peak occurred around midnight. International Reference Ionosphere 2012 (IRI-2012) model was compared to the neutral temperature observations and the IRI-2012 model failed in reproducing the MTM peaks. The zonal component of neutral wind flowed eastward the whole night; regardless of the month and the magnitude of the zonal wind, it was typically within the range of 50 to 150 m s−1 during the early evening. The meridional component of the neutral wind changed its direction over the months: from November to February, the meridional wind in the early evening flowed equatorward with a magnitude between 25 and 100 m s−1; in contrast, during the winter months, the meridional wind flowed to the pole within the range of 0 to −50 m s−1. Our results indicate that the reversal (changes in equator to poleward flow) or abatement of the meridional winds is an important factor in the MTM generation. From February to April and from September to December, the h′F and the hmF2 showed an increase around 18:00–20:00 LT within a range between 300 and 550 km and reached a minimal height of about 200–300 km close to midnight; then the layer rose again by about 40 km or, sometimes, remained at constant height. Furthermore, during the winter months, the h′F and hmF2 showed a different behavior; the signature of the pre-reversal enhancement did not appear as in other months and the heights did not exceed 260 and 350 km. Our observation indicated that the midnight collapse of the F region was a consequence of the MTM in the meridional wind that was reflected in the height of the F region. Lastly, the behavior of the OI6300 showed, from February to April and from September to December, an increase in intensity around midnight or 1 h before, which was associated with the MTM, whereas, from May to August, the relative intensity was more intense in the early evening and decayed during the night.

Presented here are several cases of midnight temperature maximum (MTM) observations using the Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar (ISR) and Arecibo ISR. The MTM, a temperature enhancement in the upper atmosphere (at ~300 km altitude), is a poorly understood phenomenon as observations are sparse. An upward propagating terdiurnal tide and coupling between atmospheric regions may play a large part in the generation of the MTM, yet this phenomenon and its implications are not fully understood. Two nights (6 March 1989 and 12 July 1988) show clear cases of the MTM occurring between 30 and 34°N with amplitudes of ~100 K and at ~18°N with amplitudes of ~40 K. The MTMs occurred later at the higher latitude. Experiments in 2013 also show a clear MTM at 34° and 36°N from 250 to 350 km altitude. The ionospheric measurements presented here demonstrate a new application of a well‐established technique to study atmospheric parameters and allow us to study the latitudinal extent of the MTM. The results provide evidence of the phenomenon occurring at latitudes and altitudes not previously sampled by radar techniques, showing that the MTM is not just an equatorial process, but one that can easily reach midlatitudes. Simultaneous measurements with a Fabry‐Perot interferometer allow us to compare the neutral temperatures with the ion temperature. Overall, these are key observations that point to large‐scale effects that can help constrain model outputs at different heights and latitudes.

Abstract. The thermospheric midnight temperature maximum (MTM) is a highly variable, but persistent, large scale neutral temperature enhancement which occurs at low latitudes. Its occurrence can impact many fundamental upper atmospheric parameters such as pressure, density, neutral winds, neutral density, and F-region plasma. Although the MTM has been the focus of several investigations employing various instrumentation including photometers, satellites, and Fabry-Perot interferometers, limited knowledge exists regarding the latitude extent of its influence on the upper atmosphere. This is largely due to observational limitations which confined the collective geographic range to latitudes within ±23°. This paper investigates the MTM's latitudinal extent through all-sky imaging observations of its 6300Å airglow signature referred to by Colerico et al. (1996) as the midnight brightness wave (MBW). The combined field of view of three Southern Hemisphere imaging systems located at Arequipa, Peru, and Tucuman and El Leoncito, Argentina, for the first time extends the contiguous latitudinal range of imager observations to 8° S-39° S in the American sector. Our results highlight the propagation of MBW events through the combined fields of view past 39° S latitude, providing the first evidence that the MTM's effect on the upper atmosphere extends into mid-latitudes. The observations presented here are compared with modeled 6300Å emissions calculated using the NCAR thermosphere-ionosphere-electrodynamic general circulation model (TIEGCM) in conjunction with an airglow code. We report that at this time TIEGCM is unable to simulate an MBW event due to the model's inability to reproduce an MTM of the same magnitude and occurrence time as those observed via FPI measurements made from Arequipa. This work also investigates the origins of an additional low latitude airglow feature referred to by Colerico et al. (1996) as the pre-midnight brightness wave (PMBW) and described as an enhancement in 6300Å emission which occurs typically between 20:00-22:00 LT and exhibits equatorward propagation. We present the first successful simulation of a PMBW event using the TIEGCM and the airglow code. We find that the PMBW's origin is electro-dynamical in nature, resulting from the expected evening decay of the inter-tropical arcs.

Abstract. Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) measurements of thermospheric temperatures and winds show the detection and successful determination of the latitudinal distribution of the midnight temperature maximum (MTM) in the continental mid-eastern United States. These results were obtained through the operation of the five FPI observatories in the North American Thermosphere Ionosphere Observing Network (NATION) located at the Pisgah Astronomic Research Institute (PAR) (35.2∘ N, 82.8∘ W), Virginia Tech (VTI) (37.2∘ N, 80.4∘ W), Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) (37.8∘ N, 84.3∘ W), Urbana-Champaign (UAO) (40.2∘ N, 88.2∘ W), and Ann Arbor (ANN) (42.3∘ N, 83.8∘ W). A new approach for analyzing the MTM phenomenon is developed, which features the combination of a method of harmonic thermal background removal followed by a 2-D inversion algorithm to generate sequential 2-D temperature residual maps at 30 min intervals. The simultaneous study of the temperature data from these FPI stations represents a novel analysis of the MTM and its large-scale latitudinal and longitudinal structure. The major finding in examining these maps is the frequent detection of a secondary MTM peak occurring during the early evening hours, nearly 4.5 h prior to the timing of the primary MTM peak that generally appears after midnight. The analysis of these observations shows a strong night-to-night variability for this double-peaked MTM structure. A statistical study of the behavior of the MTM events was carried out to determine the extent of this variability with regard to the seasonal and latitudinal dependence. The results show the presence of the MTM peak(s) in 106 out of the 472 determinable nights (when the MTM presence, or lack thereof, can be determined with certainty in the data set) selected for analysis (22 %) out of the total of 846 nights available. The MTM feature is seen to appear slightly more often during the summer (27 %), followed by fall (22 %), winter (20 %), and spring (18 %). Also seen is a northwestward propagation of the MTM signature with a latitude-dependent amplitude. This behavior suggests either a latitudinal dependence of thermosphere tidal dissipation or a night-to-night variation of the composition of the higher-order tidal modes that contribute to the production of the MTM peak at mid-latitudes. Also presented in this paper is the perturbation on the divergence of the wind fields, which is associated with the passage of each MTM peak analyzed with the 2-D interpolation. Keywords. Ionosphere (mid-latitude ionosphere)

The midnight temperature maximum from Arecibo incoherent scatter radar ion temperature measurements

We present an analysis of the thermospheric midnight temperature maximum, a large increment of temperature around midnight. The analysis is based on data collected from the Arecibo incoherent scatter radar during 14–21 January 2010. The experiment overlaps with a major sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event which commenced on 18 January 2010. Throughout the observation, the ion temperature exhibited moderate increase around postmidnight during 14–17 January, while it showed more intense increment during 18–21 January. In particular, on 20 January, the amplitude of the midnight temperature maximum (MTM) is 310 K, which is seldom seen at Arecibo. During the SSW, the meridional wind reverses toward the pole just before the commencement of the MTM. Then, the poleward wind and the ion temperature maximize almost at the same time. The variation of meridional wind and the MTM are consistent with the Whole Atmosphere Model (WAM) studies, which suggested that the variation is due to effects from an upward propagating terdiurnal tide. On the nights of 18–19 January, the MTM showed clear phase variation at the heights of 265, 303, and 342 km. A strong terdiurnal tide has been observed during the SSW and it is likely generated from low atmosphere and propagating upward. Our results provide direct observational evidence that the propagating upward terdiurnal tide plays an important role in causing the MTM, which supports the WAM simulations.

Thermosphere and F-region plasma dynamics in the equatorial region

The properties of the long-term oscillations in the middle atmosphere have been investigated using the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) temperature data and Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) data. Results for SABER temperature show that the semiannual oscillation (SAO) has three amplitude maxima at altitudes of 45, 75, and 85 km, respectively, and shows prominent seasonal asymmetries there. The SAOs in the upper mesosphere (75 km) are out of phase with those in the mesopause (85 km) in the tropical regions, which can generate an enhancement of 11 K on average at each equinox, contributing to the lower mesospheric inversion layer (MIL). It is shown that stronger enhancement can be found at the spring equinox than at the autumn equinox. The triennial oscillation (TO) is significant in the tropical region. The spectral peak of the TO is probably a sub-peak of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and is due to modulation of QBO. In addition, there may be potential interaction of the TO with SAO at 85 km at the equator. The relation between ENSO and TO has also been discussed. The ENSO signal may modulate the amplitude of the TO, mainly in the lower stratosphere. The annual oscillation (AO) and SAO are analyzed over Kelan by FPI data. Generally, the amplitudes of FPI wind are smaller than those of the Horizontal Wind Model (HWM07). The comparison between FPI and TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) winds shows relatively large discrepancy. This may be due to the tidal aliasing in the nighttime results derived from the FPI data. Results also show that the algorithm to derive FPI temperature needs improvements.

As part of the NSF/CEDAR program (Coupling Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) in Multi‐Instrumented Studies of Equatorial Thermospheric Aeronomy (MISETA), an all‐sky CCD airglow imaging system has been in operation in Arequipa, Peru, since October 1993. Here we report on the first such use of a wide‐field imager to document the optical signature and variability of a brightness feature associated with the so‐called midnight temperature maximum (MTM). While theo observational driver of this study is a “brightness wave” (BW) seen in 6300 Å and 5577 Å airglow images, detailed case studies are conducted during two campaign periods when Fabry‐Perot interferometer (FPI) and digital ionosonde data were also available. During the passage of a BW, the FPI observed enhancements in thermospheric temperatures, reversals (from equatorward to poleward) of the meridional neutral winds, and local minima in the zonal neutral winds. The ionosonde recorded decreases in the height of the F‐layer during BW events. This lends support to the concept that the poleward winds generated by the MTM pressure bulge cause the lowering of the F‐layer to regions of enhanced loss (h < 300 km) and corresponding airglow production. The two‐dimensional field‐of‐view of the imager allows identification of the geographical orientation of the BW pattern. We use the orientation angle of the BW as an indicator of the geographical orientation of the MTM. Significant day‐to‐day variability in these patterns suggests a complex mix of tidal mode interactions that lead to the overall MTM phenomena.

Discovered almost four decades ago, the midnight temperature maximum (MTM) with typical magnitudes of 50–100 K has been regularly observed by satellite and ground‐based instruments in the tropical upper thermosphere. Although several mechanisms have been suggested to explain the phenomenon, previous attempts to reproduce it with comprehensive thermosphere‐ionosphere models have been unsuccessful. First long‐term simulations with the Whole Atmosphere Model (WAM) reveal the presence of a realistically prominent MTM and reproduce the salient features of its daily, seasonal, and latitudinal variability. Preliminary analysis indicates that the feature may be traced down to the lower thermosphere, where it is manifested primarily in the form of an upward propagating terdiurnal tidal wave. Its spectrum expands to higher‐order zonal wavenumbers and frequencies and its phase advances to near midnight higher up in the thermosphere. Possible mechanisms generating this wave may involve nonlinear interactions between other tidal harmonics originating in the middle and lower atmosphere. Our results thus suggest that the MTM is yet another phenomenon driven by dynamical links between the lower and upper atmosphere and ionosphere.

Comparisons of thermospheric wind and temperature measurements in equatorial Brazil to Whole Atmosphere Model Predictions

An incoherent scatter radar (ISR) simulation system based on matrix laboratory (MATLAB) platform was introduced in this letter. The simulation system adopts a modular design concept and establishes a complete working link for ISRs according to the real ISRs principle of operation. Every ISR working stage that could have an effect on the ionosphere detection performance is simulated, such as signal transmission, ionosphere model, ISR spectrum, signal reception, and ionosphere parameters’ extraction. The simulation platform can be used to perform incoherent scatter spectrum modeling and ionosphere parameters’ extraction in various modes. In particular, the target ionosphere is modeled with the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model. An example is demonstrated in this letter, which shows that the simulation system could be helpful for the early design of an ISR and for designing the operation modes for ISRs. Furthermore, the simulation system has the potential to be optimized and upgraded to improve its efficiency and accuracy.

Abstract. Optical observations of thermospheric winds and temperatures determined with high resolution measurements of Doppler shifts and Doppler widths of the OI 630-nm equatorial nightglow emission have been made with improved accuracy at Arequipa, Peru (16.4° S, 71.4° W) with an imaging Fabry-Perot interferometer. An observing procedure previously used at Arecibo Observatory was applied to achieve increased spatial and temporal sampling of the thermospheric wind and temperature with the selection of eight azimuthal directions, equally spaced from 0 to 360°, at a zenith angle of 60°. By assuming the equivalence of longitude and local time, the data obtained using this technique is analyzed to determine the mean neutral wind speeds and mean horizontal gradients of the wind field in the zonal and meridional directions. The new temperature measurements obtained with the improved instrumental accuracy clearly show the midnight temperature maximum (MTM) peak with amplitudes of 25 to 200 K in all directions observed for most nights. The horizontal wind field maps calculated from the mean winds and gradients show the MTM peak is always preceded by an equatorward wind surge lasting 1–2 h. The results also show for winter events a meridional wind abatement seen after the MTM peak. On one occasion, near the September equinox, a reversal was observed during the poleward transit of the MTM over Arequipa. Analysis inferring vertical winds from the observed convergence yielded inconsistent results, calling into question the validity of this calculation for the MTM structure at equatorial latitudes during solar minimum. Comparison of the observations with the predictions of the NCAR general circulation model indicates that the model fails to reproduce the observed amplitude by a factor of 5 or more. This is attributed in part to the lack of adequate spatial resolution in the model as the MTM phenomenon takes place within a scale of 300–500 km and ~45 min in local time. The model shortcoming is also attributed in part to the need for the model to include a hydrodynamical mechanism to describe the merging of the zonal wind with the meridional tidal winds that converge onto the geographical equator. Finally, a conclusion of this work is that the MTM compressional heating takes place along the perimeter of the pressure bulge rather than within the bulge, an issue previously not appreciated.