Effects of the Strong Ionospheric Storm of August 26, 2018: Results of Multipath Radiophysical Monitoring

Abstract

A brief description of the multipath coherent radio technique installation is presented. Its goal is continuous monitoring of the dynamical processes in the ionosphere caused by space weather variations and the impact of high-energy sources in the Earth–atmosphere–ionosphere–magnetosphere system. The variations of radio-wave characteristics (the Doppler spectra and signal amplitudes) in the HF range and the ionospheric parameters over China during the ionospheric storm of August 26, 2018, are described. An ∼50–100 km ascent in the radio-wave reflection region and its oscillations with an amplitude of ∼30–40 km were observed many times during the storm on all paths. The ascents were followed by descents of the radio-wave reflection region by many tens of kilometers. The ascents and descents of the reflection region were caused by a decrease in the electron concentration by a factor of 1.5–2 and its increase by a few times, respectively. The maximal increase in the electron concentration in the E and F regions reached a factor of 1.5 and 3, respectively. The relative amplitude of oscillations in the electron concentration reached many tens of percent. The amplitude of oscillations of frequency Doppler shift was several times lower on the reference days. The observed oscillations in the frequency Doppler shift were apparently caused by generation of the atmospheric gravity waves and their subsequent propagation to the latitudes of the means of observation. The velocity of wave disturbances was ∼275–480 m/s, whereas their period was ∼60 min. The ionospheric disturbances of August 27, 2018, were insignificant despite the repeated magnetic storm.