Ionospheric Responses at Low Latitudes to the Annular Solar Eclipse on 21 June 2020

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, we utilized both ground‐based and space‐borne observations including total electron content (TEC) from Beidou geostationary satellites, two‐dimensional TEC maps from the worldwide dense Global Navigation Satellite System receivers, ionosondes, and in situ electron density (Ne) and electron temperature (Te) from both Swarm and China Seismo‐Electromagnetic Satellite satellites, to investigate the low‐latitude ionospheric responses to the annular solar eclipse on 21 June 2020. The decrease in TEC during the eclipse at low latitudes showed a local time dependence with the largest depletions in the noon and afternoon sectors. It was also found that the TEC depletions at different latitudes in the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) region over the East Asian sector cannot solely be explained by the solar flux changes associated with the obscuration rate. The differences in TEC reduction between stations can be more than a factor of 2 at latitudes with the same obscuration rate of over 90%. Compared with TEC variations in the Northern Hemisphere, the TEC also underwent a considerable decrease in the EIA region in the conjugate hemisphere without eclipse shadow. Meanwhile, the hmF2 near the magnetic equator increased around the onset of the eclipse, indicating an enhancement of the eastward equatorial electric field. Furthermore, the TEC decrease during the eclipse in the EIA region in both hemispheres lasted for a long period of more than 7 hr after the eclipse, with a TEC depletion of 2–6 TEC units. The Ne from Swarm and China Seismo‐Electromagnetic Satellite satellites showed a complicated variation after the eclipse, whereas no visible change was observed in Te. The enhanced equatorial electric field, neutral wind changes, and the associated plasma transport act together to generate the observed ionospheric effects at low latitudes during the eclipse. Our results also suggest that the eclipse‐induced perturbations of dynamic processes can continue to impact the ionosphere after the eclipse.