Medium‐scale equatorial plasma irregularities observed by Coupled Ion‐Neutral Dynamics Investigation sensors aboard the Communication Navigation Outage Forecast System in a prolonged solar minimum

Abstract

The distribution of medium‐scale irregularities in the total ion density at the equator is investigated. In the scale size range between 10 and 400 km, it is found that, as expected, these irregularities preferentially appear near 2100 local time (LT) in longitude regions that are selected by season according to an alignment between the magnetic meridian and the sunset terminator. However, these irregularities have a maximum occurrence frequency in the postmidnight sector and do not conform to the expected behavior seen for irregularities that appear after sunset. We suggest that the postmidnight peak in the occurrence frequency for these irregularities arose from the weak vertical drifts that prevail in the afternoon and evening during a prolonged solar minimum. It is also suggested that the observed longitude and seasonal dependence in the peak occurrence frequency is influenced by seeding from tropospheric sources, and therefore responds to the seasonal variations in the colocation of the magnetic equator and the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The irregularities appear throughout the nighttime period when the background density is declining rapidly. Thus, despite the postmidnight maximum in occurrence frequency, the maximum absolute perturbation density, most likely to be responsible for radio scintillation, occurs in the premidnight sector.