Meteorological Storm Influence on the Ionosphere Parameters

Ivan Karpov,Mikhail Karpov,Olga Borchevkina

doi:10.3390/atmos11091017

Abstract

This paper presents the observations of ionospheric parameters in Kaliningrad (54° N, 20° E) during a meteorological storm in the Baltic Sea during October 2017 and 2018. Analysis of the total electronic content (TEC) during the storm showed that perturbations of the TEC values from the median can reach two standard deviations of the value. For the critical frequency of the F2 layer, it was 1.5–1.6 times the standard deviations. On days of a meteorological storm, significant changes were noted in the dynamics of the E-layer’s critical frequency. The reasons for the occurrence of the observed phenomena were due to the propagation of acoustic-gravity waves generated by convective processes in the lower atmosphere during periods of a meteorological storm. Spectral analysis of TEC variations revealed an increase in the amplitudes of ionospheric variations 10–16 min over the area of a meteorological storm. The analysis allowed us to conclude that ionospheric perturbations during the meteorological perturbation were caused by increased acoustic-gravity wave (AGW) generation processes in the lower atmosphere. The most likely cause of negative ionospheric disturbances were processes associated with the dissipation of AGW propagating from the area of a meteorological storm and increased turbulence in the lower thermosphere.

Highlights

One of the important problems of atmospheric physics is the study of the processes determining the influence of the lower atmosphere dynamics on the variability of the parameters of the ionosphere.The most important factors that affect the state of the ionosphere are associated with solar and geomagnetic activity [1,2]
To study the frequency characteristics of total electron content (TEC) variations during meteorological storms that occurred in October 2017 and 2018, we considered observations at the mid-latitude station VIS0 (57◦ N, 18◦ E), located on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, directly in the area of meteorological disturbances
The parameters of two meteorological storms in the Baltic Sea that occurred on October 2017 and 2018 during calm geomagnetic events were analyzed

Summary

Introduction

One of the important problems of atmospheric physics is the study of the processes determining the influence of the lower atmosphere dynamics on the variability of the parameters of the ionosphere. The most important factors that affect the state of the ionosphere are associated with solar and geomagnetic activity [1,2]. The influence of processes in the lower atmosphere on the state and dynamics of the upper atmosphere cannot be underestimated [3]. Monitoring less intense events shows their impact on the upper atmosphere, the effects in these cases are less pronounced [11,14,15,16]

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Conclusion