Observations of Pole-to-Pole, Stratosphere-to-Ionosphere Connection

L P Goncharenko,C E Randall,S.-R Zhang,A Zalizovski,I Galkin,M Spraggs,V L Harvey,A J Coster

doi:10.3389/fspas.2021.768629

Abstract

The behavior of the Earth’s middle atmosphere and ionosphere is governed by multiple processes resulting not only from downward energy transfer from the Sun and magnetosphere but also upward energy transfer from terrestrial weather. Understanding the relative importance of mechanisms beyond solar and geomagnetic activity is essential for progress in multi-day predictions of the Earth’s atmosphere-ionosphere system. The recent development of research infrastructure, particularly in Antarctica, allows the observation of new ionospheric features. Here we show for the first time that large disturbances observed in the Arctic winter polar stratosphere (20–50 km above ground and at 60–90°N) during a sudden stratospheric warming event are communicated across the globe and cause large disturbances in the summertime ionospheric plasma over Antarctica (60–90°S). Ionospheric anomalies reach ∼100% of the background level and are observed for multiple days. We suggest several possible terrestrial mechanisms that could contribute to the formation of upper atmospheric and ionospheric anomalies in the southern hemisphere.

Highlights

As the Earth’s ionosphere—the charged portion of the atmosphere with maximum ionization at ∼300 km—is created primarily by solar ionizing flux, conventional thinking implies that major variations in ionospheric electron density are related to solar and geomagnetic activity
To understand ionospheric behavior during this period, we focus on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Total Electron Content (TEC) in the American longitudinal sector, where evolution of TEC with latitude can be investigated in detail due to the dense network of GNSS receivers
This study investigated the behavior of the mesosphere and ionosphere at geographic high latitudes of the southern hemisphere during and after the Arctic stratospheric warmings (SSWs) of January 2013

Summary

Introduction

As the Earth’s ionosphere—the charged portion of the atmosphere with maximum ionization at ∼300 km—is created primarily by solar ionizing flux, conventional thinking implies that major variations in ionospheric electron density are related to solar and geomagnetic activity. While these factors are the primary drivers of ionospheric variability, many studies demonstrate significant variations in electron density due to the influences from the lower atmosphere through effects of gravity waves (Fritts and Lund, 2011, and references therein), tides (England, 2011, and references therein), and planetary waves (Pancheva and Mukhtarov, 2011). Known ionospheric disturbances associated with such changes are believed to be greatest at low latitudes (0–20°) and to fall off rapidly in the midlatitudes (Pancheva and Mukhtarov, 2011), implying complex mechanisms of atmospheric connections in both the vertical and horizontal directions

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