On the linkage of daytime 150 km echoes and abnormal intermediate layer traces over Sanya

Abstract

AbstractThe daytime 150 km echoes, which are associated with the upper E region field‐aligned irregularities, have been observed around the equatorial electrojet region but never before at magnetic latitudes near the northern anomaly crest region. We present first results of daytime 150 km echo over Sanya, China, a station located far away from the dip equator in the Northern Hemisphere. A layer of weak radar echoes with spectral width less than 10 m s−1 was seen in the height range from 145 km at 12:15 LT to 152 km at 13:45 LT on 21 July 2010. The interesting aspect is that the rare observation of daytime 150 km echoes with the small Sanya VHF radar was preceded by the occurrence of an unusual intermediate layer, which is identified as abnormal traces at the upper E region in corresponding ionograms. The abnormal intermediate layer associated with possible gravity wave activity (that implicates the presence of upper E region density gradients) could make a significant contribution to the growth of irregularities responsible for the rarely detected daytime 150 km echoes over Sanya.