Abstract
Abstract. Using GPS dual-frequency observations collected by continuously operating GPS tracking stations in China, superimposed disturbances caused by the integrated action of spacecraft's physical effect and chemical effect on ionosphere during the launches of the spacecrafts Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-8 in China were firstly determined. The results show that the superimposed disturbance was composed of remarkable ionospheric waves and significant ionospheric depletion emerged after both launches. Meanwhile, we found for the first time that the ionospheric waves were made up of two periods of wave by wavelet analysis. The first period of ∼ 4 min shows one event in the near stations and two sub-events in the few far stations. The second period of ∼ 9 min shows only one event in all the observed stations. Finally, the time characteristics for ionospheric waves and depletions were examined.
Highlights
Ionospheric disturbances were observed during spacecraft launches by various traditional ionospheric observation techniques such as ionosonde, incoherent scatter radar, doppler sounder etc. since the early 1960s (Booker, 1961; Felker and Roberts, 1966; Mendillo et al, 1975, 1987; Noble, 1990; Jacobson and Carlos, 1994; Li et al, 1994; Bernhardt et al, 1998, 2005, 2012)
In order to confirm the ionospheric disturbances associated with spacecraft launches, we examined the space environment including solar and geomagnetic activities during the observation periods
The solar activity has little influence on the ionospheric TEC variation because the two rockets both launched in the night hemisphere
Summary
Ionospheric disturbances were observed during spacecraft launches by various traditional ionospheric observation techniques such as ionosonde, incoherent scatter radar, doppler sounder etc. since the early 1960s (Booker, 1961; Felker and Roberts, 1966; Mendillo et al, 1975, 1987; Noble, 1990; Jacobson and Carlos, 1994; Li et al, 1994; Bernhardt et al, 1998, 2005, 2012). Chernogor and Blaunstein (2013) summarized the major characteristic parameters of the observed ionospheric effects on the basis of many space shuttle launch cases processed using incoherent scatter and Doppler radars. In addition to the wave disturbances in the ionosphere, another important phenomenon called ionospheric electron depletions or ionospheric holes caused by the gaseous exhaust stream from rocket has been observed by dense GPS network in different regions (Furuya and Heki, 2008; Mendillo et al, 2008; Ozeki and Heki, 2010; Nakashima and Heki, 2014) These observed ionospheric TEC depletions attributed the generation mechanism to the chemical reactions between rocket exhaust gases and charged particles (electrons and ions) of ionosphere, emerging about 6–10 min after the launches and lasting about ∼ 30–50 min. Lin et al (2014) observed V-shaped TEC perturbations with periods of 100–600 s and velocities between 800–1200 m s−1 for the 2009 North Korea’s Taepodong-2 and 2013 South Korea’s Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II rocket launches These disturbances were attributed to shock waves generated by the rocket’s propulsive blasts. More detailed time-frequency characteristics of ionospheric waves with two key disturbed periods caused by the spacecraft’s physical effect were revealed firstly by wavelet method in this paper
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