Ionospheric Fluctuations Research Articles

DETECTING IONOSPHERIC ANOMALIES ASSOCIATED WITH THREE JAPAN MIYAKO EARTHQUAKES TO SHOW THEIR CORRELATIONS AND ASSOCIATED EARTHQUAKE-INDUCED TSUNAMIS

This study employed two-dimensional principal component analysis (2DPCA) for the detection of anomalies in the two-dimensional ionospheric total electron content (TEC) associated with Japan three earthquakes and earthquake-induced tsunamis. From 04:40 to 04:50 (UTC) on February 15th, first TEC precursor was detected over the epicentre of the 16 February quake with the duration time of at least 10 minutes. A weak TEC anomaly associated with an earthquake-induced tsunami was also detected from 23:15 to 23:20 (UTC) on 16 February with the duration time of at least 5 minutes. An additional earthquake (Mw = 6.3) occurred in Miyako in the vicinity of the first earthquake. Second TEC precursor to the 20 February Miyako earthquake was recorded over the epicentre between 10:20 and 10:30 (UTC) on 19 February with the duration time of at least 10 minutes. A supplemental earthquake occurred (Mw = 6.1) as well in Miyako in the vicinity of the first earthquake. A TEC precursor to the 21 February Miyako earthquake was recorded over the epicentre between 04:15 and 04:25 (UTC) on 20 February with the duration time of at least 10 minutes. The three Miyako earthquakes presented similar anomalies and duration time in the TEC fluctuations, due largely to similarities in the magnitudes of the largest principal eigenvalues and the close proximity of the epicentres. Our results led to the reasonable confirmation that the very weak TEC anomaly following the Miyako earthquake on 16 February was associated with the earthquake-induced tsunami. 2DPCA is a useful mathematical tool for the monitoring of anomalous ionospheric fluctuations for use in the early warning of weak tsunamis.

Determination of Total Electron Content at Equatorial Region—Thailand Using Radio Occultation Technique

This paper investigates the total electron content (TEC) which is a major challenge to space and related industries, most especially in an equatorial region like Thailand within the geographical latitude 07°35'N - 20°17'N. This research was achieved using radio occultation data from COSMIC mission. The monthly, seasonal and annual TEC and electron density variation monitoring conducted during increasing solar activity from 2010 to 2013 due to changes and instability of ionospheric parameters. It was observed that electron density and TEC was predominant in summer season. Summer has the highest electron density and TEC values all through and the annual mean values keep on increasing within the period under consideration. In conclusion, ionospheric fluctuations and perturbations were observed to be at pick between the months of March and May. The results of the study demonstrated that ionospheric irregularities were steadily on the increase, confirming 24th solar cycle prediction by NASA and depended on many factors among the major ones which are located on the latitude, season and solar activity.

Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array

AbstractLow‐frequency, wide field‐of‐view (FOV) radio telescopes such as the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) enable the ionosphere to be sampled at high spatial completeness. We present the results of the first power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations in MWA data, where we examined the position offsets of radio sources appearing in two data sets. The refractive shifts in the positions of celestial sources are proportional to spatial gradients in the electron column density transverse to the line of sight. These can be used to probe plasma structures and waves in the ionosphere. The regional (10–100 km) scales probed by the MWA, determined by the size of its FOV and the spatial density of radio sources (typically thousands in a single FOV), complement the global (100–1000 km) scales of GPS studies and local (0.01–1 km) scales of radar scattering measurements. Our data exhibit a range of complex structures and waves. Some fluctuations have the characteristics of traveling ionospheric disturbances, while others take the form of narrow, slowly drifting bands aligned along the Earth's magnetic field.

Approaches for modeling ionosphere irregularities based on the TEC rate index

The ionosphere plays an important role in GNSS applications because it influences radio wave propagation. The ionospheric delay is the biggest error source for satellite navigation signals, but it can be directly measured and mitigated using dual-frequency GNSS receivers. However, the GNSS signal fades because of electron density gradients and irregularities in the ionosphere, decreasing the operational performance of navigation systems. Recently, several models were developed to reproduce the ionospheric fluctuations and scintillation activity under different geophysical conditions, but these models were calibrated with data sets without GNSS-derived experimental total electron content (TEC) data. There is a great demand for a proper model of ionospheric irregularity specification based on GNSS TEC measurements. In this work, we use data from the permanent GNSS network to develop the empirical model of the ionospheric irregularities over the Northern Hemisphere. As initial data, we used the daily dependences of the rate of TEC index (ROTI) as a function of geomagnetic local time on the specific grid. The ROTI maps allow us to estimate the overall fluctuation activity and the auroral oval evolution. The irregularities of the southern oval border were determined with the ROTI. This paper presents the correlation between the Kp geomagnetic index and parameters that characterized the activity of the ionosphere irregularities in 2010 to 2013.

Effects of Anisotropic Ionospheric Irregularities on Space-Borne SAR Imaging

This paper discusses the degradation of space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging due to anisotropic ionospheric irregularities. In the case of the oblique incidence and anisotropy of ionospheric irregularities, two types of potential ionospheric effects on SAR imaging are derived from an improved transverse correlation function. First, in the range direction, the image shift due to both multiple scattering and dispersion of irregularities is considered. In addition, pulse broadening due to multiple scattering of the irregularities is also studied, which leads to degradation of the range resolution. Second, in the azimuthal direction, the decorrelation distance is obtained by the second moment of the generalized ambiguity function. Using the range Doppler algorithm (RDA), several degraded point target responses due to the ionospheric irregularities are evaluated. The simulation results show that the adverse effects of ionospheric irregularities on SAR imaging are worsened at lower frequencies and stronger ionospheric fluctuations.

Variations of ionospheric fluctuations of phase delay depending on solar activity: Data of the COSMIC experiment

We present the results of processing and analysis of more than 4500 events of radio occultation sounding of the Earth’s atmosphere observed in the course of the COSMIC experiment on the limb path ‘satellite-ionosphere-satellite’. Events observed in December 2011 (when a number of solar flares occurred) and in January 2012 (when a strong solar proton event took place) were analyzed. It is shown that small-scale variations of electron density increase in polar latitudes, equatorial region, and midlatitudes of the southern hemisphere in January 2012. In the same period, an increase of large-scale variations of electron density is observed during daylight hours in the equatorial region and in the southern hemisphere. No noticeable distinctions in comparison with days of quiet Sun were observed in December 2011.

Advanced spectral analysis of ionospheric waves observed with sparse arrays

This paper presents a case study from a single, 6h observing period to illustrate the application of techniques developed for interferometric radio telescopes to the spectral analysis of observations of ionospheric fluctuations with sparse arrays. We have adapted the deconvolution methods used for making high dynamic range images of cosmic sources with radio arrays to making comparably high dynamic range maps of spectral power of wavelike ionospheric phenomena. In the example presented here, we have used observations of the total electron content (TEC) gradient derived from Very Large Array (VLA) observations of synchrotron emission from two galaxy clusters at 330MHz as well as GPS‐based TEC measurements from a sparse array of 33 receivers located within New Mexico near the VLA. We show that these techniques provide a significant improvement in signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N) of detected wavelike structures by correcting for both measurement inaccuracies and wavefront distortions. This is especially true for the GPS data when combining all available satellite/receiver pairs, which probe a larger physical area and likely have a wider variety of measurement errors than in the single‐satellite case. In this instance, we found that the peak S/N of the detected waves was improved by more than an order of magnitude. The data products generated by the deconvolution procedure also allow for a reconstruction of the fluctuations as a two‐dimensional waveform/phase screen that can be used to correct for their effects.

Approaches for modeling ionosphere irregularities based on the TEC rate index

The ionosphere plays an important role in GNSS applications because it influences radio wave propagation. The ionospheric delay is the biggest error source for satellite navigation signals, but it can be directly measured and mitigated using dual-frequency GNSS receivers. However, the GNSS signal fades because of electron density gradients and irregularities in the ionosphere, decreasing the operational performance of navigation systems. Recently, several models were developed to reproduce the ionospheric fluctuations and scintillation activity under different geophysical conditions, but these models were calibrated with data sets without GNSS-derived experimental total electron content (TEC) data. There is a great demand for a proper model of ionospheric irregularity specification based on GNSS TEC measurements. In this work, we use data from the permanent GNSS network to develop the empirical model of the ionospheric irregularities over the Northern Hemisphere. As initial data, we used the daily dependences of the rate of TEC index (ROTI) as a function of geomagnetic local time on the specific grid. The ROTI maps allow us to estimate the overall fluctuation activity and the auroral oval evolution. The irregularities of the southern oval border were determined with the ROTI. This paper presents the correlation between the Kp geomagnetic index and parameters that characterized the activity of the ionosphere irregularities in 2010 to 2013.

Ionospheric and hardware fluctuations of the optical path during radio occultation sounding of the earth’s atmosphere in the COSMIC experiment

Ionospheric and hardware fluctuations of optical paths are the most significant sources of errors in determination of the parameters of the neutral atmosphere using the radio occultation method at altitudes above 8 km. The paper presents a spectral analysis of the fluctuations in the optical path during radio occultation measurements in two channels of the GPS system for the perigee altitudes of probing beams in the range from 80 to 100 km, where the contribution of the neutral atmosphere is negligibly small. For analysis, a data set of 300 measurements made during the COSMIC experiment was used. The spectral analysis revealed the maximum cross-correlation of the fluctuations in two channels at a spatial frequency of 2.5 rad/km. Weaker correlation for lower spatial frequencies is determined by hardware noise. Weaker correlation for higher spatial frequencies is determined by the effects of diffraction by small-scale ionospheric irregularities.

VLSS redux: Software improvements applied to the Very Large Array Low‐Frequency Sky Survey

We present details of improvements to data processing and analysis which were recently used for a re‐reduction of the Very Large Array (VLA) Low‐Frequency Sky Survey (VLSS) data. Algorithms described are implemented in the data‐reduction package Obit, and include smart‐windowing to reduce clean bias, improved automatic radio frequency interference removal, improved bright‐source peeling, and higher‐order Zernike fits to model the ionospheric phase contributions. An additional, but less technical improvement was using the original VLSS catalog as a same‐frequency/same‐resolution reference for calculating ionospheric corrections, allowing more accuracy and a higher percentage of data for which solutions are found. We also discuss new algorithms for extracting a source catalog and analyzing ionospheric fluctuations present in the data. The improved reduction techniques led to substantial improvements including images of six previously unpublished fields (1% of the survey area) and reducing the clean bias by 50%. The largest angular size imaged has been roughly doubled, and the number of cataloged sources is increased by 35% to 95,000.

Ionosphere fluctuations and global indices: A scale dependent wavelet-based cross-correlation analysis

Ionosphere corresponds to the ionized upper part of atmosphere. Characterizing Ionosphere variations is of major importance to address both practical (radio-communications and navigation systems) and theoretical (Space–Earth coupling, climatological global change, and human activity impact) issues. Therefore, establishing a statistical description of Ionosphere variations and relating them to potential driving sources such as global solar and geomagnetic activities constitute important stakes. often, Ionosphere variations are described in terms of long-term trends versus short-term fluctuations. To better ground such a separation, instead of performing a classical and arbitrary low-pass versus high-pass filtering operation, it is here, instead, propose to recourse to a scale dependent analysis. It is based on a (continuous) wavelet transform and the wavelet coherence function. Applied to F2-region critical frequency data, locally measured at 11 mid-latitude European stations, as well as to five global solar and geomagnetic indices, these tools show that Ionospheric variations are well described by the superimposition of well-defined long-term cycles with highly correlated fractional Gaussian noise fluctuations. Also, they show that mid-latitude European stations display highly correlated variations even for short-term fluctuations and that, while solar activity mostly drives long-term cycles, short-term fluctuations and scaling properties are essentially controlled by geomagnetic activity.

Case study of ionospheric fluctuation over mid-latitude region during one large magnetic storm

From Nov. 6 to 10, 2004, a large number of solar events occurred, which triggered many solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These CMEs caused two large geomagnetic storms and continuous energy proton events. During this period, one large positive ionospheric storm happened over the East-Asian region on Nov. 8, 2004. On Nov. 10, 2004, a strong spread-F was observed by the ionosonde located in the mid-latitude region of East China and Japan, and the ionospheric fluctuation over the ionosonde stations derived from GPS observation was also obvious. In this report, the characteristics of the spatial distribution of the ionosphere fluctuation and its temporal evolution are studied using the parameter of the rate of total electron content (ROT) derived from dual-frequency GPS measurement. Strong fluctuating activity of the ionosphere was found over the mid-latitude region in the southern and northern hemispheres between longitudes of 100°E and 180°E during the magnetic storm period on Nov. 10, 2004, and a regular movement of the disturbing region was observed. In the end, the reason of the ionospheric fluctuation during this magnetic storm is analyzed.

Influence of anisotropic fluctuations of the ionosphere plasma density on deep radio sounding by a ultra wide band radar with synthesized aperture

The problem of deep sounding of planet interior using ultra wide band radar with synthesized aperture is considered for the case when anisotropic fluctuations of the ionosphere plasma density take place. Modeling is performed for a number of values of the medium and radar characteristic parameters. The degree of influence of mutual orientation of the anisotropy direction of ionospheric fluctuations and of the spacecraft flight trajectory is estimated. It is demonstrated that widening of radar pulses is determined by characteristic spatial scale of ionosphere plasma disturbances in the transverse direction relative to the spacecraft flight trajectory. On the other hand, attenuation of the peak power of the pulses is shown to be determined basically by the longitudinal scale of disturbance correlations.

Influence of the ionospheric plasma density fluctuations on the subsurface sounding of the Martian soil by a synthetic aperture radar

We consider the problem of subsurface sounding of the planetary interior with an ultrawideband synthetic aperture radar through the ionosphere containing random density fluctuations. Numerical simulation is performed for a variety of typical parameters of the medium and the instrument. The impact of the ionospheric fluctuations on the sounding is estimated. The question of optimal choice of the synthetic aperture length is addressed.

Low-frequency electrostatic waves in the ionospheric E-region: a comparison of rocket observations and numerical simulations

Abstract. Low frequency electrostatic waves in the lower parts of the ionosphere are studied by a comparison of observations by instrumented rockets and of results from numerical simulations. Particular attention is given to the spectral properties of the waves. On the basis of a good agreement between the observations and the simulations, it can be argued that the most important nonlinear dynamics can be accounted for in a 2-D numerical model, referring to a plane perpendicular to a locally homogeneous magnetic field. It does not seem necessary to take into account turbulent fluctuations or motions in the neutral gas component. The numerical simulations explain the observed strongly intermittent nature of the fluctuations: secondary instabilities develop on the large scale gradients of the largest amplitude waves, and the small scale dynamics is strongly influenced by these secondary instabilities. We compare potential variations obtained at a single position in the numerical simulations with two point potential-difference signals, where the latter is the adequate representation for the data obtained by instrumented rockets. We can demonstrate a significant reduction in the amount of information concerning the plasma turbulence when the latter signal is used for analysis. In particular we show that the bicoherence estimate is strongly affected. The conclusions have implications for studies of low frequency ionospheric fluctuations in the E and F regions by instrumented rockets, and also for other methods relying on difference measurements, using two probes with large separation. The analysis also resolves a long standing controversy concerning the supersonic phase velocities of these cross-field instabilities being observed in laboratory experiments.

Radiowave fluctuations in the polar ionosphere on the satellite-to-satellite paths under high solar activity

We analyze ionospheric fluctuations of decimeter radio waves on occultation polar paths between the navigational GPS satellites and the satellite CHAMP. Time dependences of the variance of the signal amplitude and amplitude fluctuation spectra under high solar activity in October–November 2003 are presented. The behavior of the signal amplitude fluctuations during occultation ionospheric sounding in the polar regions in different time of the day and in the equatorial regions in the daytime are considered. Radio-wave fluctuations are related to the solar-activity manifestations. It is shown that during strong solar-flare activity, intense small-scale plasma irregularities are excited in the polar ionosphere.

Disturbances in the ionosphere and atmosphere caused by the solar eclipse of August 11, 1999

Results of comparing ionospheric radio noise at wavelength of 2 m at midlatitudes to the data of the ionospheric vertical sounding during the partial phase of the solar eclipse of August 11, 1999, are presented. Disturbances in the ionospheric layers, radio noise of the ionospheric plasma, and variations and fluctuations in the atmospheric pressure at the Earth surface during the eclipse are considered. The parameters of the Lamb wave, which propagated with velocity of 300 m/s from the region of the total phase of the eclipse are determined. The Lamb wave characteristics in the summer midlatitude and auroral ionosphere have been compared.

Giant ionospheric disturbances excited by the M9.3 Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004

An Mw 9.3 earthquake originated in the Indian Ocean off the western coast of northern Sumatra at 00:58:53 Universal Time (UT) on 26 December 2004. Two giant ionospheric disturbances at 01:19 and 04:10 UT are observed by a network of digital Doppler sounders in Taiwan. The first disturbance excited mainly by Rayleigh waves, which consists of a packet of short‐period Doppler shift variations, results in vertical ionospheric fluctuations with a maximum velocity of about 70 m/s and displacement of about 200 m. The second disturbance, in a W‐shaped pulse propagating at a horizontal speed of 360 ± 70 m/s, is attributable to coupling of the atmospheric gravity waves (AGW) excited by broad crustal uplift together with the following big tsunami waves around the earthquake source zone. The accompanying ionosonde data suggest that the AGW in the atmosphere may have caused the ionosphere to move up and down by about 40 km.

Mid-latitude ionospheric fluctuation spectra due to secondary [formula omitted] instabilities

The most spectacular night of mid-latitude spread F ever recorded at Arecibo is analyzed and compared with barium cloud observations made in the 1970s and with equatorial spread F. Strong evidence is found for a secondary instability driven either by a poleward electric field and a westward density gradient (both presumably due to a primary Perkins instability), or by a zero-order eastward wind flowing across the westward gradient. Spectra computed from the incoherent scatter density profiles of this event are very similar to the spectra of both barium striations and equatorial spread F. Estimates of the strength of the radar wave scattering expected from the fluctuation spectra are in good agreement with the VHF observations from that night. Finally, a poleward-surging, mid-latitude plasma bubble is seen to bifurcate in a manner similar to equatorial spread- F simulations.

Experimental observations of medium and small scale electrostatic waves associated with ionospheric electron density fluctuations

El 18 de diciembre, 1995 a las 21:17 hrs (TL) se colocaron a bordo de la SONDA III brasileña una prueba de Langmuir yuna de Capacitancia de Alta Frecuencia. Esta sonda fue lanzada desde la estación de lanzamiento de Alcantara (2.31°S; 44.4°W) en Brasil, para realizar mediciones de las variaciones con la altura del campo eléctrico ionosférico y de la densidad electrónica. La nave alcanzó una altitud de 557 km y cubrió un rango horizontal de 589 km. Se operaron desde tierra varios equipos para monitorear las condiciones ionosféricas durante el lanzamiento de modo que la nave alcanzara la región F, donde se presentan las burbujas de plasma. La nave alcanzó la altitud de 557 km y atravesó varias burbujas de plasma de mediano tamaño principalmente en donde se encuentra un perfil downleg de densidad. La densidad electrónica en la parte upleg del perfil mostró la presencia de una muy definida base de la región F alrededor de los 300 km, mientras que el downleg mostró la presencia de un amplio espectro de campo eléctrico e irregularidades en la densidad electrónica y el upleg de la capa F. El análisis espectral de las fluctuaciones en la densidad electrónica y el campo eléctrico indican la presencia de picos espectrales muy definidos a varias alturas que en la mayoría de los casos están asociados unos con otros. Probablemente esto indica la naturaleza electrostática de las ondas eléctricas que se excitan probablemente al inicio de la inestabilidad del plasma junto con las ondas de densidad. Se presentan algunos nuevos resultados de la asociación de estas fluctuaciones con las burbujas de plasma.