Total Electron Content Maps Research Articles

Variability of the lunar semidiurnal tidal amplitudes in the ionosphere over Brazil

Abstract. The variability in the amplitudes of the lunar semidiurnal tide was investigated using maps of total electron content over Brazil from January 2011 to December 2014. Long-period variability showed that the annual variation is always present in all investigated magnetic latitudes, and it represents the main component of the temporal variability. Semiannual and triannual (two and three times a year, respectively) oscillations were the second and third components, respectively, but they presented significant temporal and spatial variability without a well-defined pattern. Among the short-period oscillations in the amplitude of the lunar tide, the most pronounced ones were concentrated between 7–11 d. These oscillations were stronger around the equinoxes, in particular between September and November in almost all latitudes. In some years, as in 2013 and 2014, for instance, they appeared with a large power spectral density in the winter hemisphere. These observed short-period oscillations could be a result of a direct modulation of the lunar semidiurnal tide by planetary waves from the lower atmosphere and/or due to electrodynamic coupling of E and F regions of the ionosphere.

The Delayed Ionospheric Response to the 27‐day Solar Rotation Period Analyzed With GOLD and IGS TEC Data

AbstractThe delayed ionospheric response is analyzed for two well‐defined 27‐day solar rotation periods in the year 2019 with solar radio flux index F10.7 and Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) data, like solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux proxy, O/N2 column density ratio and peak electron density, as well as International Global Navigation Satellite System Service rapid high‐rate total electron content (TEC) map data. Although the correlation between GOLD solar EUV flux proxy and TEC is similar to the correlation between F10.7 and TEC, it is shown that the estimated delays based on GOLD data are in much better agreement with recent studies using EUV measurements compared to the delays based on F10.7 data. The GOLD peak electron density correlates well with TEC and allows insight to a local time interval when the ionosphere is not controlled by solar activity changes (17:00 LT to 21:00 LT). The present study investigates the impact of the solar activity (F10.7, GOLD EUV flux proxy) and O/N2 column density ratio on the ionospheric delay for two representative solar rotation periods. The capabilities of GOLD data for future research on the ionospheric response to the 27‐day solar rotation period are demonstrated and discussed. These results are crucial information for precise ionospheric models and forecasts.

Concentric Secondary Gravity Waves in the Thermosphere and Ionosphere Over the Continental United States on March 25–26, 2015 From Deep Convection

AbstractWe examine the total electron content (TEC) from GPS receivers over the United States on March 25–26, 2015. We observe partial to nearly fully concentric rings of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) with centers close to deep convection. Many of these TIDs have observed horizontal phase speeds cH > 300 m/s, suggesting they are induced by gravity waves (GWs) created in the thermosphere. We investigate the largest‐amplitude concentric TIDs at 23:00 UT on March 25 and 01:20 UT on March 26. We find that cH and the GW period τr increase linearly with radius and the horizontal wavelength, λH, increases quadratically with radius. This is expected if the GWs are excited by point sources. For these GWs, cH = 150–530 m/s, τr ∼ 8–40 min, and λH ∼ 100–500 km. Using reverse ray‐tracing, no GW with cH > 200 m/s propagates below z = 100 km, 73% of the GWs in the first case cannot propagate below z ∼ 100 km, all of the GWs in the second case cannot propagate below z ∼ 100 km, and the inferred thermospheric point sources are ∼2–4° from deep convection. Because the underlying GWs are most likely excited by a point source and most must be created in the thermosphere, we find that these concentric TIDs are most likely induced by GWs generated in the thermosphere, including those with cH = 150–200 m/s. Their close proximity to deep convection and the TEC map asymmetries suggest these TIDs are likely induced by secondary GWs from local horizontal body forces created by the dissipation of primary GWs from deep convection.

Solar activity dependence of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances using GPS receivers in Japan

In order to reveal solar activity dependence of the medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) at midlatitudes, total electron content (TEC) data obtained from a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver network in Japan during 22 years from 1998 to 2019 were analyzed. We have calculated the detrended TEC by subtracting the 1-h running average from the original TEC data for each satellite and receiver pair, and made two-dimensional TEC maps of the detrended TEC with a spatial resolution of 0.15° × 0.15° in longitude and latitude. We have investigated MSTID activity, defined as delta I/overline{I}, where delta I and overline{I} are standard deviation of the detrended TEC and the average vertical TEC within the area of 133.0°–137.0° E and 33.0°–37.0° N for 1 h, respectively. From each 2-h time series of the detrended TEC data within the same area as the MSTID activity, auto-correlation functions (ACFs) of the detrended TEC were calculated to estimate the horizontal propagation velocity and direction of the MSTIDs. Statistical results of the MSTID activity and propagation direction of MSTIDs were consistent with previous studies and support the idea that daytime MSTIDs could be caused by atmospheric gravity waves, and that nighttime MSTIDs were caused by electro-dynamical forces, such as the Perkins instability. From the current long-term observations, we have found that the nighttime MSTID activity and occurrence rate increased with decreasing solar activity. For the daytime MSTID, the occurrence rate increased with decreasing solar activity, whereas the MSTID activity did not show distinct solar activity dependence. These results suggest that the secondary gravity waves generated by dissipation of the primary gravity waves propagating from below increase under low solar activity conditions. The mean horizontal phase velocity of the MSTIDs during nighttime did not show a distinct solar activity dependence, whereas that during daytime showed an anticorrelation with solar activity. The horizontal phase velocity of the daytime MSTIDs was widely distributed from 40 to 180 m/s under high solar activity conditions, whereas it ranged between 80 and 200 m/s, with a maximum occurrence at 130 m/s under low solar activity conditions, suggesting that gravity waves with low phase velocity could be dissipated by high viscosity in the thermosphere under low solar activity conditions.

One‐Day Forecasting of Global TEC Using a Novel Deep Learning Model

AbstractIn this study, we make a global total electron content (TEC) forecasting using a novel deep learning method, which is based on conditional generative adversarial networks. For training, we use the International GNSS Service (IGS) TEC maps from 2003 to 2012 with 2‐h time cadence. Our model has two input images (IGS TEC map and 1‐day difference map between the present day and the previous day) and one output image (1‐day future map). The model is tested with two data sets: solar maximum period (2013–2014) and solar minimum period (2017–2018). Then, we compare the results of our model with those of 1‐day Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) prediction model. Our major results can be summarized as follows. First, we successfully apply our model to the forecast of global TEC maps. Second, our model well predicts daily TEC maps with 1 day in advance using only previous TEC maps. The averaged root mean square error, bias, and standard deviation between AI‐generated and IGS TEC maps are 2.74 TECU, −0.32 TECU, and 2.59 TECU, respectively. Third, our model generates some peak structures around equatorial regions. Fourth, our model shows better performance than 1‐day CODE prediction model during both solar maximum and minimum periods. Fifth, another model with additional input data Kp index gives a slight improvement of the results. Our study shows that our deep learning model based on an image translation method will be effective for forecasting of future images using previous data.

An Ionospheric Climate Index Based on GNSS

AbstractThe ionospheric total electron content (TEC) is a significant parameter for scientific studies of the ionosphere and space weather. Ground‐based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) station network provides an opportunity for modeling the ionospheric TEC with high accuracy. Based on global ionospheric TEC maps, by using data from the International GNSS Service (IGS) stations for 21 years (from 1998 to 2018), we establish an ionospheric climate index (ICI) for representing the general state of the ionosphere. In addition, we build a multiple linear regression model for fitting ICI using the SSN, F10.7, Ap, and Dst indices and upper atmospheric wind field. We quantitatively analyze the contribution of these factors to ICI time series. ICI during the past six solar cycles, namely, from 1958 to 2018, are presented, which are assigned as the adjectives (cold, cool, mild, warm, hot, and sizzling) for ionospheric climatology studies. This new index is a very promising representative of day‐to‐day variations of middle‐ and low‐latitude ionosphere.

SEASONAL FEATURES OF THE CORRELATION OF THE TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT AT MAGNETICALLY CONJUGATE POINTS

The paper presents the results of studies of the seasonal variability of statistical relationships between Magnetoconjugated Points (MCP) of the ionosphere. The analysis is based on the calculation of the correlation coefficients between the variations in the Total Electron Content (TEC) at points located on the same field line of the dipole magnetic field on both sides of the geomagnetic equator. Global TEC maps were used as initial data. For the four seasons of 2009 and 2015, the values of the Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the variations in the Total Electron Content in the MCP were calculated. For two levels of solar activity, we examined the seasonal features of statistical relationships between TEC variations at points located on the same field line of the dipole magnetic field on both sides of the geomagnetic equator. Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated for the mean daily TEC variations. It was shown in the work that during the period of low solar activity, the correlation between the TEC variations in the MCP regions is weak or absent, except for autumn. In 2015, a significant correlation between magnetoconjugated regions is observed during all seasons, while in winter and summer they are localized at low latitudes and in spring and autumn at high and middle latitudes.

Possible Seismo Ionospheric Anomalies before the 2016 Mw 7.6 Chile Earthquake from GPS TEC, GIM TEC and Swarm Satellites

The recent advances in space based ionospheric measurements can help to investigate seismic precursors before earthquake with multi-parameter observations and more dedicated instrumentations. In this paper, seismo ionospheric anomalies before the December 25, 2016, Mw 7.6, Chile earthquake are investigated in Total Electron Content (TEC) and Global Ionosphere Map (GIM). The temporal TEC from GPS stations and GIM show enhancement during 5- 10 days (local daytime) before main shock. Similarly, spatial TEC confirms abnormal dense cloud at LT=12h-14h on December 21, 2016, that lingers over the epicenter of Chile earthquake. On the other hand, the geomagnetic indices show Dst < -50nT of low intensity variation. Similarly, Kp > 3 on December 21, 2016 within 5-10 days before the Mw 7.6. This study emphasizes that the ionosphere anomalies may not be the possible association of earthquakes induced variation but it is due to the active storm conditions (Kp>3).

Probing ionospheric TEC near South Geomagnetic Pole by use of GNSS observations

Total electron content (TEC) is one of the most important parameters of the Earth’s ionosphere. This parameter determines the degree of ionization and the dispersion properties of the ionosphere. Now the most affordable way to determine ionospheric parameters is the use of radio signals from the global navigation satellite systems GLONASS, GPS, GALILEO and BDS. TEC is now being routinely monitored by global GNSS networks almost everywhere on Earth except geomagnetic poles. The observations of TEC at the Vostok antarctic station were carried out jointly by Saint Petersburg State University and Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. Observations were started in 2016 and continued to this day with small interruptions. In this work we have processed the GNSS observations with RTKLIB and GeNeSiS software packages. As a result of this processing we have estimated the TEC from code and phase observables. The resulting TEC time series were analysed and compared to the global TEC map. A reasonable accordance with previous results has been reached. However, our results are specific to the South Geomagnetic Pole and reflect ionospheric behaviour near it. It can be seen that TEC changes more abruptly near the Geomagnetic Pole than elsewhere. These results may potentially augment our knowledge about ionosphere structure and evolution near the geomagnetic poles.

Modeling Australian TEC Maps Using Long-Term Observations of Australian Regional GPS Network by Artificial Neural Network-Aided Spherical Cap Harmonic Analysis Approach

The global ionosphere map (GIM) is not capable of serving precise positioning and navigation for single frequency receivers in Australia due to sparse International GNSS Service (IGS) stations located in the vast land. This study proposes an approach to represent Australian total electron content (TEC) using the spherical cap harmonic analysis (SCHA) and artificial neural network (ANN). The new Australian TEC maps are released with an interval of 15 min for longitude and latitude in 0.5° × 0.5°. The validation results show that the Australian Ionospheric Maps (AIMs) well represent the hourly and seasonally ionospheric electrodynamic features over the Australian continent; the accuracy of the AIMs improves remarkably compared to the GIM and the model built only by the SCHA. The residual of the AIM is inversely proportional to the level of solar radiation. During the equinoxes and solstices in a solar minimum year, the residuals are 2.16, 1.57, 1.68, and 1.98 total electron content units (TECUs, 1 TECU = 1016 electron/m2), respectively. Furthermore, the AIM has a strong capability in capturing the adequate electrodynamic evolutions of the traveling ionospheric disturbances under severe geomagnetic storms. The results demonstrate that the ANN-aided SCHA method is an effective approach for mapping and investigating the TEC maps over Australia.

Forecasting Global Ionospheric TEC Using Deep Learning Approach

AbstractGlobal ionospheric total electron content (TEC) maps are widely utilized in research regarding ionospheric physics and the associated space weather impacts, so there is a great interest in the community in short‐term ionosphere TEC forecasting. In this study, the long short‐term memory (LSTM) neural network (NN) is applied to forecast the 256 spherical harmonic (SH) coefficients that are traditionally used to construct global ionospheric maps (GIM). Multiple input data, including historical time series of the SH coefficients, solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux, disturbance storm time (Dst) index, and hour of the day, are used in the developed LSTM NN model. Different combinations of the above parameters have been used in constructing the LSTM NN model, and it is found that the model using all four parameters performs the best. Then the best performing LSTM model is used to forecast the SH coefficients, and the global hourly TEC maps are reproduced using the 256 predicted SH coefficients. A comprehensive evaluation is carried out with respect to the CODE GIM TEC. Results show that the first/second hour TEC root mean square error (RMSE) is 1.27/2.20 TECU during storm time and 0.86/1.51 TECU during quiet time, so the developed model performs well during both quiet and storm times. Moreover, typical ionospheric structures, such as equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) and storm‐enhanced density (SED), are well reproduced in the predicted TEC maps during storm time. The developed model also shows competitive performance in predicting global TEC when compared to the persistence model and two empirical models (IRI‐2016 and NeQuick‐2).

Variation on Solar Wind Parameters and Total Electron Content Over Middle‐ to Low‐Latitude Regions During Intense Geomagnetic Storms

AbstractStreams of the particle ejected from the Sun and the extreme space weather conditions like storms, high‐speed streamers (HSSs), interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), corotating interaction regions (CIRs), and interplanetary shocks (IS) termed as geomagnetic storms have massive influence in the climate and components of the Earth's upper atmosphere such as total electron content (TEC). The study of TEC helps to understand variations in ionospheric electron density during geomagnetic storms. Global ionospheric maps of TEC are a real‐time mapping of GPS observations produced by ground‐based stations. In this paper, we have analyzed three intense geomagnetic storms of the year 2015: during 16–21 March 2015 (the St. Patrick's Day storm), 21–24 June 2015, and 18–22 December 2015. We present the variations of IMF‐Bz, solar wind parameters (Vsw, Nsw, and Psw), and geomagnetic indices (AE and SYM‐H) and the variations of vertical total electron content (VTEC) using simultaneous VTEC data from 12 GPS‐TEC stations over the Indian, Australian, Brazilian, and South African regions. We describe contrast in TEC throughout the globe using global ionospheric maps at a regular 2 hr interval of UT during the three intense geomagnetic storms. Moreover, we observed that heavily TEC‐influenced areas were found to be transposing through the equatorial plane starting from eastern sectors to the western sectors. The Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and South Pacific Ocean sectors were affected flowingly. Global ionospheric maps evince that Indian and Brazilian sectors were affected heavily explaining the traveling ionospheric disturbances (TID) and equatorial anomaly as seen in those areas. The equatorial and low‐latitude regions have been mainly affected by geomagnetic storms. All these results suggested that the acute disruption of global winds (surging toward the equator from higher latitudes) and electric fields commenced from magnetosphere‐ionosphere interaction causing the severe modification in the equatorial, low‐latitude region. We also checked the cross correlation of VTEC of LCK3 station and various other stations during the period of high solar and geomagnetic activities; the correlation gradually increased with the nearby stations by latitudes in most of the cases which was another intriguing result. Thus, these results suggested that the storms were affected globally, which is why we believe that variation of TEC over various stations of the globe could turn out to be very helpful in predicting solar wind coupling with the magnetosphere‐ionosphere.

Plasma and Field Observations in the Magnetospheric Source Region of a Stable Auroral Red (SAR) Arc by the Arase Satellite on 28 March 2017

AbstractA stable auroral red (SAR) arc is an aurora with a dominant 630 nm emission at subauroral latitudes. SAR arcs have been considered to occur due to the spatial overlap between the plasmasphere and the ring‐current ions. In the overlap region, plasmaspheric electrons are heated by ring‐current ions or plasma waves, and their energy is then transferred down to the ionosphere where it causes oxygen red emission. However, there have been no study conducted so far that quantitatively examined plasma and electromagnetic fields in the magnetosphere associated with SAR arc. In this paper, we report the first quantitative evaluation of conjugate measurements of a SAR arc observed at 2204 UT on 28 March 2017 and investigate its source region using an all‐sky imager at Nyrölä (magnetic latitude: 59.4°N), Finland, and the Arase satellite. The Arase observation shows that the SAR arc appeared in the overlap region between a plasmaspheric plume and the ring‐current ions and that electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves and kinetic Alfven waves were not observed above the SAR arc. The SAR arc was located at the ionospheric trough minimum identified from a total electron content map obtained by the GNSS receiver network. The Swarm satellite flying in the ionosphere also passed the SAR arc at ~2320 UT and observed a decrease in electron density and an increase in electron temperature during the SAR‐arc crossing. These observations suggest that the heating of plasmaspheric electrons via Coulomb collision with ring‐current ions is the most plausible mechanism for the SAR‐arc generation.

Improving regional ionospheric TEC mapping based on RBF interpolation

Radial basis function (RBF) interpolation with multi-quadric is developed to perform ionospheric total electron content (TEC) mapping for the Chinese region between 15°N ~ 40°N and 100°E ~ 125°E. TEC measurements from the Centre for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) covering the solar maximum year 2011 are used to investigate the performance of the proposed RBF interpolation method. The differences between the RBF interpolated TEC and the CODE TEC are within 0.5 TECU and the root mean square error (RMSE) is very small when 49 data points are used. The maximum difference is ~5 TECU and the error is less than 1 TECU with 25 samples. Our study suggests that a random distribution of measurement points gives smaller RMSEs than a homogenous distribution when the number of sample points is low. The study indicates that RBF interpolation offers a powerful and reliable tool for ionospheric TEC mapping.

Kriging‐based ionospheric TEC, ROTI and amplitude scintillation index (S4) maps for India

In this study, an attempt is made to develop regional ionospheric total electron content (TEC), rate of TEC index (ROTI) and amplitude scintillation index (S 4) maps using data from 26 dual-frequency global positioning system (GPS) receivers under GPS aided geo-stationary earth orbit augmented navigation programme over Indian region. One-minute spatial TEC maps are generated for the entire Indian region covering 65–100°E geographic longitudes, 5–40°N geographic latitudes with 2° × 2° grid separation using Kriging method. Also, the ROTI and amplitude scintillation index (S 4) maps for every 5 min are generated. The performance of the generated regional TEC maps is evaluated during a severe geomagnetic storm condition. Patterns of equatorial ionisation anomaly (EIA) TEC structures are investigated for St. Patrick's storm between the days 15 and 20 March 2015 with the generated TEC maps. The proposed TEC maps depict the northern crest of EIA features in latitudinal extent and TEC strength. The kriging method detects the suppressed and downshift of EIA features on 18 March 2015. The movement of plasma bubbles are analysed over Indian latitudes during the transition period of a geomagnetic storm on 17 March 2015.

Comparison of GOLD Nighttime Measurements With Total Electron Content: Preliminary Results

AbstractThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) has been imaging the thermosphere and ionosphere since October 2018. It provides continuous measurements over a large area from its geostationary orbit. The unambiguous two‐dimensional (2‐D) maps of OI 135.6 nm radiance retrieved from GOLD after sunset are compared with the total electron content (TEC) maps measured by GPS receivers in the American sector. The OI 135.6 nm radiance observed by GOLD is an indicator of the peak electron density of the ionosphere F2 region, while the TEC is the total electron density in the column. Our comparisons show that the two data sets match each other very well in the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) morphology and its seasonal variability. Equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) are evident in GOLD nighttime OI 135.6 radiance. Corresponding depletions are shown in TEC maps, but without GOLD data as a reference, it is difficult to discern that the depletions are EPBs. In addition, both GOLD 135.6 radiance and TEC maps observed third peaks of electron density poleward of the southern EIA crests. Furthermore, both show that the ionosphere after sunset is quite dynamic and has strong day‐to‐day variability. In all, the GOLD and TEC have valuable synergy to allow us to gain a better understanding of the equatorial ionosphere.

Early Morning Equatorial Ionization Anomaly From GOLD Observations

AbstractDuring geomagnetically quiet and solar minimum conditions, spatial variations of the early morning thermosphere‐ionosphere (TI) system are expected to be mainly governed by wave dynamics. To study the postmidnight dynamical coupling, we investigated the early morning equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) using Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) measurements of OI‐135.6 nm nightglow emission and global navigation satellite system (GNSS)‐based total electron content (TEC) maps. The EIA structures in the OI‐135.6 nm emission over the American landmass resemble, spatially and temporally, those observed in the GNSS‐TEC maps. The early morning EIA (EM‐EIA) crests are well separated in latitude and mostly located over the middle of South America during October–November. In February–April the crests are less separated in latitude and predominantly located over the west coast sector of South America. Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere eXtension (WACCMX) simulations with constant solar minimum and quiet‐geomagnetic conditions show that EM‐EIA can occur globally and shows properties similar to longitudinal Wave 4 pattern. Thus, we propose that EM‐EIA is driven by dynamical changes associated with the lower atmospheric waves.

Polar Electron Content From GPS Data‐Based Global Ionospheric Maps: Assessment, Case Studies, and Climatology

AbstractThe electron content distribution of the north and south polar ionosphere from 2001 to the beginning of 2019 is analyzed by using the UQRG global ionospheric map (GIM) of vertical total electron content (VTEC), computed every 15 min by UPC‐IonSAT with a tomographic‐kriging combined technique. We first show that the accuracy of UQRG GIM is slightly better than that of the GIMs of other analysis centers on the whole and also over both poles. Second, we show examples of polar VTEC features in UQRG GIM, previously reported by different authors and with higher‐resolution techniques. Third, by means of an unsupervised clustering algorithm, learning vector quantization, we characterize the main features of the ionospheric electron content climatology, separately for the north and south polar regions.

Small-Scale Ionospheric Irregularities of Auroral Origin at Mid-latitudes during the 22 June 2015 Magnetic Storm and Their Effect on GPS Positioning

Small-scale ionospheric irregularities affect navigation and radio telecommunications. We studied small-scale irregularities observed during the 22 June 2015 geomagnetic storm and used experimental facilities at the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISTP SB RAS) located near Irkutsk, Russia (~52°N, 104°E). The facilities used were the DPS-4 ionosonde (spread-F width), receivers of the Irkutsk Incoherent Scatter Radar (Cygnus A signal amplitude scintillations), and GPS/GLONASS receivers (amplitude and phase scintillations), while 150 MHz Cygnus A signal recording provides a unique data set on ionosphere small-scale structure. We observed increased spread-F, Cygnus A signal amplitude scintillations, and GPS phase scintillations near 20 UT on 22 June 2015 at mid-latitudes. GPS/GLONASS amplitude scintillations were at a quiet time level. By using global total electron content (TEC) maps, we conclude that small-scale irregularities are most likely caused by the auroral oval expansion. In the small-scale irregularity region, we recorded an increase in the precise point positioning (PPP) error. Even at mid-latitudes, the mean PPP error is at least five times that of the quiet level and reaches 0.5 m.

Reverse Fountain and the Nighttime Enhancement in the Ionospheric Electron Density Over the Equatorial Region: A Case Study

AbstractThis paper focuses on the linkage between reverse fountain effect and anomalous enhancement in the nighttime electron density over the equatorial ionosphere often referred as the ionospheric nighttime enhancement (INE). The Global Positioning System (GPS)‐derived total electron content (TEC) measurements over two Indian equatorial stations and ionosonde measurements are used to investigate the occurrence characteristics and mechanism of the premidnight and postmidnight INE events. The high‐resolution spatiotemporal two‐dimensional (2D) TEC maps generated by using satellite‐based augmentation system are used to visualize the reverse fountain effect. These TEC maps are found to be effective in envisaging the motion of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) in nighttime ionosphere and its impact on the distribution of electron density over the equatorial region. Salient features of this case study illustrate that, accompanying enhancements in the nighttime TEC, there exist decrease in the F2 layer height, prevalence of downward vertical plasma drift, and dramatic increase in the F2 region electron density. The 2D‐TEC maps reveal the persistence of well‐developed EIA until late evening hours and its gradual shift toward equator during the events of postmidnight INEs. It is found out that the premidnight INE is not invariably linked to the prereversal enhancement of the zonal electric field and could be associated with the redistribution of electron density caused by the reverse fountain effect. The present observations indicate that although the westward electric field serves as a prime driver, the INEs over the equatorial regions are associated with plasma motions caused by the retreating anomaly.