Surveys in Geophysics

, Volume 31, Issue 5, pp 509–530 | Cite as

Thermospheric Meridional Wind Control on Equatorial Scintillations and the Role of the Evening F-Region Height Rise, E × B Drift Velocities and F2-Peak Density Gradients

  • M. T. A. H. Muella
  • E. R. de Paula
  • P. R. Fagundes
  • J. A. Bittencourt
  • Y. Sahai
Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

The possible role, on L-band scintillation activity, played by the nighttime magnetic meridional component of the thermospheric horizontal neutral winds, the post-sunset F-layer base height, the electrical field pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) and the latitudinal gradients of the F2-layer peak density is analyzed, considering different cases of scintillation occurrence (and their latitudinal extent) during August and September 2002. The meridional winds were derived over low-latitudes from a modified form of the nonlinear time-dependent servo-model. A chain of two scintillation monitors and three digital ionosondes was operational in Brazil and used to collect, respectively, global positioning system signal amplitude scintillation and ionospheric height (h′F; hpF2) and frequency (foF2) parameters. From the overall behavior in the 2 months analyzed, the results suggest that high near sunset upward vertical plasma drifts are conducive for the generation of spread-F irregularities, whereas large poleward meridional winds tend to suppress the development of plasma bubble irregularities and the occurrence of their associated scintillations. Even when generated, a reduced fountain effect, due to weak electric field PRE, acts for the bubbles to be expanded less effectively to higher latitudes. The results also reveal that high F-layer base and peak heights (at equatorial and off-equatorial latitudes), and intense gradients in the F2-peak density between the dip equator and the equatorial anomaly crests, are favorable conditions for the generation of F-region irregularities and increased scintillation activity. Other distinct features of the controlling factors in the cases of occurrence and non-occurrence of equatorial scintillations are presented and discussed.

Keywords

Ionospheric scintillation Ionospheric irregularity Thermospheric neutral winds Equatorial ionosphere Ionospheric gradients Global positioning system 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

Marcio Muella thanks the Post-Doctoral fellowship provided by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) under project No. 2008/04892-5. Partial funding for this research was also provided by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) under grants No.132556/2002-2 and 301469/2009-1, and FAPESP No. 2008/05482-5.

References

  1. Abdu MA (2001) Outstanding problems in the equatorial ionosphere-thermosphere electrodynamics relevant to spread-F. J Atmos Solar-Terr Phys 63:869–884CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Abdu MA, deMedeiros RT, Bittencourt JA, Batista IS (1983a) Vertical ionization drift velocities and range type of spread F in the evening equatorial ionosphere. J Geophys Res 88:399–402CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Abdu MA, deMedeiros RT, Sobral JHA, Bittencourt JA (1983b) Spread F plasma vertical rise velocities determined from spaced ionosonde observations. J Geophys Res 88:9197–9204CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Abdu MA, Sobral JHA, Batista IS, Rios VH, Medina C (1998) Equatorial spread-F occurrence statistics in the American longitudes: diurnal, seasonal and solar cycle variations. Adv Space Res 22:851–854CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Abdu MA, Iyer KN, deMedeiros RT, Batista IS, Sobral JHA (2006) Thermospheric meridional wind control of equatorial spread F and evening prereversal electric field. Geophys Res Lett 33:L07106. doi:  10.1029/2005GL024835
  6. Abdu MA, Batista IS, Reinisch BW, Souza JR, Sobral JHA, Pedersen TR, Medeiros AF, Schuch NJ, de Paula ER, Groves KM (2009) Conjugate point equatorial experiment (COPEX) campaign in Brazil: electrodynamics highlights on spread F development conditions and day-to-day variability. J Geophys Res 114:A04308. doi:  10.1029/2008JA013749
  7. Anderson DN, Reinisch B, Valladares CE, Chau J, Veliz O (2004) Forecasting the occurrence of ionospheric scintillation activity in the equatorial ionosphere on day-to-day basis. J Atmos Solar-Terr Phys 66:1567–1572CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Batista IS, Sastri JH, Medeiros RT, Abdu MA (1997) Nighttime thermospheric meridional winds at Cachoeira Paulista (23°S, 45°W): Evidence for effects of the equatorial midnight pressure bulge. J Geophys Res 102:20059–20062CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Becker-Guedes F, Sahai Y, Fagundes PR, Espinoza ES, Pillat VG, Lima WLC, Su Basu, Basu S, Otsuka Y, Shiokawa K, MacKenzie EM, Pi X, Bittencourt JA (2007) The ionospheric response in the Brazilian sector during the super geomagnetic storm on 20 November 2003. Ann Geophys 25:863–873CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Bittencourt JA, Abdu MA (1981) Theoretical comparison between apparent and real vertical ionization drift velocities in the equatorial F region. J Geophys Res 85:1669–1686Google Scholar
  11. Bittencourt JA, Sahai Y (1978) F-region neutral winds from ionosonde measurements of hmF2 at low latitudes magnetic conjugate regions. J Atmos Terr Phys 86:2451–2454Google Scholar
  12. Bittencourt JA, Tinsley BA (1976) Tropical F region winds from OI 1356-Å and [OI] 6300- Å emissions 1: Theory. J Geophys Res 81:3781–3785CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Buonsanto MJ, Salah JE, Miller KL, Oliver WL, Burnside RG, Richards PG (1989) Observations of neutral circulation at mid-latitudes during the equinox transition study. J Geophys Res 94:16987–16997CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Buonsanto MJ, Starks MJ, Titheridge JE, Richards PG, Miller KL (1997) Comparison of techniques for derivations of neutral meridional winds from ionospheric data. J Geophys Res 102:14477–14484CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Burnside RG, Tepley CA, Wickwar JCG (1987) The O+, O collision cross-section: can it be inferred from aeronomical measurements? Ann Geophys 5:343–349Google Scholar
  16. Carrasco AJ, Batista IS, Abdu MA (2005) The prereversal enhancement in the vertical drift for Fortaleza and the sporadic E layer. J Atmos Solar-Terr Phys 67:1610–1617CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Dabas RS, Rupesh MD, Sharma K, Garg SC, Devasia CV, Subbarao KSV, Niranjan K, Rao PVSR (2007) Equatorial and low latitude spread-F irregularity characteristics over the Indian region and their prediction possibilities. J Atmos Solar-Terr Phys 69:685–696CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Dalgarno A (1964) Ambipolar diffusion in the F-region. J Atmos Terr Phys 26:939CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Danilov AD, Morozova LD (1985) Ionospheric storms in the F2 region: morphology and physics (review). Geomag Aeron 25:593–605Google Scholar
  20. deMedeiros RT, Abdu MA, Batista IS (1997) Thermospheric meridional wind at low latitude from measurements of F layer peak height. J Geophys Res 102:14531–14540CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Devasia CV, Jyoti N, Subbarao KSV, Viswanathan KS, Tiwari D, Sridharan R (2002) On the plausible linkage of thermospheric meridional winds with the equatorial spread F. J Atmos Solar-Terr Phys 64:1–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Fagundes PR, Sahai Y, Medeiros RT, Batista IS, Bittencourt JA, Takahashi H (1997) Nighttime F2-layer peak height change due to thermospheric winds. Adv Space Res 20:1141–1144CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Fagundes PR, Abalde JR, Bittencourt JA, Sahai Y, Francisco RG, Pillat VG, Lima WLC (2009) F layer postsunset height rise due to electric field prereversal enhancement: 2. Traveling planetary wave ionospheric disturbances and their role on the generation of equatorial spread F. J Geophys Res 114:A12322. doi:  10.1029/2009JA014482
  24. Farley DT, Bonelli E, Fejer BG, Larsen MF (1986) The prereversal enhancement of the zonal electric-field in the equatorial ionosphere. J Geophys Res 91:3723–3728CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Foppiano AJ, Torres XA, Arriagada MA, Flores PA (2003) Meridional thermospheric winds over the Antarctic Peninsula longitude sector. J Atmos Solar-Terr Phys 65:305–314CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Ganguly S, Walker JCG, Rishbeth H (1980) The dynamic F2-layer over Arecibo. J Atmos Terr Phys 42:553–562CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Gurubaran S, Sridharan R, Raghavarao R (1995) Effects of neutral temperature on meridional winds estimated from ionospheric data. J Atmos Terr Phys 57:1095–1101CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Haerendel G (1973) Theory of equatorial spread F. Report, Maxplanck-Institut fur Extraterre Phys Garching, GermanyGoogle Scholar
  29. Hedin AE (1991) Extension of the MSIS thermospheric model into de middle and lower atmosphere. J Geophys Res 96:1159–1172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Hedin AE, Biondi MA, Burnside RG, Hernandez G, Johson RM, Killen TL, Mazaudier C, Meriwether JW, Salah JE, Sica RJ, Smith RW, Spencer NW, Wickwar VB, Virdi TS (1991) Revised global model of thermosphere winds using a satellite and ground-based observations. J Geophys Res 96:7657–7688CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Heelis RA, Kendall PC, Moffett RJ, Windle DW (1974) Electrical coupling of the E- and F-regions and its effect on F-region drifts and winds. Planet Space Sci 22:743–756CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Jacchia LG (1965) Static diffusion models of the upper atmosphere with empirical temperature profiles. Smiths Contrib Astrophys 8:215–222Google Scholar
  33. Jyoti N, Devasia CV, Sridharan R, Tiwari D (2004) Threshold height (h’F)c for the meridional wind to play a deterministic role in the bottom side equatorial spread F and its dependence on solar activity. Geophys Res Lett 31:L12809. doi:  10.1029/2004GL019455
  34. Keskinen MJ, Ossakow SL, Fejer BG (2003) Three-dimensional nonlinear evolution of equatorial ionospheric spread-F bubbles. Geophys Res Lett 30:1855. doi:  10.1029/2003GL017418 Google Scholar
  35. King JW, Kohl H (1965) Upper atmospheric winds and ionospheric drifts caused by neutral air pressure gradients. Nature 206:699–701CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Lima WLC, Becker-Guedes F, Sahai Y, Fagundes PR, Abalde JR, Crowley G, Bittencourt JA (2004) Response of the equatorial and low-latitude ionosphere during the space weather events of April 2002. Ann Geophys 22:3211–3219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Liu L, Luan X, Wan W, Ning B, Lei J (2003) A new approach to the derivation of dynamic information from ionosonde measurements. Ann Geophys 21:2185–2191CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Manju G, Devasia CV, Sridharan R (2007) On the seasonal variations of the threshold height for the occurrence of equatorial spread F during solar minimum and maximum years. Ann Geophys 25:855–861CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Maruyama TA (1988) A diagnostic model for equatorial spread-F 1. Model description and application to electric-field and neutral wind effects. J Geophys Res 93:14611–14622CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. McDonald JN, Williams PJS, Rishbeth H (1985) A servo-model of the night-time F2-layer above St. Santin. J Atmos Terr Phys 47:441–449CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Melendez-Alvira DJ, Burnside RG, Walker JCG (1993) Modeling the Arecibo nighttime F2 layer 1. Overhead properties. J Geophys Res 98:5993–6011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Mendillo M, Baumgardner J, Pi XQ, Sultan PJ, Tsunoda R (1992) Onset conditions for equatorial spread-F. J Geophys Res 97:13865–13876CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Muella MTAH, Fagundes PR, Bittencourt JA, Sahai Y, Lima WLC, Becker-Guedes F, Pillat VG (2008a) Nighttime thermospheric meridional neutral winds inferred from ionospheric h’F and hpF2 data. Adv Space Res 41:599–610CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Muella MTAH, de Paula ER, Kantor IJ, Batista IS, Sobral JHA, Abdu MA, Kintner PM, Groves KM, Smorigo PF (2008b) GPS L-band scintillations and ionospheric irregularity zonal drifts inferred at equatorial and low-latitude regions. J Atmos Solar-Terr Phys 70:1261–1272CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Muella MTAH, de Paula ER, Kantor IJ, Rezende LFC, Smorigo PF (2009) Occurrence and zonal drifts of small-scale ionospheric irregularities over an equatorial station during solar maximum–Magnetic quiet and disturbed conditions. Adv Space Res 43:1957–1973CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Muella MTAH, Kherani EA, de Paula ER, Cerruti AP, Kintner PM, Kantor IJ, Mitchell CN, Batista IS, Abdu MA (2010) Scintillation-producing Fresnel-scale irregularities associated with the regions of steepest TEC gradients adjacent to the equatorial ionization anomaly. J Geophys Res 115:A03301. doi:  10.1029/2009JA014788
  47. Murthy BVK, Hari SS, Somayajulu VV (1990) Nighttime equatorial thermospheric meridional winds from ionospheric h’F data. J Geophys Res 95:4307–4310CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  48. Raghavarao R, Rageswara MR, Sastri JH, Vyas GD, Srirama RM (1988) Role of equatorial ionization anomaly in initiation of equatorial spread-F. J Geophys Res 93:5959–5964CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Ram ST, Rao PVSR, Niranjan K, Prasad DSVVD, Sridharan R, Devasia CV, Ravindran S (2006) The role of post-sunset vertical drifts at the equator in predicting the onset of VHF scintillations during high and low sunspot activity years. Ann Geophys 24:1609–1616CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Rao PVSR, Jayachandran PT, Ram PS (1997) Ionospheric irregularities: the role of the equatorial ionization anomaly. Radio Sci 32:1551–1557CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Rao PVSR, Krishna SG, Niranjan K, Prasad DSVVD (2006) Study of spatial and temporal characteristics of L-band scintillations over the Indian low-latitude region and their possible effects on GPS navigation. Ann Geophys 24:1567–1580CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Ray S, Paul A, DasGupta A (2006) Equatorial scintillations in relation to the development of ionization anomaly. Ann Geophys 24:1429–1442CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Rishbeth H (1967) The effects of winds on the ionospheric F2-peak. J Atmos Terr Phys 29:225–238CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Rishbeth H (1972) Thermospheric winds and the F-region: a review. J Atmos Terr Phys 34:1–47CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Rishbeth H (1997) The ionospheric E-layer and F-layer dynamos—a tutorial review. J Atmos Solar-Terr Phys 59:1873–1880CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Rishbeth H, Ganguly S, Walker JCG (1978) Field-aligned and field-perpendicular velocities in the ionospheric F2-layer. J Atmos Terr Phys 40:767–784CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. Salah JE (1993) Interim standard for the ion-neutral atomic oxygen collision frequency. Geophys Res Lett 20:1543–1546CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. Sastri JH, Abdu MA, Batista IS, Sobral JHA (1997) Onset conditions of equatorial (range) spread F at Fortaleza, Brazil during the June solstice. J Geophys Res 102:24013–24021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Sridharan S, Gurubaran S, Raghavarao R, Suhasini R (1991) Co-ordinated thermospheric and F-region measurements from low latitudes. J Atmos Terr Phys 53:515–519CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Su Basu, Basu S, Valladares CE, Yeh HC, Su SY, MacKenzie E, Sultan PJ, Aarons J, Rich FJ, Doherty P, Groves KM, Bullet TW (2001) Ionospheric effects of major magnetic storms during the international space weather period of September and October 1999: GPS observations, VHF/UHF scintillations and in situ density structures at middle and equatorial latitudes. J Geophys Res 106:30389–30413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  61. Titheridge JE (1993) Atmospheric winds calculated from diurnal changes in the mid-latitude ionosphere. J Atmos Terr Phys 55:1637–1659CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  62. Titheridge JE (1995) The calculation of neutral winds from ionospheric data. J Atmos Terr Phys 57:1015–1036CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Torr DG, Torr MR (1979) Chemistry of the thermosphere and ionosphere. J Atmos Terr Phys 41:797–839CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  64. Yagi T, Dyson PL (1985) The influence of neutral temperatures and winds on the F-layer height. J Atmos Terr Phys 47:575–579CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • M. T. A. H. Muella
    • 1
  • E. R. de Paula
    • 1
  • P. R. Fagundes
    • 2
  • J. A. Bittencourt
    • 1
  • Y. Sahai
    • 2
  1. 1.Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Divisão de Aeronomia, São José dos CamposSão PauloBrazil
  2. 2.Laboratório de Física e Astronomia, Universidade do Vale do Paraiba, IP&D, São José dos CamposSão PauloBrazil

Personalised recommendations