Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric Perturbations
Abstract Nighttime medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) have been generally observed by ground‐based instruments. However, they provide 2‐dimensional images over only a limited field of view and are not distributed globally. The ground‐based observations reported that MSTID wavef...
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Space Weather |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022SW003312 |
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| author | Hosub Song Jaeheung Park Yaqi Jin Yuichi Otsuka Stephan Buchert Jaejin Lee Yu Yi |
| author_facet | Hosub Song Jaeheung Park Yaqi Jin Yuichi Otsuka Stephan Buchert Jaejin Lee Yu Yi |
| author_sort | Hosub Song |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Nighttime medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) have been generally observed by ground‐based instruments. However, they provide 2‐dimensional images over only a limited field of view and are not distributed globally. The ground‐based observations reported that MSTID wavefronts exhibit backward‐C shapes virtually straddling the dip equator. In situ plasma density measurements onboard individual satellites could overcome the limited coverage of ground‐based MSTID observations. But, most of those spacecrafts could obtain only 1‐dimensional profiles of plasma density, which leaves uncertain whether the observed perturbations generally have the characteristic directivity of MSTIDs. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by statistically investigating nighttime perturbations in the mid‐latitude topside ionosphere observed by tandem satellites, Swarm A and C. We cross‐correlate the plasma density profiles observed by Swarm A and C. The correlation coefficient tends to increase as the two spacecraft move closer, allowing us to derive the disturbances' directivity whenever the Swarm A and C observations are correlated significantly. The directivity statistics agree well with the backward‐C shape. Furthermore, the wavefront directions have clear dependence on magnetic latitudes while they are not as well aligned with local time, which is also consistent with previous reports on nighttime MSTIDs using ground‐based observations and computer simulations. Additionally, we demonstrate that the nighttime MSTIDs can increase the topside Rate Of Total electron content Index above Swarm. All the above‐mentioned results support that the nighttime mid‐latitude perturbations observed by Swarm can be identified as MSTIDs on the whole, which is the most important finding of this paper. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3f8bc6c7cef745c78331a75c79c37add |
| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
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| series | Space Weather |
| spelling | doaj-art-3f8bc6c7cef745c78331a75c79c37add2025-01-14T16:31:24ZengWileySpace Weather1542-73902023-02-01212n/an/a10.1029/2022SW003312Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric PerturbationsHosub Song0Jaeheung Park1Yaqi Jin2Yuichi Otsuka3Stephan Buchert4Jaejin Lee5Yu Yi6Space Science Division Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) Daejeon South KoreaSpace Science Division Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) Daejeon South KoreaDepartment of Physics University of Oslo Oslo NorwayInstitute for Space‐Earth Environmental Research Nagoya University Nagoya JapanSwedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala SwedenSpace Science Division Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) Daejeon South KoreaDepartment of Astronomy, Space Science and Geology Chungnam National University (CNU) Daejeon South KoreaAbstract Nighttime medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) have been generally observed by ground‐based instruments. However, they provide 2‐dimensional images over only a limited field of view and are not distributed globally. The ground‐based observations reported that MSTID wavefronts exhibit backward‐C shapes virtually straddling the dip equator. In situ plasma density measurements onboard individual satellites could overcome the limited coverage of ground‐based MSTID observations. But, most of those spacecrafts could obtain only 1‐dimensional profiles of plasma density, which leaves uncertain whether the observed perturbations generally have the characteristic directivity of MSTIDs. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by statistically investigating nighttime perturbations in the mid‐latitude topside ionosphere observed by tandem satellites, Swarm A and C. We cross‐correlate the plasma density profiles observed by Swarm A and C. The correlation coefficient tends to increase as the two spacecraft move closer, allowing us to derive the disturbances' directivity whenever the Swarm A and C observations are correlated significantly. The directivity statistics agree well with the backward‐C shape. Furthermore, the wavefront directions have clear dependence on magnetic latitudes while they are not as well aligned with local time, which is also consistent with previous reports on nighttime MSTIDs using ground‐based observations and computer simulations. Additionally, we demonstrate that the nighttime MSTIDs can increase the topside Rate Of Total electron content Index above Swarm. All the above‐mentioned results support that the nighttime mid‐latitude perturbations observed by Swarm can be identified as MSTIDs on the whole, which is the most important finding of this paper.https://doi.org/10.1029/2022SW003312SwarmMSTIDperturbationtandemROTITEC |
| spellingShingle | Hosub Song Jaeheung Park Yaqi Jin Yuichi Otsuka Stephan Buchert Jaejin Lee Yu Yi Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric Perturbations Space Weather Swarm MSTID perturbation tandem ROTI TEC |
| title | Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric Perturbations |
| title_full | Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric Perturbations |
| title_fullStr | Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric Perturbations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric Perturbations |
| title_short | Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric Perturbations |
| title_sort | tandem observations of nighttime mid latitude topside ionospheric perturbations |
| topic | Swarm MSTID perturbation tandem ROTI TEC |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022SW003312 |
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