Identification

Title

Mesoscale field-aligned irregularity structures (FAIs) of airglow associated with medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs)

Abstract

n this paper, we report the evolution (generation, amplification, and dissipation) of optically observed mesoscale field-aligned irregularity structures (FAIs) (~150 km) associated with a medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance (MSTID) event. There have not been observations of mesoscale FAIs of airglow before. The mesoscale FAIs were generated in an airglow-depleted front of southwestward propagating MSTIDs that were simultaneously observed by an all-sky imager, a GPS monitor, and a digisonde around Xinglong (40.4°N, 30.5° magnetic latitude), China, on 17/18 February 2012. A normalized cross-correlation method has been used to obtain the velocities of mesoscale FAIs and MSTIDs. The mesoscale FAIs had an obvious northwestward relative velocity to main-body MSTIDs (about 87.0 m/s on average). The direction of this relative velocity was roughly parallel to the depleted fronts. Furthermore, the evolution of the mesoscale FAIs was mostly controlled by the intensity of the depleted fronts. Occurred in a highly elevated ionosphere that had a total electron content depletion associated with large negative airglow perturbations (-25%), the mesoscale FAIs grew rapidly when they experienced southeastward wind, which had a speed of about 100 m/s and were measured by a Fabry-Perot interferometer. A northeastward polarization electric field within a depleted airglow front can play a controlling role in the development of the mesoscale FAIs. The electric field can significantly elevate the ionosphere and move the mesoscale FAIs northwestward by the E × B drift. The processes for the generation and development of the polarization electric field and the mesoscale FAIs, however, need further study.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7862hz6

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

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keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

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South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

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End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-11-01T00:00:00Z

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Conformity

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Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

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