Identification

Title

Response of the topside and bottomside ionosphere at low and middle latitudes to the October 2003 superstorms

Abstract

Ionospheric observations from the ground-based GPS receiver network, CHAMP and GRACE satellites and ionosondes were used to examine topside and bottomside ionospheric variations at low and middle latitudes over the Pacific and American sectors during the October 2003 superstorms. The latitudinal variation and the storm time response of the ground-based GPS total electron content (TEC) were generally consistent with those of the CHAMP and GRACE up-looking TEC. The TECs at heights below the satellite altitudes during the main phases were comparable to, or even less than, the quiet time values. However, the storm time CHAMP and GRACE up-looking TECs showed profound increases at low and middle latitudes. The ground-based TEC and ionosonde data were also combined to study the TEC variations below and above the F₂ peak height (hmF₂). The topside TECs above hmF₂ at low and middle latitudes showed significant increases during storm time; however, the bottomside TEC below hmF₂ did not show so obvious changes. Consequently, the bottomside ionosphere made only a minor contribution to the ionospheric positive phase seen in the total TEC at low and middle latitudes. Moreover, at middle latitudes F₂ peak electron densities during storm time did not have the obvious enhancements that were seen in both the ground-based and topside TECs, although they were accompanied by increases of hmF₂. Therefore, storm time TEC changes are not necessarily related to changes in ionospheric peak densities. Our results suggest that TEC increases at low and middle latitudes are also associated with effective plasma scale height variations during storms.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7v69kt5

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

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

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-08-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

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

Metadata point of contact