Identification

Title

When plasma streams tie up equatorial plasma irregularities with auroral ones

Abstract

We present a new pattern of storm-induced ionospheric irregularities behavior at midlatitudes-poleward-streaming plasma density depletions. Under disturbed conditions, they appear at North America low latitudes as a part of extended postsunset equatorial plasma bubbles, and further, they are streaming from low latitudes in a northwestward, poleward direction toward the main ionospheric trough and auroral irregularities zone. The poleward-streaming plasma depletions represent a new phenomenon with the similar northwestward transportation path across the continental United States as storm-enhanced density (SED) plumes. The channels of poleward-streaming plasma depletions were stretched from low-latitude base toward higher latitudes-they are found to occur for geomagnetic storms under specific combination of steady southward interplanetary magnetic field, subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) electric fields, and enhanced westward drifts at midlatitudes, resulting in northwestward plasma transportation equatorward of the SAPS region. The poleward-streaming plasma depletions form an illusion of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) moving in a poleward, northwestward direction-this propagation direction is opposite to typical equatorward propagation of storm-induced large-scale TIDs generated in the auroral zone and propagated toward the equator. This phenomenon is accompanied by strong ionospheric irregularities that occurred over both edges of plasma depletion channel at midlatitudes. For two comparable geomagnetic storms, these poleward-streaming plasma depletions persisted for several hours, posing a localized threat for GPS-based positioning applications. Even moderate-to-intense storms (Dst minimum-145 nT) can promote such effects at midlatitudes.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7c82dsb

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

2020-02-19T00:00:00Z

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