Identification

Title

Features of the F3 layer in the low-latitude ionosphere at sunset

Abstract

The F₃ layer is a common feature within ±10° of the magnetic equatorial ionosphere in the daytime. According to Balan et al. (1998) the F₃ layer occurs mainly during the morning-noon period due to the combined effect of the upward E × B drift and the neutral wind that provides upward plasma drifts at and above the F₂ layer. The F₃ layer occurrence rate is higher in summer and decreases with increasing solar activity. In this study, the characteristic of the sunset F₃ layer is first investigated using a solar cycle of ionosonde data (1995 - 2010) from the magnetic equatorial station at Jicamarca, and compared with the features derived from the four subtropical stations at Sao Luis, Fortaleza, Kwajalein, and Vanimo. Evidence shows that the local time distribution of the occurrence of the F₃ layer can extend to the postsunset time (1800 - 2100 local time). The sunset F₃ layer has a strong seasonal dependence occurring mainly during the summertime. Unlike the daytime F₃ layer, the occurrence of the sunset F₃ layer clearly increases and the virtual height of the bottom side of the F₃ layer statistically increases from 620 to 1000 km with increasing solar activity. In addition, the occurrence of the sunset F₃ layer at the other stations is much less than that at Jicamarca. These features of the dependence on the season, solar activity, and latitude are clearly related to the geomagnetic control of the evening prereversal enhancement of the equatorial zonal electric field and geomagnetic configuration.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7pc33pg

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

2011-01-25T00:00:00Z

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