Radio-tomographic images of postmidnight equatorial plasma depletions
Abstract
For the first time, equatorial plasma depletions (EPDs) have been imaged in the longitude-altitude plane using radiotomography. High-resolution (~10 km) reconstructions of electron density were derived from total electron content (TEC) measurements provided by a receiver array in Peru. TEC data were obtained from VHF/UHF signals transmitted by the C/NOFS CERTO beacon. EPDs generated pre-midnight were observed near dawn. On one night, the bubble densities were highly reduced, 100-1000 km wide, and embedded within a layerlike ionosphere. Three nights later, the EPDs exhibited similar features, but were embedded in a locally uplifted ionosphere. The C/NOFS in-situ instruments detected a dawn depletion where the reconstruction showed lifted EPDs, implying that the postmidnight electric fields raised sections of ionosphere to altitudes where embedded/reactivated fossil-EPDs were detected as dawn depletions. Satellites flying under domelike distortions of the ionosphere may observe these distortions as Broad Plasma Decreases (BPDs).
Description
Date
2014-01-15
Keywords
Equatorial plasma depletions , Tomography , Equatorial ionosphere , CERTO beacon , C/NOFS satellite
Citation
Hei, M. A., Bernhardt, P. A., Siefring, C. L., Wilkens, M. R., Huba, J. D., Krall, J. F., ... De la Jara, C. (2014). Radio-tomographic images of postmidnight equatorial plasma depletions. Geophysical Research Letters, 41 (1), 13-19. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL056112
Collections
Loading...
Publisher
American Geophysical Union