Data-driven numerical simulations and forecasts of equatorial spread F in the Peruvian sector

Abstract

"Ionospheric state parameters including plasma number density and vector drift profiles were measured at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory during campaigns throughout 2013. Neutral winds were measured by the redline Fabry Perot interferometer at Jicamarca. Coherent radar backscatter from plasma irregularities associated with equatorial spread F (ESF) was also recorded. Radar imagery of the morphology of the large-scale ESF irregularities is also available from simultaneous measurements. A 3D numerical simulation of ionospheric irregularities, initialized and forced using parametrizations derived from a combination of measurements and empirical models, has been used to reproduce the ESF activity that occurred on a number of different, representative campaign nights. The simulations were able to recover many of the most salient features of the irregularities that formed in each case. The campaign data, numerical simulations, and protocols used to associate them are presented."