Electrified Postsunrise Ionospheric Perturbations at Millstone Hill
Abstract
We provide evidence that midlatitude postsunrise traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) are comprised of electrified waves with an eastward propagation component. The post‐sunrise gravity wave (GW) wind‐induced dynamo action effectively generated periodic meridional polarization electric fields (PEFs), facilitating TID zonal propagation in a similar fashion as GW‐driven neutral perturbations. A combination of near‐simultaneous eastward and upward observations using the Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar along with 2‐dimensional total electron content maps allowed resolution of TID vertical and horizontal propagation as well as zonal ion drifts (meridional PEFs). In multiple observations, oscillated in the early morning during periods when TIDs exhibited downward phase progression, 30–60 min period, 140 m/s eastward speed, and 70 km vertical wavelength. Inside these TIDs, multiple flow vortexes occurred in a vertical‐zonal plane spanning the ionospheric topside and bottomside. Subsequently, PEFs weakened after a few hours as TID horizontal wavefronts rotated clockwise.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Sep 12, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1029/2021gl095151
Entities
People
- Anthea J. Coster
- Ercha Aa
- Juha Vierinen
- L. Claire Gasque
- Larisa P. Goncharenko
- Philip J. Erickson
- Shun-Rong Zhang
- William C. Rideout
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Office of Naval Research
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway