Diagnostics of natural and manmade ionospheric disturbances over Ukraine
Abstract
Different types of natural and anthropogenic events can transport energy from the lower to the upper atmosphere, significantly impacting the state of the Earth’s ionosphere. Ionospheric monitoring offers a sensitive methodology for identifying upper atmospheric response to such events, and has been successfully used to investigate ionospheric disturbances caused by both natural events (e.g., geospacer storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, orographic waves, stratospheric polar vortex) and man-made events (e.g., spacecraft launch, underground nuclear explosions, surface explosions). Although it has been demonstrated that significant man-made events can generate ionospheric disturbances, the minimum level of energy input required to produce detectable ionospheric perturbations that can be reliably distinguished from natural sources remains unknown. This project will analyze environmental data above Ukraine (approximately 20-40o E, approximately 40-55o N) with a particular emphasis on understanding data that were taken during Russian attacks (post February 2022). The project will use a large variety of observations from satellite missions and from groundbased facilities to explore upward propagation of energy at different altitudes of the atmosphere, from the ground to several hundred kilometers, from both natural and man-made sources.Observations from NASA AIRS on board Aqua satellite will be used to characterize gravity waves in the stratosphere (approximately35 km), and data from the CIPS instrument on board AIM satellite will be used to understand the propagation of disturbances to the lower mesosphere (approximately 50-55 km). Observations from TIMED-GUVI and DMSPS-SSUSI instruments will be used to explore signatures of gravity waves from emissions of H at 110km, N2 Lyman-Birge-Hopfield bands at 150km, O 135.6 at about 200km, and O 130.4nm at 350km. The project will use a network of ground-based GNSS receivers to examine ionospheric perturbations and determine their characteristics (amplitudes, periods, horizontal wavelengths, propagation direction, propagation velocity). In addition, we will examine observations from an ionosonde and several magnetometers, all located in Ukraine.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 06, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310474
Entities
People
- Larisa P. Goncharenko
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- United States Air Force