In this study, we use measurements from over 4,735 globally distributed Global Navigation Satellite System receivers to track the progression of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) associated with the 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai submarine volcanic eruption. We identify two distinct Large Scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (LSTIDs) and several subsequent Medium Scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) that propagate radially outward from the eruption site. Within 3,000 km of epicenter, LSTIDs of >1,600 km wavelengths are initially observed propagating at speeds of ∼950 and ∼555 ms−1, before substantial slowing to ∼600 and ∼390 ms−1, respectively. MSTIDs with speeds of 200–400 ms−1 are observed for 6 hrs following eruption, the first of which comprises the dominant global ionospheric response and coincides with the atmospheric surface pressure disturbance associated with the eruption. These are the first results demonstrating the global impact of the Tonga eruption on the ionospheric state.

[1] An investigation of the evening prereversal enhancement in the equatorial zonal electric field (PRE) based on ionosonde data show that the PRE development process is coupled with the sporadic E layer formation in the evening over Fortaleza. Larger PRE amplitudes are associated with disruption of the Es layer, whereas for smaller PRE amplitudes such disruption does not occur, in general. The Es layer disruption does not occur also when the PRE amplitude decreases or is inhibited under a disturbance dynamo electric field. The disruption of these layers is followed by their reconstitution after a break of $3 hours. An examination of the relative role of the electric field and winds on ion velocity convergence process shows that the Es layer formation from a shearing (or height-independent and westward) zonal wind is directly influenced by a vertical electric field (but not by zonal electric field). Measurements of the Es patch zonal drift velocities by a digital ionosonde seem to support the role of a westward wind in the Es layer formation. The observed association between the PRE and Es layer disruption/formation is shown to arise from sunset-related vertical electric field development originating from the E and F region electrodynamic coupling processes. The results demonstrate the competing influences of the vertical electric field and the zonal wind in the evening Es layer processes. Since the PRE is responsible for the equatorial spread F (ESF) development, its relationship with the Es layer is discussed in the context of the day-to-day variability of the ESF.INDEX TERMS: 2415 Ionosphere: Equatorial ionosphere; 2411 Ionosphere: Electric fields (2712); 2437 Ionosphere: Ionospheric dynamics; 2427 Ionosphere: Ionosphere/atmosphere interactions (0335); 2435 Ionosphere: Ionospheric disturbances; KEYWORDS: equatorial ionosphere, equatorial prereversal electric field, sporadic E-layer, E-layer winds, magnetic disturbances, E-F-region electrical coupling Citation: Abdu, M. A., J. W. MacDougall, I. S. Batista, J. H. A. Sobral, and P. T. Jayachandran, Equatorial evening prereversal electric field enhancement and sporadic E layer disruption: A manifestation of E and F region coupling,

[1] Polar cap ionospheric measurements are important for the complete understanding of the various processes in the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system as well as for space weather applications. Currently, the polar cap region is lacking high temporal and spatial resolution ionospheric measurements because of the orbit limitations of space-based measurements and the sparse network providing ground-based measurements. Canada has a unique advantage in remedying this shortcoming because it has the most accessible landmass in the high Arctic regions, and the Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN) is designed to take advantage of Canadian geographic vantage points for a better understanding of the Sun-Earth system. CHAIN is a distributed array of ground-based radio instruments in the Canadian high Arctic. The instrument components of CHAIN are 10 high data rate Global Positioning System ionospheric scintillation and total electron content monitors and six Canadian Advanced Digital Ionosondes. Most of these instruments have been sited within the polar cap region except for two GPS reference stations at lower latitudes. This paper briefly overviews the scientific capabilities, instrument components, and deployment status of CHAIN. This paper also reports a GPS signal scintillation episode associated with a magnetospheric impulse event. More details of the CHAIN project and data can be found at http:// chain.physics.unb.ca/chain.

Accuracy and validity of scintillation indices estimated using the power and phase of the GPS signal depend heavily on the detrending method used and the selection of the cutoff frequency of the associated filter. A Butterworth filter with a constant cutoff frequency of 0.1 Hz is commonly used in detrending GPS data. In this study, the performance of this commonly used filter is evaluated and compared with a new wavelet-based detrending method using GPS data from high latitudes. It was observed that in detrending high-latitude GPS data, a wavelet filter performed better than Butterworth filters as the correlation between amplitude-and phase-scintillation indices in S 4 and r / improved significantly from 0.53, when using a Butterworth filter, to 0.79, when using the wavelet filtering method. We also introduced an improved phase-scintillation index, r CHAIN , which we think is comparatively a better parameter to represent phase scintillations at high latitudes as the correlation between S 4 and r CHAIN was as high as 0.90. During the analysis, we also noted that the occurrence of the ''phase scintillation without amplitude scintillation'' phenomenon was significantly reduced when scintillation indices were derived using the wavelet-based detrending method. These results seem to indicate that wavelet-based detrending is better suited for GPS scintillation signals and also that r CHAIN is a better parameter for representing GPS phase scintillations at high latitudes.

Abstract. High-latitude irregularities can impair the operation of GPS-based devices by causing fluctuations of GPS signal amplitude and phase, also known as scintillation. Severe scintillation events lead to losses of phase lock, which result in cycle slips. We have used data from the Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN) to measure amplitude and phase scintillation from L1 GPS signals and total electron content (TEC) from L1 and L2 GPS signals to study the relative role that various high-latitude irregularity generation mechanisms have in producing scintillation. In the first year of operation during the current solar minimum the amplitude scintillation has remained very low but events of strong phase scintillation have been observed. We have found, as expected, that auroral arc and substorm intensifications as well as cusp region dynamics are strong sources of phase scintillation and potential cycle slips. In addition, we have found clear seasonal and universal time dependencies of TEC and phase scintillation over the polar cap region. A comparison with radio instruments from the Canadian GeoSpace Monitoring (CGSM) network strongly suggests that the polar cap scintillation and TEC variations are associated with polar cap patches which we therefore infer to be main contributors to scintillation-causing irregularities in the polar cap.

Abstract. Maps of GPS phase scintillation at high latitudes have been constructed after the first two years of operation of the Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN) during the 2008-2009 solar minimum. CHAIN consists of ten dual-frequency receivers, configured to measure amplitude and phase scintillation from L1 GPS signals and ionospheric total electron content (TEC) from L1 and L2 GPS signals. Those ionospheric data have been mapped as a function of magnetic local time and geomagnetic latitude assuming ionospheric pierce points (IPPs) at 350 km. The mean TEC depletions are identified with the statistical high-latitude and mid-latitude troughs. Phase scintillation occurs predominantly in the nightside auroral oval and the ionospheric footprint of the cusp. The strongest phase scintillation is associated with auroral arc brightening and substorms or with perturbed cusp ionosphere. Auroral phase scintillation tends to be intermittent, localized and of short duration, while the dayside scintillation observed for individual satellites can stay continuously above a given threshold for several minutes and such scintillation patches persist over a large area of the cusp/cleft region sampled by different satellites for several hours. The seasonal variation of the phase scintillation occurrence also differs between the nightside auroral oval and the cusp. The auroral phase scintillation shows an expected semiannual oscillation with equinoctial maxima known to be associated with aurorae, while the cusp scintillation is dominated by an annual cycle maximizing in autumn-winter. These differences point to different irregularity production mechanisms: energetic electron precipitation into dynamic auroral arcs versus cusp ionospheric convection dynamics. Observations suggest anisotropy of scintillationcausing irregularities with stronger L-shell alignment of irregularities in the cusp while a significant component of Correspondence to: P. Prikryl (paul.prikryl@crc.gc.ca) field-aligned irregularities is found in the nightside auroral oval. Scintillation-causing irregularities can coexist with small-scale field-aligned irregularities resulting in HF radar backscatter. The statistical cusp and auroral oval are characterized by the occurrence of HF radar ionospheric backscatter and mean ground magnetic perturbations due to ionospheric currents.

Abstract. Global positioning system scintillation and total electron content (TEC) data have been collected by ten specialized GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitors (GISTMs) of the Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN). The phase scintillation index σ is obtained from the phase of the L1 signal sampled at 50 Hz. Maps of phase scintillation occurrence as a function of the altitude-adjusted corrected geomagnetic (AACGM) latitude and magnetic local time (MLT) are computed for the period from 2008 to 2013. Enhanced phase scintillation is collocated with regions that are known as ionospheric signatures of the coupling between the solar wind and magnetosphere. The phase scintillation mainly occurs on the dayside in the cusp where ionospheric irregularities convect at high speed, in the nightside auroral oval where energetic particle precipitation causes field-aligned irregularities with steep electron density gradients and in the polar cap where electron density patches that are formed from a tongue of ionization. Dependences of scintillation occurrence on season, solar and geomagnetic activity, and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation are investigated. The auroral phase scintillation shows semiannual variation with equinoctial maxima known to be associated with auroras, while in the cusp and polar cap the scintillation occurrence is highest in the autumn and winter months and lowest in summer. With rising solar and geomagnetic activity from the solar minimum to solar maximum, yearly maps of mean phase scintillation occurrence show gradual increase and expansion of enhanced scintillation regions both poleward and equatorward from the statistical auroral oval. The dependence of scintillation occurrence on the IMF orientation is dominated by increased scintillation in the cusp, expanded auroral oval and at subauroral latitudes for strongly southward IMF. In the polar cap, the IMF B Y polarity controls dawn-dusk asymmetries in scintillation occurrence collocated with a tongue of ionization for southward IMF and with sun-aligned arcs for northward IMF. In investigating the shape of scintillation-causing irregularities, the distributions of scintillation occurrence as a function of "off-meridian" and "off-shell" angles that are computed for the receiver-satellite ray at the ionospheric pierce point are found to suggest predominantly field-aligned irregularities in the auroral oval and L-shell-aligned irregularities in the cusp.

Abstract. Equatorial F region plasma drift velocities measured by a digital ionosonde (CADI) that was recently installed in Fortaleza, Brazil, are used to investigate magnetospheric disturbance effects in the vertical (zonal) and zonal (vertical) velocities (electric fields). For the first time we report evidence of large fluctuations in irregularity zonal drift velocities (-50-180 m/s) associated with magnetospheric disturbances. The fluctuations in the zonal velocity, anti correlated with those in vertical velocity, are unlikely to be produced by prompt penetration of disturbance meridional electric field of high latitude/magnetospheric origin. A mechanism is proposed to explain the velocity fluctuations that involves: (1) Hall polarization vertical electric field in the E-layer that is field line mapped on to F-layer, and (2) electric field caused by vertical current arising from divergence in field line integrated zonal Pedersen current; both produced by the primary disturbance zonal electric field. Enhanced nighttime E region conductivity with possible spatial gradients, a requirement for the functioning of this mechanism, is observed to be present from other simultaneous measurements, whose source is suggested to be particle induced ionization in the south Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA) zone, as known also from previous studies.