First Observations of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Using Automated Amateur Radio Receiving Networks

Abstract

Traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) are quasi-periodic variations of ionospheric densities in the Earth's upper atmosphere, believed to be the ionospheric signatures of atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs;Hines, 1960). TIDs are generally categorized as either Large Scale TIDs (LSTIDs, horizontal speeds between 400 and 1,000 m s −1 , periods between 30 min and 3 hr, horizontal wavelengths greater than 1,000 km) or Medium Scale TIDs (MSTIDs, horizontal speeds between 100 and 250 m s −1 , periods between 15 min and 1 hr, and horizontal wavelengths of several hundred km; e.g., Francis, 1975;Georges, 1968;Ogawa et al., 1987). LSTIDs are typically associated with AGWs generated by Joule heating and particle precipitation from auroral zone disturbances (Hunsucker, 1982;Lyons et al., 2019). These AGWs may propagate equatorward for long distances, transporting energy from the auroral zone to middle and low latitudes (Richmond, 1979) and can even reach the opposite hemisphere (Zakharenkova et al., 2016).

First Observations of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Using Automated Amateur Radio Receiving Networks

“…Amateur radio data from the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), Weak Signal Propagation Reporter Network (WSPRNet), and PSKReporter used in this paper has been aggregated and deposited into a Zenodo repository (Frissell & Engelke, 2021). SuperDARN data used in this paper is available from Ruohoniemi et al.…”

Large‐Scale Traveling Atmospheric and Ionospheric Disturbances Observed in GUVI With Multi‐Instrument Validations

“…There are two potential sources of disturbances, which include (a) the geomagnetic activity at high latitudes induced by the sustained compression of the magnetosphere by the elevated solar wind dynamic pressure and/or (b) the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) overlapping the same time period. The SuperMAG Electrojet (SME) index (Newell & Gjerloev, 2011a, 2011b) has previously been used to show auroral activity as a driver of LSTID generation (Frissell et al., 2022). Liou et al.…”

“…ISR has been used extensively to study both MSTIDs and LSTIDs (Frissell et al., 2022; Kirchengast et al., 1996; Negale et al., 2018; Nicolls et al., 2014; Panasenko et al., 2018). During the time period discussed in this paper, the PFISR was operating in long pulse mode, allowing for retrieval of electron densities, Ne, during the 18–19 January 2013 period.…”

“…Zhang et al., 2019). LSTIDs have also been observed to be correlated with the auroral electrojet indices (Frissell et al., 2022; Hajkowicz, 1991). LSTIDs/large‐scale TADs (LSTADs) have also been observed even during geomagnetically quiet times at smaller amplitudes (Bruinsma & Forbes, 2008; Hedin & Mayr, 1987).…”

Tandem Observations of Nighttime Mid‐Latitude Topside Ionospheric Perturbations

“…Traveling ionospheric disturbance (TID) represents horizontally propagating wave‐like electron density disturbance (Frissell et al., 2022; Kil & Paxton., 2017; Otsuka et al., 2004; Shiokawa et al., 2003; Tsugawa et al., 2007). TID is generally classified into large‐scale TID (LSTID) and medium‐scale TID (MSTID) (Hernández et al., 2011).…”