Observations of acoustic-gravity waves in the ionosphere generated by severe tropospheric weather

Abstract

Atmospheric waves influence the dynamics and energetic budget of the upper atmosphere. Using the continuous HF Doppler sounder, we study the wave activity in the ionosphere during tropospheric convective storms in western and central part of the Czech Republic. The study is focused on acoustic-gravity waves in the period range 230 minutes. We discuss possible methods of distinguishing the waves emitted by meteorological sources from waves of different origin, particularly waves of geomagnetic origin. In two cases out of twenty-five analysed, we found waves in the infrasonic period range which might be generated by exceptionally intense meteorological activity in the troposphere. The results differ considerably from those previously obtained in North America. In the central part of the United States, infrasonic waves were frequently observed during convective storms. As a possible reason, we discuss different intensity and dynamics of weather systems in both regions.K e y w o r d s : acoustic-gravity waves; ionosphere; convective storms

Meteorological effects of ionospheric disturbances from vertical radio sounding data

“…Helio-geomagnetic activity is the dominant factor in the thermodynamic regime of the ionosphere (Buonsanto, 1999;Petrukovich et al, 2008;Dudok and Watermann, 2010). At the same time, numerous experimental and theoretical studies indicate that disturbances in the middle atmosphere can be sources of atmospheric waves (acoustic, planetary and gravity waves (GW)) that penetrate to the ionosphere heights under certain conditions and manifest themselves as traveling ionospheric disturbances (TID) (Hocke and Schlegel, 1996;Koekkoek, 1997;Šauli and Boška, 2001;Vadas and Fritts, 2004;Vadas, 2007;Kunitsyn et al, 2007;Yiğit et al, 2008;Šindelářová et al, 2009a;Onishchenko, 2010;Yiğit and Medvedev, 2012). However, until now, studies analyzing meteorological effects in the ionosphere are much fewer compared to the extensive research of helio-geomagnetic effects.…”

The transient variation in the complexes of the low-latitude ionosphere within the equatorial ionization anomaly region of Nigeria

“…However, other processes include various factors like local time variations of the neutral winds, ionization processes, production-recombination rates, photoionization processes, plasma diffusion and various electrodynamics processes . The mesosphere and the lower thermospheric dynamics as reported by Kazimirovsky and Vergasova (2009) and the influence of gravity waves as reported by Sindelarova (2009) can also be of great influence on the internal dynamics of the ionosphere.…”

Meteorological Storm Influence on the Ionosphere Parameters

“…Based on the theoretical studies [59,61,83] and observational data [7,15,16,30,48] presented above, it is clear that the observed changes in TEC values during meteorological storms were caused by the local heating of the thermosphere due to dissipation of AGWs propagating to the upper atmosphere from the region of meteorological disturbances in the lower atmosphere.…”

“…The sources of such waves in the lower atmosphere are diverse. For example, they include mesoscale turbulence and convection [32][33][34][35], mesoscale disturbances arising in the atmosphere when a stationary incoming stream flows around mountains (the so called orography effects) [36,37], earthquakes [38][39][40], the passage of the solar terminator and solar eclipse [41][42][43][44][45], meteorological disturbances, and typhoons [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]. In numerous theoretical studies, the generation, propagation, and influence of AGWs have been studied in sufficient detail [56][57][58].…”