We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Ionospheric Plasma Irregularities Based on In Situ Measurements From the Swarm Satellites.
- Authors
Jin, Yaqi; Xiong, Chao; Clausen, Lasse; Spicher, Andres; Kotova, Daria; Brask, Steffen; Kervalishvili, Guram; Stolle, Claudia; Miloch, Wojciech
- Abstract
In this study, we present global climatological distributions of ionospheric plasma irregularities based on measurements by the Swarm satellites. These first global statistics obtained by direct, in situ measurements of plasma variations with Swarm confirm the presence of three main regions of strong ionospheric irregularities: the magnetic equator extending from postsunset to early morning, in the auroral ovals (from dayside cusp to nightside), and inside the polar caps. At equatorial latitudes, ionospheric irregularities form two bands of enhanced plasma fluctuations centered around ±10° magnetic latitude. Due to different plasma processes, ionospheric irregularities at high and low latitudes show different distributions. Though the averaged intensity of plasma irregularities is weaker at equatorial latitudes than at high latitudes, the occurrence rate of significant plasma fluctuations (corresponding to extreme events) is much higher at the equator than that at high latitudes. Equatorial irregularities display clear seasonal and longitudinal variations; that is, they are most prominent over South America during the December solstice and are located over Africa during the June solstice. The magnitude of ionospheric irregularities at all latitudes is strongly controlled by the solar activity. Ionospheric irregularities become significantly weaker after 2016 during the current declining phase of solar activity. The interplanetary magnetic field Bz modulates the occurrence of ionospheric irregularities at both high and low latitudes. Key Points: The Swarm mission provides global climatological maps of ionospheric plasma irregularitiesIonospheric plasma irregularities at all latitudes depend on the IMF Bz and solar activityAt low latitudes, the variability of the ionosphere is low on average, but extreme events result in large structuring
- Subjects
IONOSPHERIC plasma; PLASMA bubbles; PLASMA fluctuations; SPACE environment; MAGNETIC fields
- Publication
Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics, 2020, Vol 125, Issue 7, p1
- ISSN
2169-9380
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2020JA028103