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Ann. Geophys., 16, 1169-1179, 1998
www.ann-geophys.net/16/1169/1998/
© European Geosciences Union 1998
The spatial structure of the dayside ionospheric trough
S. E. Pryse, L. Kersley, M. J. Williams, and I. K. Walker
Department of Physics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3BZ, UK
Abstract. Tomographic imaging provides a powerful
technique for obtaining images of the spatial distribution of ionospheric
electron density at polar latitudes. The method, which involves monitoring radio
transmissions from the Navy Navigation Satellite System at a meridional chain of
ground receivers, has particular potential for complementing temporal
measurements by other observing techniques such as the EISCAT incoherent-scatter
radar facility. Tomographic reconstructions are presented here from a two-week
campaign in November 1995 that show large-scale structuring of the polar
ionosphere. Measurements by the EISCAT radar confirm the authenticity of the
technique and provide additional information of the plasma electron and ion
temperatures. The dayside trough, persistently observed at high latitudes during
a geomagnetically quiet period but migrating to lower latitudes with increasing
activity, is discussed in relationship to the pattern of the polar-cap
convection.
Key words. Ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions ·
Polar ionosphere · Radio science · Ionospheric propagation
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