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www.ann-geophys.net/27/2475/2009/
doi:10.5194/angeo-27-2475-2009
© Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
E- and F-region coupling between an intense sporadic E layer and a mesoscale traveling ionospheric disturbance
1School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA
2Arecibo Observatory, Arecibo, 00612, Puerto Rico
Abstract. Considerable controversy exists concerning the relative roles of the E- and F-regions in controlling irregularity formation in the mid-latitude ionosphere, largely because electric fields due to a plasma instability in one region may map to the other if the perpendicular scales are sufficiently large. In this paper we look at a particularly fortuitous data set in which both E- and F-region observations were made using incoherent scatter radar, GPS, lidar, and coherent scatter radar. In this event, a dense, patchy sporadic E layer was detected that exhibited type I (two-stream) coherent echoes while, at the same time, the F-layer plasma was highly structured with plasma drifts of hundreds of m/s. We examine this event in the context of a mesoscale traveling ionospheric disturbance. The data presentation will be followed by comparison with current theories for coupling between these two regions.
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Citation: Swartz, W. E., Kelley, M. C., and Aponte, N.: E- and F-region coupling between an intense sporadic E layer and a mesoscale traveling ionospheric disturbance, Ann. Geophys., 27, 2475-2482, doi:10.5194/angeo-27-2475-2009, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
