Climatology of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Observed by HamSCI Amateur Radio with Connections to Geospace and Neutral Atmospheric Sources.
Journal Article
Overview
abstract
Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs) are propagating variations in; ionospheric electron densities that affect radio communications and can; help with understanding energy transport throughout the coupled; magnetosphere-ionosphere-neutral atmosphere system. Large scale TIDs; (LSTIDs) have periods T ≈30-180 min, horizontal phase velocities; vH≈100-250 m/s, and horizontal wavelengths H>1000 km and; are believed to be generated either by geomagnetic activity or lower; atmospheric sources. TIDs create concavities in the ionospheric electron; density profile that move horizontally with the TID and cause; skip-distance focusing effects for high frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) radio; signals propagating through the ionosphere. The signature of this; phenomena is manifest as quasi-periodic variations in contact ranges in; HF amateur radio communication reports recorded by automated monitoring; systems such as the Weak Signal Propagation Reporting Network (WSPRNet); and the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN). In this study, members of the Ham; Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) present a climatology of; LSTID activity using RBN and WSPRNet observations on the 1.8, 3.5, 7,; 14, 21, and 28 MHz amateur radio bands from 2017. Results will be; organized as a function observation frequency, longitudinal sector; (North America and Europe), season, and geomagnetic activity level.; Connections to geospace are explored via SYM-H and Auroral Electrojet; indexes, while neutral atmospheric sources are explored using NASA’s; Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications Version; 2 (MERRA-2).
