The Effects of Magnetic Storm Phases on F-Layer Irregularities from Auroral to Equatorial Latitudes

• Main Authors: Aarons, Jules, Mendillo, Michael
• Other Authors: BOSTON UNIV MA CENTER FOR SPACE PHYSICS
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1991
• Subjects: Atmospheric Physics; *IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES; IONOSPHERIC PROPAGATION; POLAR REGIONS; MAGNETIC FIELDS; FLUX(RATE); SITES; CANADA; PHASE; ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION; PATTERNS; AURORAE; SOLAR RADIATION; F REGION; HIGH LATITUDES; E REGION; GREEN(COLOR); SWEDEN; MAGNETIC STORMS; SUNSPOTS; LATITUDE; CONTOURS; DATA BASES; EQUATORIAL REGIONS; Kiruna; Canada; Handle The
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA245495; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA245495

Several periods of interest in the low sunspot years of 1985 and 1986 have been identified when data were available from Kiruna, Sweden and from Goose Bay, Labrador as well as from equatorial sites. A contouring program was developed to handle the Transit data and in fact have received data from several sample periods of very low magnetic activity over a period of several days. Just begun is this study of determining the pattern of F-layer irregularities during years of low solar flux. The evaluation of data sets has included new analysis (for Manila, for example) as well as evaluating older data, much of it at this date unused for scientific purposes. While F-region irregularities are frequently spoken of occurring in the auroral region, the behavior of the irregularities as a function of sunspot number is significantly different from the behavior of the auroral region. Auroral data, primarily of the E layer green line, show no significant changes as a function of sunspot number in the latitude of the occurrence of this phenomenon; F-region irregularities show a great movement towards the polar region with a low sunspot number. In order to predict the occurrence and level of the effects on trans-ionospheric propagation, the relationship to sunspot number must be ascertained. We feel the comparison of high latitude data from Sweden and Canada will allow us to state that a polar movement of the region during low sunspot years is a global phenomenon.