The response of high latitude ionosphere to the 2015 June 22 storm

This work investigates physical mechanisms triggering phase scintillations on L-band signals under strong stormy conditions. Thanks to selected ground-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receivers, located both in Antarctica and in the Arctic, an interhemispheric comparison between high...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Geophysics
Main Authors: D'Angelo, Giulia, Piersanti, Mirko, Alfonsi, Lucilla, Spogli, Luca, Coco, Igino, Li, Guozhu, Baiqi, Ning
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV 2019
Subjects:
High-latitude ionosphere
Ionospheric irregularities
GNSS scintillations
multi-instrumental observations
ionospheric dynamics
interhemispheric study
Scintillations
Plasma Physics
Magnetic storms
Solar-terrestrial interaction
Space weather
Arctic
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/7780
https://doi.org/10.4401/ag-7780
Description
Summary:This work investigates physical mechanisms triggering phase scintillations on L-band signals under strong stormy conditions. Thanks to selected ground-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receivers, located both in Antarctica and in the Arctic, an interhemispheric comparison between high latitude ionospheric observations in response to the peculiar solar wind conditions occurred on June 22, 2015 is here shown. To trace back the observed phase scintillations to the physical mechanisms driving it, we combine measurements from GNSS receivers with in-situ and ground-based observations. Our study highlights the ionospheric scenario in which irregularities causing scintillation form and move, leveraging on a multi-observation approach. Such approach allows deducing that scintillations are caused by the presence of fast-moving electron density gradients originated by particle precipitation induced by solar wind variations. In addition, we show how the numerous and fast oscillations of the north-south component of the interplanetary magnetic field (Bz,IMF) result to be less effective in producing moderate/intense scintillation events than during period of long lasting negative values. Finally, we also demonstrate how the in-situ electron density data can be used to reconstruct the evolution of the ionospheric dynamics, both locally and globally.

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