Echo occurrence in the southern polar ionosphere for the SuperDARN Dome C East and Dome C North radars

• Published in: Polar Science
• Main Authors: Marcucci, Maria Federica, Coco, Igino, Massetti, Stefano, Pignalberi, Alessio, Forsythe, Victoriya, Pezzopane, Michael, Koustov, Alexander, Longo, Simona, Biondi, David, Simeoli, Enrico, Consolini, Giuseppe, Laurenza, Monica, Marchaudon, Aurélie, Satta, Andrea, Cirioni, Alessandro, de Simone, Angelo, Olivieri, Angelo, Baù, Alessandro, Salvati, Alberto
• Other Authors: Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Sezione di Roma (INGV), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Canada (U of S), National Research Council of Italy, Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie (IRAP), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca = University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-SPACE-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Space Physics [physics.space-ph]; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Polar Science
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03382837; https://hal.science/hal-03382837/document; https://hal.science/hal-03382837/file/proof_POLAR_100684_last%20%281%29.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polar.2021.100684

International audience In this paper, echo occurrence rates for the Dome C East (DCE) and the new Dome C North (DCN) radars are studied. We report the ionospheric and ground scatter echo occurrence rates for selected periods around equinoxes and solstices in the final part of the solar cycle XXIV. The occurrence maps built in Altitude Adjusted Corrected Geomagnetic latitude and Magnetic Local Time coordinates show peculiar patterns highly variable with season. The comparisons of the radar observations with the International Reference Ionosphere model electron density and with ray tracing simulations allow us to explain the major features of observed patterns in terms of electron density variations. The study shows the great potential of the DCE and DCN radar combination to the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) convection mapping in terms of monitoring key regions of the high-latitude ionosphere critical for understanding of the magnetospheric dynamics.