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A New Source of The Midlatitude Ionospheric Peak Density Structure Revealed By A New Ionosphere-plasmasphere Model

Abstract

The newly developed Ionosphere-Plasmasphere (IP) model has revealed neutral winds as a primary source of the “third-peak” density structure in the daytime global ionosphere that has been observed by the low-latitude ionospheric sensor network GPS total electron content measurements over South America. This third peak is located near ?30° magnetic latitude and is clearly separate from the conventional twin equatorial ionization anomaly peaks. The IP model reproduces the global electron density structure as observed by the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC mission. The model reveals that the third peak is mainly created by the prevailing neutral meridional wind, which flows from the summer hemisphere to the winter hemisphere lifting the plasma along magnetic field lines to higher altitudes where recombination is slower. The same prevailing wind that increases the midlatitude density decreases the low-latitude density in the summer hemisphere by counteracting the equatorial fountain flow. The longitudinal variation of the three-peak structure is explained by the displacement between the geographic and geomagnetic equators.

Article / Publication Data
Active/Online
YES
Volume
43
Available Metadata
Accepted On
January 29, 2016
DOI ↗
Fiscal Year
NOAA IR URL ↗
Peer Reviewed
YES
Publication Name
Geophysical Research Letters
Published On
March 28, 2016
Publisher Name
American Geophysical Union
Print Volume
43
Print Number
6
Page Range
2429–2435
Issue
6
Submitted On
December 05, 2015
URL ↗

Institutions

Not available

Authors

Authors who have authored or contributed to this publication.

  • Naomi Maruyama - lead Other noaa
    Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
    NOAA/Global Systems Laboratory
  • Jacques Middlecoff - fourth Gsl
    Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University
    NOAA/Global Systems Laboratory