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Modeling investigation of ionospheric storm effects over Millstone Hill during August 4–5, 1992

Earth, Planets and Space volume 56, pages 903–908 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

We examine the physical mechanism of the negative and positive storm at middle latitude in August 1992, based on incoherent scatter radar (ISR) observations over Millstone Hill (42.6°N, 288.5°E) and a first-principles ionospheric model. The exospheric temperature T ex , thermospheric composition and neutral winds, inferred from the ion temperature T i profile using the ion energy balance calculation (e.g., Bauer et al., 1970; Oliver, 1979) and from the electron density N e profile using an ISR data assimilation method (Zhang et al., 2001, 2002), are employed to investigate the storm effects. The derived thermospheric information shows that the negative phase on August 5 is attributed to both the large poleward wind and the reduced [O]/[N2] and [O]/[O2] ratio at F2-layer. For the daytime positive storm on August 4, the thermospheric composition perturbation, in addition to the enhanced equatorward wind, plays a significant role. This study also suggests that the data assimilation technique can provide useful information to understand some physical mechanisms of the ionospheric storm when direct experimental data are not available.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Jiuhou Lei, Libo Liu & Weixing Wan

  2. Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Jiuhou Lei

  3. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jiuhou Lei

  4. Haystack Observatory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Westford, Massachusetts, USA

    Shun-Rong Zhang

Authors
  1. Jiuhou Lei
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  2. Libo Liu
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  3. Weixing Wan
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  4. Shun-Rong Zhang
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Correspondence to Jiuhou Lei.

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Lei, J., Liu, L., Wan, W. et al. Modeling investigation of ionospheric storm effects over Millstone Hill during August 4–5, 1992. Earth Planet Sp 56, 903–908 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352537

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352537

Key words

  • Ionospheric storm
  • middle-latitude ionosphere
  • incoherent scatter radar
  • ion chemistry and composition
  • modeling and forecasting
  • data assimilation