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Concentric waves and short‐period oscillations observed in the ionosphere after the 2013 Moore EF5 tornado
Author(s) -
Nishioka Michi,
Tsugawa Takuya,
Kubota Minoru,
Ishii Mamoru
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2013gl057963
Subject(s) - tec , tornado , ionosphere , total electron content , geology , atmosphere (unit) , period (music) , supercell , atmospheric wave , atmospheric sciences , geophysics , gravity wave , meteorology , physics , gravitational wave , astronomy , acoustics
We detected clear concentric waves and short‐period oscillations in the ionosphere after an Enhanced Fujita scale (EF)5 tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma, U.S., on 20 May 2013 using dense wide‐coverage ionospheric total electron content (TEC) observations in North America. These concentric waves were nondispersive, with a horizontal wavelength of ~120 km and a period of ~13 min. They were observed for more than 7 h throughout North America. TEC oscillations with a period of ~4 min were also observed to the south of Moore for more than 8 h. A comparison between the TEC observations and infrared cloud image from the GOES satellite indicates that the concentric waves and short‐period oscillations are caused by supercell‐induced atmospheric gravity waves and acoustic resonances, respectively. This observational result provides the first clear evidence of a severe meteorological event causing atmospheric waves propagating upward in the upper atmosphere and reaching the ionosphere.