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Modeling the ionospheric impact of tsunami‐driven gravity waves with SAMI3: Conjugate effects
Author(s) -
Huba J. D.,
Drob D. P.,
Wu T.W.,
Makela J. J.
Publication year - 2015
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 - 10.1002/2015gl064871
Subject(s) - airglow , ionosphere , tec , total electron content , earth's magnetic field , atmospheric sciences , geophysics , physics , electron density , gravity wave , conjugate points , gravitational wave , northern hemisphere , electric field , geology , electron , magnetic field , astrophysics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics
The Naval Research Laboratory first‐principles ionosphere model SAMI3 is used to study the ionospheric effects associated with tsunami‐driven gravity waves. Specifically, the Tohoku‐Oki tsunami of 11 March 2011 is modeled. It is shown that gravity wave‐induced variations in the neutral wind lead to plasma velocity variations both perpendicular and parallel to the geomagnetic field. Moreover, the electric field induced by the neutral wind perturbations can map to the conjugate hemisphere. Thus, electron density variations can be generated in both hemispheres which impact the total electron content (TEC) and 6300 Å airglow emission. It is found that the TEC exhibits variations of ≲± 0 . 1 total electron content unit (1 TECU = 10 16 el m −2 ) and the 6300 Å airglow emission variation is up to ∼±2.5% relative to the unperturbed background airglow.