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Further refinements to the spatiotemporal forecast model for L ‐band scintillation based on comparison with C/NOFS observations
Author(s) -
Yadav Sneha,
Sridharan R.,
Sunda Surendra,
Pant Tarun K.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2017ja023869
Subject(s) - scintillation , satellite , plasma , space weather , electron density , instability , meteorology , a priori and a posteriori , physics , rayleigh–taylor instability , realization (probability) , geodesy , geology , computational physics , mathematics , mechanics , optics , statistics , astronomy , philosophy , epistemology , quantum mechanics , detector
The model‐generated spatiotemporal maps to forecast the occurrence pattern of plasma density irregularities in the nightside equatorial F region that are responsible for the L ‐band scintillations have been put to test, in both space and time, by comparing it with actual observations by the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System satellite. The forecast model is based on (i) the temporal variations of the density perturbations during daytime in the N max region and (ii) the a priori knowledge of zonal velocity of the perturbations in the postsunset hours. The present study not only substantiates the hypothesis used for the generation of the scintillation forecast but also suggests that the equatorial plasma bubbles remain tied‐up with the initial perturbations which trigger the primary Rayleigh‐Taylor instability. The outcome highlights the need to take into account the altitudinal profile of the topside F region electron density as it could modify the zonal extent of the plasma bubbles that support the generation of the density irregularities and the consequent L ‐band scintillations. The present study takes us one more step closer toward the realization of an operational forecast system for satellite‐based navigation.