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Satellite traces: An ionogram signature for large‐scale wave structure and a precursor for equatorial spread F
Author(s) -
Tsunoda Roland T.
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1029/2008gl035706
Subject(s) - ionosonde , ionogram , sunset , satellite , ionosphere , radar , geology , scale (ratio) , f region , geophysics , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , plasma , physics , astronomy , computer science , telecommunications , electron density , quantum mechanics
Although the source that controls day‐to‐day variability in the occurrence of equatorial plasma structure (i.e., equatorial spread F , or ESF) remains to be identified, progress is being made. There is evidence that the appearance of large‐scale wave structure (LSWS) in the bottomside F layer, around the time of its post‐sunset rise (PSSR), is a more‐direct precursor of ESF than the PSSR itself. The bulk of the evidence, however, is in the form of “satellite” F traces in ionograms, which may be viewed as less than convincing, because these signatures have not been shown to be causally related to LSWS. In this paper, incoherent‐scatter radar and ionosonde data, both collected on 24 July 1979 from the Kwajalein atoll, Marshall Islands, are used to show that this is indeed the case.