Open AccessF region behavior in the SED plume during a geomagnetic superstorm: A case study
Author(s) -
Yuan ZhiGang,
Deng XiaoHua,
Zhang ShunRong,
Wan WeiXing,
Reinisch Bodo W.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2008ja013841
Subject(s) - ionosonde , tec , total electron content , altitude (triangle) , geomagnetic storm , millstone hill , atmospheric sciences , plume , ionosphere , electron density , earth's magnetic field , physics , incoherent scatter , meteorology , geophysics , electron , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , magnetic field
We report observations from the GPS total electron content (TEC), ionosonde, and Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar showing some interesting features of the height profile of the ionospheric electron density that occurred during a passage of a storm‐enhanced density (SED) plume during the geomagnetic superstorm on 20 November 2003. First, the TEC increases to about 6.58 times the quiet day value, while the F peak plasma density ( N m F 2 ) only enhances by a factor of 1.37. Second, the F 2 layer peak height ( h m F 2 ) is dramatically lifted from the quiet time altitude of 250 km to an unusual altitude of 577 km. Furthermore, the topside Chapman scale height H T is larger by a factor of 6.25 compared to the quiet time value. As a result, the electron density content with an α ‐Chapman function above 700 km contributes about 59% to the total content during the SED event. Our analysis shows that during a passage of the SED plume, the enhancement of TEC is mainly attributed to the great increase of H T with a very high h m F 2 .