Premium
Ionospheric Density Irregularities, Turbulence, and Wave Disturbances During the Total Solar Eclipse Over North America on 21 August 2017
Author(s) -
Pradipta Rezy,
Yizengaw Endawoke,
Doherty Patricia
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1029/2018gl079383
Subject(s) - ionosonde , solar eclipse , tec , ionosphere , total electron content , eclipse , geology , geodesy , global positioning system , meteorology , geophysics , electron density , geography , physics , plasma , astronomy , telecommunications , quantum mechanics , computer science
Data from ionosonde and global positioning system (GPS) total electron content (TEC) observations reveal a number of ionospheric phenomena during the total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017 over North America. The eclipse started over the West Coast at ∼16:00 UTC (∼07:53 LT) and ended over the East Coast at ∼20:00 UTC (∼14:46 LT). We identify a growth of plasma density irregularities and turbulence on the bottomside ionosphere during the eclipse totality (at ∼10:03 LT over Idaho Falls), signified by the distinct appearance of spread‐ F echoes in the ionosonde data. In addition, data from the ionosonde observations also show some characteristic signatures of traveling ionospheric disturbances at ∼300‐km altitude during the eclipse. Finally, large reductions in TEC and ionospheric plasma densities (by 33–45%) due to the eclipse were observed in both the GPS TEC and ionosonde data.