The present work shows the preliminary results from the analysis for developing an ionospheric scale index map based on the Disturbance Ionosphere indeX (DIX). This index aims to target all the different user groups affected by ionospheric disturbances, for example, the navigation, positioning, and satellite communication users, in a simple and straightforward approach. Therefore, we used the vertical total electron content (VTEC) over South America to calculate the total electron content (TEC) maps covering latitudes from 60°S to 20°N and longitudes from 90°W to 30°W, with 0.5°× 0.5°resolution. Afterward, the DIX maps are obtained to reveal the variation of the TEC over an average quiet ionosphere background. In order to illustrate the use of the map index, the ionospheric disturbances after and during the 17-23 December 2015 intense geomagnetic storm and the 2015 Saint Patrick magnetic storm are discussed, highlighting the disturbances in the DIX at different latitudinal ranges and under different magnetic conditions.

The present work is the first of a two‐part paper on the Embrace Magnetometer Network. In this part, we present the new Embrace Magnetometer Network (Embrace MagNet) in South America, which is originally planned to cover most of the eastern portion of the Southern America longitudinal sector by installing and operating fluxgate magnetometer stations. We discuss the purpose and scientific goals of the network, associated with aeronomy and space weather. We provide details on the instrumentation, location of the sensors, sensitivity matching process, gain matching process, and magnetometer installation. In addition, we present and discuss details about the data storage, near‐real time display, and availability.

The present work is the first of a two‐part weather study of the ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC), based on data collected by four ground‐based Global Navigation Satellite System networks that cover the whole Latin America from the Patagonia to the north of Mexico. From the best of our knowledge, the maps presented here are the first TEC maps obtained using ground‐based data that covers the entire Latin America region, which represent an advance to the space weather monitoring and forecasting of the ionosphere. This work provides a qualitative and quantitative daytime analysis of the ionospheric TEC variation, which encompasses: (a) the response of TEC to the solar flux at midday; (b) the seasonal variation of TEC in different latitudinal ranges; and (c) the North‐South asymmetry of TEC over Latin America. The response to the solar flux is based on day‐to‐day TEC variations during two periods of different solar activity conditions: 2011 (ascending phase) and 2014 (maximum). The approximations of meridional wind component derived from Horizontal Wind Model‐14 model and hmF2 obtained from International Reference Ionosphere model were used. Equinoctial asymmetries with an opposite configuration in high and moderate solar activity were identified in the TEC variation. For 2011, it was related to the solar flux change. However, in 2014, according to the hmF2 variation, the influence of neutral wind becomes dominant. Among the results, we highlight an absence of winter anomaly in the Northern Hemisphere in 2014 and a stronger annual anomaly for latitudes under −20∘.

Santa Maria Digisonde data are used for the first time to investigate the F region behavior during a geomagnetic storm. The August 25, 2018 storm is considered complex due to the incidence of two Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections and a High‐Speed Solar Wind Stream (HSS). The F 2 layer critical frequency (f o F 2) and its peak height (h m F 2) collected over Santa Maria, near the center of the South American Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA), are compared with data collected from Digisondes installed in the Northern (NH) and Southern (SH) Hemispheres in the American sector. The deviation of f o F 2 (Df o F 2) and h m F 2 (Dh m F 2) are used to quantify the ionospheric storm effects. Different F region responses were observed during the main phase (August 25–26), which is attributed to the traveling ionospheric disturbances and disturbed eastward electric field during nighttime. The F region responses became highly asymmetric between the NH and SH at the early recovery phase (RP, August 26) due to a combination of physical mechanisms. The observed asymmetries are interpreted as caused by modifications in the thermospheric composition and a rapid electrodynamic mechanism. The persistent enhanced thermospheric [O]/[N2] ratio observed from August 27 to 29 combined with the increased solar wind speed induced by the HSS and IMF B z fluctuations seem to be effective in causing the positive ionospheric storm effects and the shift of the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly crest to higher than typical latitudes. Consequently, the most dramatic positive ionospheric storm during the RP occurred over Santa Maria (∼120%).