In situ ionospheric observations of severe weather‐related gravity waves and associated small‐scale plasma structure

Abstract

Abstract. On July 27, 1988, two sounding rockets were launched over a small thunderstorm cell which constituted the remnants of a large frontal event which had lasted for several hours over the eastern seaboard. One of the rockets was instrumented for detection of the electromagnetic impulse from lightning strikes and its subsequent interaction with the ionospheric plasma [Kelley et al., 1990]. The second had on board an absolute electron density probe, the results from which we report here. We present evidence that a gravity wave was spawned by the front and propagated nearly to the F peak in the ionosphere, where it steepened and created structure in the medium at scales much less than the vertical wavenumber of the major disturbance. The fluctuation spectrum along the rocket path was elevated for scales from 25 km down to less than 10 m. At scales between 10 km and just under 100 m, characterization of the spectrum by a power law yields a spectral index less than that displayed by such well-studied processes as bottomside spread F and barium cloud striations. Similar results have been reported for gravity wave induced intermediate scale structures at midlatitudes [Wernik et al., 1986]. The mixing theory described by Fridrnan [1990] may be relevant to these observations.

Sub-ionospheric VLF signal anomaly due to geomagnetic storms: a statistical study

“…These meteorological events are mostly distributed in the low-to mid-latitude and produce Atmospheric Gravity Waves (AGW) in the troposphere (Hung et al, 1979;Kelley, 1997;Laštovička, 2006;Xiao et al, 2007). The generated AGWs propagate upward and can disturb the ionosphere with a duration of hours (thunderstorm cells and tornadic storms) to even days (typhoon and cyclone).…”

Wavelet characterisation of ionospheric acoustic and gravity waves occurring during the solar eclipse of August 11, 1999

“…However, such ideal comparisons cannot be simply performed due to the lack of the corresponding measurements. Comparisons can be drawn against studies of 5-min ionospheric sounding, such as those in , Bosˇka and Sˇauli (2001), Bosˇka et al (2003), Martinis and Manzano (1999), Sˇauli and Bosˇka (2001) and Sˇauli et al (2005), satellite or rocket measurements such as Bertin et al (1978) and Kelley (1997), arrays of ionosonds as reported in Somsikov (1991) and many others. We can compare the times of occurrence, differences and similarities in the vertical structure and source location.…”

Forcing of the ionosphere by waves from below

“…Gravity waves with the dominant period of 50 min were observed in the F region in rocket experiments by Kelley (1997) in association with a storm front with thunderstorm cells of a broad spectrum of space scales. The measured electron density profiles were very structured.…”