Using the ionospheric response to the solar eclipse on 20th March 2015 to detect spatial structure in the solar corona

Scott, C. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6411-5649, Bradford, J., Bell, S. A., Wilkinson, J., Barnard, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9876-4612, Smith, D. and Tudor, S. (2016) Using the ionospheric response to the solar eclipse on 20th March 2015 to detect spatial structure in the solar corona. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 374 (2077). 20150216. ISSN 1364-503X doi: 10.1098/rsta.2015.0216

Abstract/Summary

Long-term variability has previously been observed in the relative magnitude of annual and semi-annual variations in the critical frequency (related to the peak electron concentration) of the ionospheric F2 layer (foF2). In this paper we investigate the global patterns in such variability by calculating the time varying power ratio of semi-annual to annual components seen in ionospheric foF2 data sequences from 77 ionospheric monitoring stations around the world. The temporal variation in power ratios observed at each station was then correlated with the same parameter calculated from similar epochs for the Slough/Chilton data set (for which there exists the longest continuous sequence of ionospheric data). This technique reveals strong regional variation in the data, which bears a striking similarity to the regional variation observed in long-term changes to the height of the ionospheric F2 layer. We argue that since both the height and peak density of the ionospheric F2 region are influenced by changes to thermospheric circulation and composition, the observed long-term and regional variability can be explained by such changes. In the absence of long-term measurements of thermospheric composition, detailed modelling work is required to investigate these processes.

Additional Information	Theme issue ‘Atmospheric effects of solar eclipses stimulated by the 2015 UK eclipse’ compiled and edited by R. Giles Harrison and Edward Hanna
Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/66203
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Additional Information	Theme issue ‘Atmospheric effects of solar eclipses stimulated by the 2015 UK eclipse’ compiled and edited by R. Giles Harrison and Edward Hanna
Publisher	The Royal Society Publishing
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