Insights into the nature of northwest-to-southeast aligned ionospheric wavefronts from contemporaneous Very Large Array and ionosondes observations

TL;DR

This study investigates midlatitude MSTIDs using VLA and ionosondes, revealing their alignment, propagation, and relation to sporadic-E layers, F-region dynamics, and substorm activity.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the conditions and behaviors of northwest-to-southeast aligned MSTIDs, especially their association with Es layers and geomagnetic activity.

Findings

MSTIDs are aligned northwest-southeast and mostly propagate southwest.

MSTIDs occur only with moderate sporadic-E layers (foEs 1.5-3 MHz).

Northeastward MSTIDs are linked to rapid F-region collapse and substorm activity.

Abstract

The results of contemporaneous summer nighttime observations of midlatitude medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) with the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico and nearby ionosondes in Texas and Colorado are presented. Using 132, 20-minute observations, several instances of MSTIDs were detected, all having wavefronts aligned northwest to southeast and mostly propagating toward the southwest, consistent with previous studies of MSTIDs. However, some were also found to move toward the northeast. It was found that both classes of MSTIDs were only found when sporadic-E (Es) layers of moderate peak density (1.5<foEs<3 MHz) were present. Limited fbEs data from one ionosonde suggests that there was a significant amount of structure with the Es layers during observations when foEs>3 MHz that was not present when 1.5<foEs<3 MHz. No MSTIDs were observed either before midnight or when the F-region height was increasing at a relatively high rate, even when these Es layers were observed. Combining this result with AE indices which were relatively high at the time (an average of about 300 nT and maximum of nearly 700 nT), it is inferred that both the lack of MSTIDs and the increase in F-region height are due to substorm-induced electric fields. The northeastward-directed MSTIDs were strongest post-midnight during times when the F-region was observed to be collapsing relatively quickly. This implies that these two occurrences are related and likely both caused by rare shifts in F-region neutral wind direction from southwest to northwest.