A document by Benjamin Reid. Click on the document to view its contents.

The lunar ionosphere is a ~100 km thick layer of electrically charged plasma surrounding the moon. Despite knowledge of its existence for decades, the structure and dynamics of the lunar plasma remain a mystery due to lack of consistent observational capacity. An enhanced observational picture of the lunar ionosphere and improved understanding of its formation/loss mechanisms is critical for understanding the lunar environment as a whole and assessing potential safety and economic hazards associated with lunar exploration and habitation. To address the high priority need for observations of the electrically charged constituents near the lunar surface, we introduce a concept study for the Radio Instrument Package for Lunar Ionospheric Observation (RIPLIO). RIPLIO would consist of a multi-CubeSat constellation (at least two satellites) in lunar orbit for the purpose of conducting “crosslink” radio occultation measurements of the lunar ionosphere, with at least one satellite carrying a very high frequency (VHF) transmitter broadcasting at multiple frequencies, and at least one satellite flying a broadband receiver to monitor transmitting satellites. Radio occultations intermittently occur when satellite-to-satellite signals cross through the lunar ionosphere, and the resulting phase perturbations of VHF signals may be analyzed to infer the ionosphere electron content and high- resolution vertical electron density profiles. As demonstrated in this study, RIPLIO would provide a novel means for lunar observation, with the potential to provide long-term, high-resolution observations of the lunar ionosphere with unprecedented pan-lunar detail.

The random amplitude and phase fluctuations observed in trans-ionospheric radio signals are caused by the presence of electron density irregularities in the ionosphere. Ground-based measurements of radio wave signals provide information about the medium through which these signals propagate. The Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN) Global Position System (GPS) receivers record radio signals emitted by the GPS satellites, enabling the study of their spectral characteristics.This study presents examples of phase spectra with two power-law components. These components exhibit steeper spectral slopes at higher frequencies and shallower ones at lower frequencies. In most cases, the breaking frequency point is statistically larger than the frequency associated with the Fresnel scale under the Taylor hypothesis. To be more specific, we conducted a spectral characterization of sixty (60) events recorded by the CHAIN Churchill GPS receiver, which is located in the auroral oval. When fluctuations above the background level are only observed in the phase, the spectra tend to be systematically steeper. Conversely, the power increase in higher frequency fluctuations accompanying amplitude scintillation tends to result in shallower spectra. A basic yet powerful model of radio wave propagation through a turbulent ionosphere, characterized by a power law electron density spectrum, can help to explain the two power laws observed in the scintillation events presented in this study by identifying the role played by small-scale ionospheric irregularities in diffraction.

The high latitude ionospheric evolution of the May 10-11, 2024, geomagnetic storm is investigated in terms of Total Electron Content and contextualized with Incoherent Scatter Radar and ionosonde observations. Substantial plasma lifting is observed within the initial Storm Enhanced Density plume with ionospheric peak heights increasing by 150km to 300km, reaching levels of up to 630km. Scintillation is observed within the cusp during the initial expansion phase of the storm, spreading across the auroral oval thereafter. Patch transport into the polar cap produces broad regions of scintillation that are rapidly cleared from the region after a strong Interplanetary Magnetic Field reversal at 2230UT. Strong heating and composition changes result in the complete absence of the F2-layer on the 11th, suffocating high latitude convection from dense plasma necessary for Tongue of Ionization and patch formation, ultimately resulting in a suppression of polar cap scintillation on the 11th.

The Assimilative Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Model (A-CHAIM) is an operational ionospheric data assimilation model that provides a 3D representation of the high latitude ionosphere in Near-Real-Time (NRT). A-CHAIM uses low-latency observations slant Total Electron Content (sTEC) from ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, ionosondes, and vertical TEC from the JASON-3 altimeter satellite to produce an updated electron density model above $45^o$ geomagnetic latitude. A-CHAIM is the first operational use of a particle filter data assimilation for space environment modeling, to account for the nonlinear nature of sTEC observations. The large number (>10^4) of simultaneous observations creates significant problems with particle weight degeneracy, which is addressed by combining measurements to form new composite observables. The performance of A-CHAIM is assessed by comparing the model outputs to unassimilated ionosonde observations, as well as to in-situ electron density observations from the SWARM and DMSP satellites. During moderately disturbed conditions from September 21st, 2021 through September 29th, 2021, A-CHAIM demonstrates a 40% to 50% reduction in error relative to the background model in the F2-layer critical frequency (foF2) at midlatitude and auroral reference stations, and little change at higher latitudes. The height of the F2-layer (hmF2) shows a small 5% to 15% improvement at all latitudes. In the topside, A-CHAIM demonstrates a 15% to 20% reduction in error for the Swarm satellites, and a 23% to 28% reduction in error for the DMSP satellites. The reduction in error is distributed evenly over the assimilation region, including in data-sparse regions.

In this study, we use measurements from over 4,735 globally distributed Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers to track the progression of travelling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) associated with the 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai submarine volcanic eruption. We identify two distinct Large Scale TIDs (LSTIDs) and several subsequent Medium Scale TIDs (MSTIDs) that propagate radially outward from the eruption site. Within 3000 km of epicenter, LSTIDs of >1600 km and ~1350 km wavelengths are initially observed propagating at speeds of ~950 ms-1 and ~555 ms-1, before substantial slowing to ~600 ms-1 and ~390 ms-1, respectively. MSTIDs with speeds of 200-400 ms-1 are observed for six hours following eruption, the first of which comprises the dominant global ionospheric response and coincides with the atmospheric surface pressure disturbance associated with the eruption. These are the first results demonstrating the global impact of the Tonga eruption on the ionospheric state.

Ground-based amplitude measurements of GNSS signal during ionospheric scintillation are analyzed using prevalent data analysis tools developed in the fields of fluid and plasma turbulence. One such tool is the structure function of order $q$, with $q = 1$ to $q = 6$, which reduces to the computation of the second order difference in the GPS signal amplitude at various time lags, and allows for the exploration of dominant length scales in the propagation medium. We report the existence of a range where the structure function is linear with respect to time lag. This linear time-segment could be considered as an analog to the inertial range in the context of neutral and plasma turbulence theory. Below the linear range, the structure function increases nonlinearly with time lag, again in good concordance with the intermittent character of the signal, given that a parallel is drawn with turbulence theory. Quantitatively, the slope of the structure function in the linear range is in good agreement with the scaling exponent determined from in-situ measurements of the electrostatic potential at low altitude (E-region) and the electron density at the topside ionosphere (F-Region). This in turn suggests the conjecture that scintillation could be considered a proxy for ionospheric turbulence. Furthermore, we have found that the probability distribution function of the second order difference in the signal amplitude has non-Gaussian features at large time-lags; a result that seems inconsistent with equilibrium statistical physics which suggests a Gaussian distribution for the conventional random walk processes.

Here we assess to what extent the Empirical Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Model (E-CHAIM) can reproduce the climatological variations of vertical Total Electron Content (vTEC) in the Canadian sector. Within the auroral oval and polar cap, E-CHAIM is found to exhibit Root Mean Square (RMS) errors in vTEC as low 0.4 TECU during solar minimum summer but as high as 5.0 TECU during solar maximum equinox conditions. These errors represent an improvement of up to 8.5 TECU over the errors of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) in the same region. At sub-auroral latitudes, E-CHAIM RMS errors range between 1.0 TECU and 7.4 TECU, with greatest errors during the equinoxes at high solar activity. This represents an up to 0.5 TECU improvement over the IRI during summer but worse performance by up to 2.4 TECU during the winter. Comparisons of E-CHAIM performance against in situ measurements from the European Space Agency’s Swarm mission are also conducted, ultimately finding behaviour consistent with that of vTEC. In contrast to the vTEC results, however, E-CHAIM and the IRI exhibit comparable performance at Swarm altitudes, except within the polar cap, where the IRI exhibits systematic underestimation of electron density by up to 1.0e11 e/m^3. Conjunctions with mid-latitude ionosondes demonstrate that E-CHAIM’s errors appear to result from compounding same-signed errors in its NmF2, hmF2, and topside thickness at these latitudes. Overall, E-CHAIM exhibits strong performance within the polar cap and auroral oval but performs comparably to the IRI at sub-auroral latitudes.