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Investigation of Ionospheric Small-Scale Plasma Structures associated with Particle Precipitation
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  • Florine Enengl,
  • Luca Spogli,
  • Daria Kotova,
  • Yaqi Jin,
  • Kjellmar Oksavik,
  • Noora Partamies,
  • Wojciech Jacek Miloch
Florine Enengl
University of Oslo

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Luca Spogli
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia
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Daria Kotova
University of Oslo
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Yaqi Jin
University of Oslo
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Kjellmar Oksavik
University of Bergen
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Noora Partamies
The University Centre in Svalbard, Birkeland Centre for Space Science, University of Bergen, Norway
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Wojciech Jacek Miloch
University of Oslo
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Abstract

We investigate the role of auroral particle precipitation in small-scale (below hundreds of meters) plasma structuring in the auroral ionosphere over the Arctic. To the scope, we together analyse data recorded by an Ionospheric Scintillation Monitor Receiver (ISMR) of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals and by an All-Sky Camera located in Longyearbyen, Svalbard (Norway). We leverage on the raw GNSS samples provided at 50 Hz by the ISMR to evaluate amplitude and phase scintillation indices at 1 s time resolution and the Ionosphere-Free Linear Combination at 20 ms time resolution. The simultaneous use of the 1 s GNSS-based scintillation indices allows identifying the scale size of the irregularities involved in plasma structuring in the range of small (up to few hundreds of meters) and medium-scale size ranges (up to few kilometers) for GNSS frequencies and observational geometry. Additionally, they allow identifying the diffractive and refractive nature of the found fluctuations on the recorded GNSS signals. Six strong auroral events and their effects on plasma structuring are studied. Plasma structuring down to scales of hundreds of meters are seen when strong gradients in auroral emissions at 557.7 nm cross the line of sight between the GNSS satellite and receiver. Local magnetic field measurements confirm small-scale structuring processes coinciding with intensification of ionospheric currents. Since 557.7 nm emissions primarily originate from the ionospheric E-region, plasma instabilities from particle precipitation at E-region altitudes are considered to be responsible for the signatures of small-scale plasma structuring highlighted in the GNSS scintillation data.
21 Jun 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
23 Jun 2023Published in ESS Open Archive