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LOFAR observations of asymmetric quasi-periodic scintillations in the mid-latitude ionosphere.
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  • Gareth Dorrian,
  • David R. Themens,
  • Toralf Renkwitz,
  • Grzegorz Nykiel,
  • Alan George Wood,
  • Ben Boyde,
  • Richard Andrew Fallows,
  • Maaijke Mevius,
  • Hannah Trigg
Gareth Dorrian
University of Birmingham

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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David R. Themens
University of Birmingham
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Toralf Renkwitz
Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (LG)
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Grzegorz Nykiel
Gdansk University of Technology
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Alan George Wood
University of Birmingham
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Ben Boyde
University of Birmingham
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Richard Andrew Fallows
RAL Space
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Maaijke Mevius
astron
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Hannah Trigg
University of Birmingham
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Abstract

A travelling ionospheric disturbance (TID) containing embedded plasma structures which generated Fresnel type asymmetric quasi-periodic scintillations (QPS: Maruyama, 1991) was tracked over a distance of >1200 km across Northern Europe using the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR: van Haarlem et al., 2013). Broadband ionospheric scintillation observations of these phenomena are rarely reported in the literature as is the ability to track asymmetric QPS generating plasma structures over such a distance. Asymmetric QPS are characterised by an initial broadband signal fade and enhancement which is then followed by ‘ringing pattern’ interference fringes. These results demonstrate that QPS generating plasma structures can retain their characteristics consistently for several hours, and over distances exceeding 1200 km. A propagation altitude of 110 km was estimated with observations of plasma density modulation in a sporadic-E region detected by the Juliusruh ionosonde, and direct measurements of a wavefront from the TID by co-located medium frequency radar, in which the front is clearly oriented NW-SE, and at an altitude of ~110 km. The TID propagated SW with a calculated velocity of 170 ms-1 and an azimuth of 255°. Periodicity analysis, using the calculated velocity, yielded a spacing between each QPS-generating plasma sub-structure of between 20-40 km. Co-temporal GNSS data were used to establish that these plasma density variations were very small, with a maximum amplitude of no more than +/- 0.05 TECu deviation from the background average.
17 Nov 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
18 Nov 2024Published in ESS Open Archive