Identification

Title

Simulation and observations of the polar tongue of ionization at different heights during the 2015 St. Patrick's day storms

Abstract

We present the observational and modeling study focused on the major factors determining the spatiotemporal structure of the high-latitude ionospheric plasma density enhancement—the tongue of ionization (TOI) structure—during the 2015 St. Patrick's Day geomagnetic storm. We use the Global Self-consistent Model of the Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Protonosphere (GSM TIP) to reproduce the plasma density distribution, and the results are compared with the observational data as deduced from the ground-based global positioning system total electron content and in situ plasma probe measurements at different altitudes. Both the simulation and observation results show that a large-scale TOI-like structure of enhanced plasma density extends from the dayside midlatitude region toward the central polar cap along the antisunward cross-polar convection flow. We reveal an important role of the clockwise convection cell rotation for the modification of TOI structure. According to model results during the storm main phase, the neutral thermospheric composition, particularly the "tongue" in n(N2), modifies the spatial structure of TOI in such a way that (1) the near-pole region of enhanced plasma density is shifted to the duskside and, (2) at F region heights, the TOI is split into the dusk and dawn branches. The signature of TOI in the topside ionosphere considerably differs from that in the F region because of a lesser influence of the neutral composition changes at higher altitudes. Model results revealed that at plasmaspheric heights, the TOI structure appears in both the dawn and dusk convection cells.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7wd43qh

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2019-07-19T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact