Identification

Title

Longitudinal variations of the nighttime E layer electron density in the auroral zone

Abstract

Longitudinal variations of the nighttime E layer electron density (21:00–03:00 magnetic local time) in the auroral zone are investigated, and their sources are discussed in terms of auroral precipitation and solar radiation. The electron density data used in this study are retrieved from Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate radio occultation observations during 2006–2009 under quiet geomagnetic activity (Kp ≤ 3) and solar minimum conditions. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) the nighttime E layer electron density had pronounced longitudinal variations in the auroral zone. These variations depended on season and had large hemispheric asymmetry for all seasons. In winter, relatively larger electron density was located in 120–310° magnetic longitude (MLON) in the northern hemisphere and in 170–360° MLON in the southern hemisphere, and greater maximum density occurred in the northern hemisphere than in the southern one. In summer and equinox, the longitudinal asymmetry was greater in the southern hemisphere. (2) The peaks of the E layer electron density along latitude generally occurred between 65° and 70° magnetic latitude in the auroral zone in all seasons for both hemispheres except for the sunlit sector of the southern summer. (3) The greater electron density in local winter in the auroral zone was generally associated with the more intense auroral precipitation intensity at roughly the same longitude, whereas the longitudinal patterns of the electron density were under the combined impact of both auroral precipitation and solar radiation in the local summer and equinoxes.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7vh5q0n

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

2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

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