Abstract:
Ground- and satellite-based radio communication and navigation systems
are greatly impacted by the post-sunset equatorial ionospheric irregularities
that exist in the Earth's ionosphere. Although post-sunset vertically upward
plasma drift velocity and zonal neutral wind speed are thought to play the
primary roles, the involvement of the meridional neutral wind speed in the
formation of these irregularities is debatable. Using ground- and space-based
measurements, the impact of the trans-equatorial wind's latitudinal gradient
on the local post-sunset irregularities has not yet been studied. Furthermore,
although the asymmetry of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA)
is thought to be caused by the trans-meridional wind speed, which in turn
in
uences the occurrence of irregularities, the relationship between the global
meridional wind speed and irregularity occurrence has not yet been studied
using space and ground based observations. These problems are investigated
using observations from space and the ground. F-region meridional neutral
wind speeds from GOCE satellites and ground-based GNSS TEC have been
used in the years 2012 and 2013. The rate of change of the TEC index (ROTI)
is derived and employed as an indicator of post-sunset equatorial ionospheric
irregularities.
Using ground- and space-based data from three longitudinal sectors (Eastern
Africa, Eastern South America, and Eastern Asia) the day-to-day variations
of the local ionospheric irregularities due to the latitudinal gradient
of the meridional wind speed are studied. In addition to the data from the
ionospheric irregularity indicator, the variation in electron density from the
Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (CNOF/S) is also
included. Correlational analysis is performed between the ROTI and the latitudinal
gradient of the meridional neutral wind speed in each of the three
longitudinal sectors. It is found that non-irregular ionospheric phenomena are
observed when the gradient of the meridional neutral wind pro le with respect
to geographic latitude is positive, whereas post-sunset ionospheric plasma irregularities
are supported when the latitudinal gradient of the meridional
wind is negative. In addition, a statistical analysis is conducted to examine
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the in
uence of the global meridional neutral wind speed asymmetry on the
occurrence of irregularities. To do this, the relationship between ionospheric
irregularities and the meridional neutral wind speed di erence between the
northern and southern positions of the EIA crests, which can lead to the
asymmetry of the EIA and associated ionospheric conductivity, is investigated.
The results show a strong relationship between ROTI values and the
di erences in meridional neutral wind speeds at the EIA crests in the north
and south. Moreover, we nd that the occurrence of post-sunset ionospheric
irregularities is supported by lower wind speed di erence (less than 5 m/s)
between the north and south EIA crests, but not by higher speed di erences
(more than 5 m/s). The endings of this thesis study enrich our knowledge
of the relationship between post-sunset equatorial ionospheric irregularities
and meridional neutral wind speed.