3-D Ionospheric Electron Density Variations during the 2017 Great American Solar Eclipse: A Revisit
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atmosphere-14-01379-v4.pdf
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4.28 MB
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Checksum (MD5)
04a46d1ee3a8332746a7132074918802
Author(s)
Aa, Ercha
Zhang, Shun-Rong
Erickson, Philip J.
Wang, Wenbin
Coster, Anthea J.
Date Issued
August 31, 2023
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Atmosphere 14 (9): 1379 (2023)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This paper studies the three-dimensional (3-D) ionospheric electron density variation over the continental US and adjacent regions during the August 2017 Great American Solar Eclipse event, using Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar observations, ionosonde data, the Swarm satellite measurements, and a new TEC-based ionospheric data assimilation system (TIDAS). The TIDAS data assimilation system can reconstruct a 3-D electron density distribution over continental US and adjacent regions, with a spatial–temporal resolution of 1∘× 1∘ in latitude and longitude, 20 km in altitude, and 5 min in universal time. The combination of multi-instrumental observations and the high-resolution TIDAS data assimilation products can well represent the dynamic 3-D ionospheric electron density response to the solar eclipse, providing important altitude information and fine-scale details. Results show that the eclipse-induced ionospheric electron density depletion can exceed 50% around the F2-layer peak height between 200 and 300 km. The recovery of electron density following the maximum depletion exhibits an altitude-dependent feature, with lower altitudes exhibiting a faster recovery than the F2 peak region and above. The recovery feature was also characterized by a post-eclipse electron density enhancement of 15–30%, which is particularly prominent in the topside ionosphere at altitudes above 300 km.
MIT Department
Haystack Observatory
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14091379
