American Geophysical Union Become an AGU Member
Subscribe to AGU Journals		 AGU Home AGU Publications

Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 908799 bytes)

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 31, L03807, doi:10.1029/2003GL018725, 2004

Theoretical relationship between maximum value of the post-sunset drift velocity and peak-to-valley ratio of anomaly TEC

B. Basu

Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA


J. M. Retterer

Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA


O. de La Beaujardière

Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA


C. E. Valladares

Institute for Scientific Research, Boston College, Newton, Massachusetts, USA


E. Kudeki

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA


Abstract

Theoretical study of electron density distribution in the nighttime equatorial ionosphere shows that linear relationships with statistically significant correlation coefficients exist between the maximum value of the post-sunset plasma drift velocity and the peak-to-valley ratio of anomaly TEC. The study is based on the low-latitude density model of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the obtained relationships are valid for the longitudinal sector of Jicamarca incoherent scatter radar whose drift velocity measurements are used. The significance of this finding lies in the fact that the maximum value of the post-sunset vertical plasma drift velocity is an important parameter for determining both the intensity and the latitudinal distribution of equatorial scintillation. When the parameter is not available from any direct measurement, the linear relationships may be used to estimate it from the measured peak-to-valley ratio of anomaly TEC.

Received 26 September 2003; accepted 6 January 2004; published 11 February 2004.

Index Terms: 2411 Ionosphere: Electric fields (2712); 2415 Ionosphere: Equatorial ionosphere; 2437 Ionosphere: Ionospheric dynamics; 2447 Ionosphere: Modeling and forecasting.

Subscriber Access to Full Article (Nonsubscribers may purchase for $9.00, Includes print PDF, file size: 908799 bytes)

Citation: Basu, B., J. M. Retterer, O. de La Beaujardière, C. E. Valladares, and E. Kudeki (2004), Theoretical relationship between maximum value of the post-sunset drift velocity and peak-to-valley ratio of anomaly TEC, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L03807, doi:10.1029/2003GL018725.