Statistical characteristics of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances revealed from the Hokkaido East and Ekaterinburg HF radar data

• Published in: Earth, planets, and space planets, and space, 2016-01, Vol.68 (1), p.1, Article 8
• Main Authors: Oinats, Alexey V., Nishitani, Nozomu, Ponomarenko, Pavlo, Berngardt, Oleg I., Ratovsky, Konstantin G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coupling of the High and Mid Latitude Ionosphere and its Relation to Geospace Dynamics; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Letter
• ISSN: 1880-5981; 1880-5981
• DOI: 10.1186/s40623-016-0390-8

We present a statistical study of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) using the Hokkaido East (43.53° N, 143.61° E) and Ekaterinburg (56.42° N, 58.53° E) high-frequency (HF) radar data. Radar datasets are available from 2007 to 2014 for the Hokkaido and from 2013 to 2014 for the Ekaterinburg radar. In the case of the Hokkaido East radar, we have utilized the elevation angle information to study the MSTIDs propagating at the heights of the E and F ionospheric regions separately. We have analyzed the diurnal and seasonal behavior of the following medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance (MSTID) parameters: propagation direction, apparent horizontal velocity and wavelength, period, and relative amplitude. The F region MSTID azimuthal patterns were observed to be quite similar by the two radars. The E region northwestward MSTIDs (from 280° to 320°) were typical of summer daytime. Comparison with the horizontal wind model (HWM07) has showed that the dominant MSTID propagation directions match the anti-wind direction well, at least during sunlight hours. We have also found that the wavelength and period tend to decrease with an increase in solar activity. On the contrary, the relative amplitude increases with an increase in solar activity. Moreover, the relative amplitude tends to increase with increasing auroral electrojet (AE) index, as do the wavelength and velocity.