A Long‐Term Data Set of Vertical Ion Drift Velocity at High Latitudes Constructed From DMSP Measurements

Observations of vertical ion drift velocities (Vz) at the topside of the ionosphere by Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites have been accumulated over decades and provide us a unique opportunity to study the vertical ion drifts through the ionosphere on different temporal and s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Space physics 2018-07, Vol.123 (7), p.6090-6102
Main Authors: Liu, Mohan, Zhang, Xiao‐Xin, He, Fei, Wang, Wenbin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Defense programs
Drift
Ion drift velocity
Ionosphere
Latitude
Meteorological satellite program
Meteorological satellites
Qualitative analysis
Rescaling
Solar cycle
Statistical analysis
Vertical drift
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Observations of vertical ion drift velocities (Vz) at the topside of the ionosphere by Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites have been accumulated over decades and provide us a unique opportunity to study the vertical ion drifts through the ionosphere on different temporal and spatial scales. In this paper, Vz data of F13, which are of high quality, are taken as the reference to rescale the measurements of DMSP F11, F12, F14, F15, and F16 at high latitudes from 50°N/S to 90°N/S, which show significant differences from each other in magnitudes. Through rescaling, all Vz data of F11–F16 are in a similar order of magnitudes. Moreover, their spatial and temporal distributions resemble each other on average and are consistent with the excepted averaged behaviors reported in previous studies. Thus, the rescaling is basically effective, which provides an opportunity to construct a data set of Vz from 1995 to 2014 that covers nearly two solar cycles for further statistical analysis. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the rescaling results are qualitative/semiqualitative with some uncertainty, which needs more detailed discussion and analysis in future studies. Key Points Rescaling vertical ion drift velocities of DMSP F11, F12, F14, F15, and F16, respectively, by taking F13 data as the reference is discussed The rescaled data of different satellites are in similar magnitudes on average and show reasonable spatial and temporal distributions A long‐term data set of vertical ion drift velocities from 1995 to 2014 are constructed based on the rescaled data of DMSP F11–F16
ISSN:2169-9380
2169-9402
DOI:10.1029/2018JA025504