The Polar Cap Tongue of Ionization: A survey of GPS TEC mappings from 2000 to 2014

Abstract:

The tongue of ionization (TOI) is a sporadic large-scale feature of the F-region polar ionosphere; a volume of high density plasma transported anti-sunward across the polar cap by the magnetospheric convection electric field. Sometimes the TOI may exist in the form of polar cap patches, owing to the solar wind and M-I coupling causing variations in convection, breaking up the TOI into discrete patchy structures.

Figure 1 shows an example of a TOI under quiet geomagnetic conditions, from the GPS TEC map for 1637 UT on 05 Nov 2012, a day on which the Kp index was never higher than 1.7. The data is taken from Millstone Hill's on-line Madrigal data base. The TOI is often thought of as a storm-time phenomenon; this work challenges that assumption by examining observations from all levels of geomagnetic activity throughout the period of availability of the GPS TEC maps (2000-2014).

Sojka et al [1994] carried out a modeling study to determine the seasonal and universal time dependence of the tongue of ionization (and polar cap patches); Figure 2 is reproduced from that paper. In essence, this figure is intended to indicate the times when a TOI may and may not exist. A notable feature is the “hole” that is seen during winter days between 0600 and 1200 UT. At the time of that publication it was not possible to test the prediction, but there now exists a wealth of data in the form of maps of total electron content (TEC), available from the on-line Madrigal data base. These TEC maps, especially in the northern hemisphere, cover the mid-latitude and polar cap regions with sufficient resolution to determine whether or not a TOI exists, for nearly every day from the year 2000 to the present time, at 5 minute intervals. In this study we make a comprehensive survey of this immense data base and outline the conditions under which TOIs have been seen in the northern hemisphere, based on seasonal and UT dependencies, as well as levels of geomagnetic disturbance.

The winter “hole” in Figure 2, from 0600 to 1200 UT, days 325 to 030, will make it possible to address the question: Is the transport of dayside plasma through the cusp into the polar cap the dominant process responsible for high plasma densities in the dark polar ionosphere? If this is true, then year after year the TEC maps should show few or no polar cap high density structures occurring within this “hole”.