Response of Ionosphere to the Tropospheric disturbances

Abstract:

The aim of the present work is to find out response of the ionosphere to the various cases of tropical cyclones. The main process involved is suggested through Atmospheric Gravity waves (AGWs) originating from strong convective systems, propagating upward upto the ionospheric heights and perturbing ionospheric parameters (Bishop et al., 2006). We have used ground and satellite data to extract cyclone induced perturbations at different ionospheric heights along with the various parameters of AGWs during cyclones and associated thunderstorm. The initial results suggest that there is increase in total electron content of the ionosphere with wave like signatures in ionosphere. The satellite observation in optical band shows presence of concentric gravity wave pattern associated with troposphere disturbances with horizontal wavelength of ~50-200km and periods ranging from hours to days. The ground based Very Low Frequency (VLF) measurement shows fluctuations in VLF navigational transmitter signal passing over the region of disturbance. The lightning data from GLD360 lightning network shows intense activity associated with cyclones and increase in lightning peak current and energy during main phase of cyclones which seems to be sufficient enough to derive ionospheric disturbances in the ionosphere. This multi-instrument analysis provide detail information of the three dimensional structure of cyclone and their effect at different altitudes of the ionosphere in the Indian subcontinent.