The role of TIDs in the creation of the electron density irregularities in the middle-latitude F region

Abstract:

The creation of the electron density irregularities in the middle latitude F region is often interpreted in association with traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs). However, the occurrence climatology of the irregularities is somewhat different from that of TIDs, and therefore, a different source of the irregularities may exist. In this study, we investigate the variability of the middle-latitude irregularities with local time, season, and solar cycle by analyzing the measurements of the ion density by the CHAMP (2001–2009) and Swarm (2014–2015) satellite observations. The occurrence climatology of the field-aligned irregularities (FAIs) in middle latitude is also investigated with the VHF radar observations acquired since January 2010 at Daejeon in South Korea. The role of TIDs in the creation of the middle latitude irregularities and FAIs is investigated by comparing the their occurrence climatology with the climatology of TIDs. The conventional wisdom is that the activity of TID decreases with an increase of the solar activity. However, our preliminary results show that the occurrence rate of the FAI increases with an increase of the solar activity. The distribution of the irregularities derived from the analysis of the satellite observations may provide insight into the relationship between TIDs, FAIs, and irregularities.