Nighttime medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances detected by network GPS receivers in Taiwan

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics Vol. 113; no. A12; pp. A12316 - n/a
• Main Authors: Lee, C. C., Liou, Y. A., Otsuka, Y., Chu, F. D., Yeh, T. K., Hoshinoo, K., Matunaga, K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Geophysical Union 01-12-2008; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; GPS phase fluctuations; Ionosphere; Ionospheric disturbances; Ionospheric dynamics; Ionospheric irregularities; MSTIDs; Wave propagation; Far East; Asia; Taiwan; MSTIDs; GPS phase fluctuations; troughs; wavelength; waves; Phase fluctuation; latitude; Traveling ionospheric disturbance; velocity; ionosphere; networks; Wavefront; Global Positioning System; Smoothing; Mapping manifolds; spatial resolution; Low latitude; Pixel; direction
• ISSN: 0148-0227; 2156-2202
• DOI: 10.1029/2008JA013250

The nighttime medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) are detected by the network GPS receivers in Taiwan for the first time. The two‐dimensional mapping technique (a spatial resolution of 0.05° × 0.05° in latitude and longitude with 5 × 5 pixels smoothing) is applied on the data of TEC perturbations (TECp) and GPS phase fluctuations (ΔTEC/min). The results show that the MSTIDs move southwestward to latitude of 20.5°N with a horizontal velocity between 100 and 160 m/s and a wavelength of about 500 km. The wavefronts of the MSTIDs are aligned along the northwest‐southeast direction. Furthermore, the greater ∣ΔTEC/min∣ values are corresponding to the wave peak and trough of TECp. This coincidence indicates that the MSTIDs play an important role for the generation of F region irregularities in the low‐latitude ionosphere.