Meteorological effects in the lower ionosphere as based on VLF/LF signal observations

Abstract

Very low and low frequency (VLF/LF) data recorded in the Far Eastern stations Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (158.92° E, 53.15° N), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (142.75° E, 46.95° N) and Yuzhno-Kurilsk (145.861° E, 44.03° N) are investigated to study the meteorological effects in the lower ionosphere. The results demonstrate the sensitivity of the VLF/LF signals to the variations of atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind velocity and temperature, and the VLF/LF record at the station of Yuzhno-Kurilsk is found to be most sensitive to those variations of atmospheric parameters. The region under consideration is characterized by high winter cyclonic activity in mid-latitudes and strong summer and autumn typhoon activity in low latitudes. VLF/LF signal variations during eight tropical cyclones (TCs) with different intensity are considered. Negative nighttime anomalies in the signal amplitude that are most probably caused by TC activity are found for six events. Those anomalies are observed during 1–2 days when TCs move inside the sensitivity zones of the subionospheric paths. Perturbations of the VLF signal observed during two TCs can be caused by both the TC influence and seismic activity, but no correlation between TC intensity and magnitude of the signal anomalies is found. Spectral analysis of the typhoon-induced disturbed signals revealed the fluctuations with time periods in the range of 7–16 and 15–55 min that corresponds to the range of internal gravity waves periods.