Solar activity dependence for the relationship between nighttime medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance and sporadic E (Es) layer activities in summer during 1998–2019 over Japan

Abstract

Abstract To investigate solar activity dependence of the coupling between medium-scale traveling ionosphere disturbance (MSTID) and sporadic E (Es) layer, we analyzed the total electron content (TEC) obtained from a Japanese global positioning system (GPS) receivers and ionosonde at Kokubunji (35.7° N, 139.5° E) in Japan during the summer period of May–August from 1998 to 2019. To obtain perturbation TEC caused by MSTIDs, the detrended TEC is calculated by subtracting 1-h moving averages from the measured TEC for each pair of GPS satellite and receiver. The detrended TEC data are mapped on to the geographical coordinates to make detrended 2-D maps with spatial resolution of 0.15° × 0.15° in longitude and latitude. The MSTID activity is defined as a ratio of the standard deviation to the background TEC over Kokubunji in Japan. Day-to-day variations of the MSTID activity during summer nights was compared to Es layer parameters [critical frequency ( $${f}_{o}Es$$ f o E s ) and $${\Delta f}_{o-b}\equiv {f}_{o}Es-{f}_{b}E$$ Δ f o - b ≡ f o E s - f b E , where $${f}_{{\text{b}}}Es$$ f b E s is blanketing frequency] derived from ionosonde station at Kokubunji. We have found that the correlation coefficient between the MSTID activity and $${f}_{o}Es$$ f o E s ( $${\Delta f}_{o-b}$$ Δ f o - b ) between 1998 and 2019 is 0.5 3 (0.46) on average, suggesting that there is an electrodynamical coupling between the Es layer and F region could generate nighttime MSTIDs. We also have found that the correlation coefficient positively correlates with solar activity. This finding indicates that in the high solar activity conditions, when the growth rate of Perkins instability is relatively low, generation of the polarization electric fields in the $$Es$$ Es layer could play a more important role to grow MSTIDs than in the low solar activity conditions. Graphical Abstract

Keywords

• TEC
• MSTID
• Sporadic E layer
• Electrodynamical coupling
• Solar activity