Phys.org August 7, 2018
A team of researchers in the US (MIT Haystack Observatory, University of Colorado, University of Puerto Rico, University of Wisconsin) used decades data from Haystack and Puerto Rico observatories to study the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event from January 2013 separating the effects of other known effects on the SSW. They found that electron density in the nighttime ionosphere was dramatically reduced by the effects of the SSW for several days, a significant hole was formed that stretched across hemispheres from latitudes 55 degrees S to 45 degrees N also and they measured a strong downward plasma motion and a decrease in ion temperature after the SSW. Depletions in the nighttime ionosphere are potentially important for near-Earth space weather. The new findings open new challenges as well of opportunities to improve the understanding of lower atmospheric forcing in the ionosphere… read more.
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Electron density in the nighttime ionosphere was dramatically reduced by the effects of sudden stratospheric warming for several days: A significant hole was formed that stretched across hemispheres from latitudes 55 degrees S to 45 degrees N. Credit: NASA/JPL