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Thermal and dynamic perturbations in the polar upper stratospheric/mesosphere‐lower thermosphere in the Arctic winter of 2019–2020 as measured by a meteor radar at 67°N, Aura Microwave Limb Sounder and reanalysis are presented. The most severe disturbances occur from late December to mid‐January, while the rest of the winter is relatively stable. Mesospheric winds are dominated by several impulsive increases in the zonal component, an abrupt descent of the wind core and alternating north‐ and south‐ward flow with a period of half a month. Reduced temperature at 90 km height accompanied by thermal inversions is observed in association with upper stratosphere/lower mesosphere warming in the eastern hemisphere. The warming trend is interrupted by a strong cooling in the entire stratosphere‐mesosphere. The upper middle atmosphere appears considerably stratified. High "walls" surround the vortex that is favorable for its stability. Plain Language Summary: If the stratospheric polar vortex is strong, it serves as a stable background for the overlying atmosphere, which remains undisturbed because waves and heat do not penetrate there from below. In the Arctic winter of 2019–2020, although the vortex is evolved into such a configuration and became exceptionally strong in the late winter, during its initial formation, dramatic disturbances occurred in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere. Impulsive strengthening and descending of the zonal winds, shears, alternating north‐ and south‐ward flows, transient upper stratospheric warming and mesospheric cooling, persistent thermal inversions, observed in the first half of the winter, likely indicate a certain degree of decoupling of the atmospheric layers and the role of the high‐altitude atmosphere in the intensification and splitting of the vortex. Key Points: During the formation of the stratospheric polar vortex, the upper‐middle atmosphere is unstableZonal winds amplifications and descending, alternating north/southward flow occur in the stratosphere and mesosphere‐lower thermosphereTransient warming in the upper stratosphere and cooling above, as well as mesospheric thermal inversions are observed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal and dynamic perturbations in the polar upper stratospheric/mesosphere‐lower thermosphere in the Arctic winter of 2019–2020 as measured by a meteor radar at 67°N, Aura Microwave Limb Sounder and reanalysis are presented. The most severe disturbances occur from late December to mid‐January, while the rest of the winter is relatively stable. Mesospheric winds are dominated by several impulsive increases in the zonal component, an abrupt descent of the wind core and alternating north‐ and south‐ward flow with a period of half a month. Reduced temperature at 90 km height accompanied by thermal inversions is observed in association with upper stratosphere/lower mesosphere warming in the eastern hemisphere. The warming trend is interrupted by a strong cooling in the entire stratosphere‐mesosphere. The upper middle atmosphere appears considerably stratified. High "walls" surround the vortex that is favorable for its stability. Plain Language Summary: If the stratospheric polar vortex is strong, it serves as a stable background for the overlying atmosphere, which remains undisturbed because waves and heat do not penetrate there from below. In the Arctic winter of 2019–2020, although the vortex is evolved into such a configuration and became exceptionally strong in the late winter, during its initial formation, dramatic disturbances occurred in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere. Impulsive strengthening and descending of the zonal winds, shears, alternating north‐ and south‐ward flows, transient upper stratospheric warming and mesospheric cooling, persistent thermal inversions, observed in the first half of the winter, likely indicate a certain degree of decoupling of the atmospheric layers and the role of the high‐altitude atmosphere in the intensification and splitting of the vortex. Key Points: During the formation of the stratospheric polar vortex, the upper‐middle atmosphere is unstableZonal winds amplifications and descending, alternating north/southward flow occur in the stratosphere and mesosphere‐lower thermosphereTransient warming in the upper stratosphere and cooling above, as well as mesospheric thermal inversions are observed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-based remote sensing of atmospheric parameters is often limited to single station observations by vertical profiles at a certain geographic location. This is a limiting factor for investigating gravity wave dynamics as the spatial information is often missing, e.g., horizontal wavelength, propagation direction or intrinsic frequency. In this study, we present a new retrieval algorithm for multistatic meteor radar networks to obtain tomographic 3-D wind fields within a pre-defined domain area. The algorithm is part of the Agile Software for Gravity wAve Regional Dynamics (ASGARD) and called 3D-Var, and based on the optimal estimation technique and Bayesian statistics. The performance of the 3D-Var retrieval is demonstrated using two meteor radar networks: the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster and the Chilean Observation Network De Meteor Radars (CONDOR). The optimal estimation implementation provide statistically sound solutions and diagnostics from the averaging kernels and measurement response. We present initial scientific results such as body forces of breaking gravity waves leading to two counter-rotating vortices and horizontal wavelength spectra indicating a transition between the rotational k-3 and divergent k-5/3 mode at scales of 80–120 km. In addition, we performed a keogram analysis over extended periods to reflect the latitudinal and temporal impact of a minor sudden stratospheric warming in December 2019. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of the 3D-Var algorithm to perform large-scale retrievals to derive meteorological wind maps covering a latitude region from Svalbard, north of the European Arctic mainland, to central Norway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typical ionosondes operate with >5 min time intervals, which is enough to obtain regular parameters of the ionosphere, but insufficient to observe short‐term processes in the Earth's ionosphere. The key point for this study is to increase the ionosondes data time resolution by automatization of ionogram scaling routine. In this study we show the results of implementation of deep learning approach for ionogram parameters scaling. We trained the model on 13 years ionogram data set of Sodankyla ionosonde at high latitude region (67°N). We tested our autoscaling program tool on 2021 years data set and evaluate errors between operator and automatic parameters scaling. The root mean square errors for critical frequencies foF2, foF1, foE, foEs, fmin, fbEs and virtual heights h′F, h′E, h′Es are estimated as 0.12 MHz (2 pixels), 0.07 MHz (1.16 pixels), 0.15 MHz (2.5 pixels), 0.33 MHz (5.5 pixels), 0.15 MHz (2.5 pixels), 0.17 MHz (2.83 pixels), 7.7 km (1.34 pixels), 7.0 km (1.22 pixels), 7.1 km (1.24 pixels), respectively. Key Points: The deep learning approach was effectively deployed to scale ionograms to obtain ionospheric parameters in the polar region ionosphereThe performance of common convolutional neural network models was enhanced by implementing a noise‐to‐noise approach for ionogram pre‐filtration, incorporating data augmentation techniques, and diversifying the data setThe proposed deep learning general architecture demonstrates consistent performance on independent test data set [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For 2 decades, meteor radars have been routinely used to monitor atmospheric temperature around 90 km altitude. A common method, based on a temperature gradient model, is to use the height dependence of meteor decay time to obtain a height-averaged temperature in the peak meteor region. Traditionally this is done by fitting a linear regression model in the scattered plot of log⁡10(1/τ) and height, where τ is the half-amplitude decay time of the received signal. However, this method was found to be consistently biasing the slope estimate. The consequence of such a bias is that it produces a systematic offset in the estimated temperature, thus requiring calibration with other co-located measurements. The main reason for such a biasing effect is thought to be due to the failure of the classical regression model to take into account the measurement error in τ and the observed height. This is further complicated by the presence of various geophysical effects in the data, as well as observational limitation in the measuring instruments. To incorporate various error terms in the statistical model, an appropriate regression analysis for these data is the errors-in-variables model. An initial estimate of the slope parameter is obtained by assuming symmetric error variances in normalised height and log⁡10(1/τ). This solution is found to be a good prior estimate for the core of this bivariate distribution. Further improvement is achieved by defining density contours of this bivariate distribution and restricting the data selection process within higher contour levels. With this solution, meteor radar temperatures can be obtained independently without needing any external calibration procedure. When compared with co-located lidar measurements, the systematic offset in the estimated temperature is shown to have reduced to 5 % or better on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-based remote sensing of atmospheric parameters is often limited to single station observations of vertical profiles at a certain geographic location. This can be a limiting factor to investigating gravity wave dynamics. In this study we present a new retrieval algorithm for multi-static meteor radar networks to obtain tomographic 3D wind fields within a pre-defined domain area. The algorithm is part of the Agile Software for Gravity wAve Regional Dynamics (ASGARD) called 3DVAR, and based on the optimal estimation technique and Bayesian statistics. The performance of the 3DVAR retrieval is demonstrated using two meteor radar networks, the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster and the Chilean Observation Network De MeteOr Radars (CONDOR). The optimal estimation implementation provides a statistically sound solution and additional diagnostics from the averaging kernels and measurement response. We present initial scientific results such as body forces of breaking gravity waves leading to two counter-rotating vortices and horizontal wavelength spectra indicating a transition between the vortical κ-3 and divergent κ-5/3 mode at scales of 80-120 km. In addition, we have performed a keogram analysis over extended periods to reflect the latitudinal and temporal impact of a minor sudden stratospheric warming in December 2019. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of the 3DVAR algorithm to perform large-scale retrievals to derive meteorological wind maps covering a latitude region from Svalbard, north of the European Arctic mainland, to mid-Norway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ionosonde at the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SOD; 67 ∘ N, 27 ∘ E; Finland) routinely performs vertical sounding once per minute which enables the study of fast ionospheric variations at a frequency of the long-period geomagnetic pulsations Pc5–6/Pi3 (1–5 mHz). Using the ionosonde data from April 2014–December 2015 and colocated geomagnetic measurements, we have investigated a correspondence between the magnetic field pulsations and variations of the critical frequency of radio waves reflected from the ionospheric F2 layer (fo F2). For this study, we have developed a technique for automated retrieval of the critical frequency of the F2 layer from ionograms. As a rule, the Pc5–6/Pi3 frequency band fluctuations in fo F2 were observed at daytime during quiet or moderately disturbed space weather conditions. In most cases (about 80%), the coherence between the fo F2 variations and geomagnetic pulsations was low. However in some cases (specified as "coherent") the coherence was as large as γ2≥0.5. The following conditions are favorable for the occurrence of coherent cases: enhanced auroral activity (6 h maximal auroral electrojet (AE) ≥800 nT), high solar wind speed (V>600 km/s), fluctuating solar wind pressure and northward interplanetary magnetic field. In the cases when the coherence was higher at shorter periods of oscillations, the magnetic pulsations demonstrated features typical for the Alfvén field line resonance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For two decades meteor radars have been routinely used to monitor temperatures around the 90 km altitude. A common method, based on a temperature-gradient model, is to use the height dependence of meteor decay time to obtain a height-averaged temperature in the peak meteor region. Traditionally this is done by fitting a linear regression model in the scattered plot of log10(1/τ) and height, where τ is the half-amplitude decay time of the received signal. However, this method was found to be consistently biasing the slope estimate. The consequence of such bias is that it produces a systematic offset in the estimated temperature, and thus requiring calibration with other colocated measurements. The main reason for such a biasing effect is thought to be due to the failure of the classical regression model to take into account the measurement error in t or the observed height. This is further complicated by the presence of various geophysical effects in the data, which are not taken into account in the physical model. The effect of such biasing is discussed on both theoretical and experimental grounds. An alternative regression method that incorporates various error terms in the statistical model is used for line fitting. This model is used to construct an analytic solution for the bias-corrected slope coefficient for this data. With this solution, meteor radar temperatures can be obtained independently without using any external calibration procedure. When compared with colocated lidar measurements, the temperature estimated using this method is found to be accurate within 7% or better and without any systematic offset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive analysis of a moderate 600 nT substorm was performed using simultaneous optical observations inside the auroral oval and in the polar cap, combined with data from satellites, radars, and ground magnetometers. The onset took place near the poleward boundary of the auroral oval that is not typical for classical substorms. The substorm onset was preceded by two negative excursions of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz component, with a 1 min interval between them, two enhancements of the antisunward convection in the polar cap with the same time interval, and 15 min oscillations in the geomagnetic H component in the auroral zone. The distribution of the pulsation intensity along meridian has two local maxima, namely at the equatorial and poleward boundaries of the auroral oval, where pulsations occurred in the out-of-phase mode resembling the field line resonance. At the initial stage, the auroral breakup developed as the auroral torch stretched and expanded poleward along the meridian. Later it took the form of the large-scale coiling structure that also distinguishes the considered substorm from the classical one. Magnetic, radar, and the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) satellite data show that, before the collapse, the coiling structure was located between two field-aligned currents, namely downward at the poleward boundary of structure and upward at the equatorial boundary. The set of GEOTAIL satellites and ground data fit to the near-tail current disruption scenario of the substorm onset. We suggest that the 15 min oscillations might play a role in the substorm initiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inter-annual variability, climatological mean wind and tide fields in the northern polar mesosphere/lower thermosphere region of 82–98 km height are studied using observations by the meteor radar which has operated continuously during solar cycle 24 ( from December 2008 onward) at the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (67N, 26E). Summer mean zonal winds are characterized by westward flow, up to 25 m/s, at lower heights and eastward flow, up to 30 m/s, at upper heights. In the winter an eastward flow, up to 10 m/s, dominates at all heights. The meridional winds are characterized by a relatively weak poleward flow (few m/s) in the winter and equatorward flow in the summer, with a jet core (∼15 m/s) located slightly below 90 km. These systematically varying winds are dominated by the semidiurnal tides. The largest amplitudes, up to 30 m/s, are observed at higher altitudes in winter and a secondary maximum is seen in August–September. The diurnal tides are almost a factor of two weaker and peak in summer. The variability of individual years is dominated by the winter perturbations. During the period of observations major sudden stratospheric warmings (SSW) occurred in January 2009 and 2013. During these events the wind fields were strongly modified. The lowest altitude eastward winds maximized up to 25 m/s, that is by more twice that of the non-SSW years. The poleward flow considerably increases (up 10 m/s) and extends from the lower heights throughout the whole altitude range. The annual pattern in temperature at ∼90 km height over Sodankyla consists of warm winters (up to 200 K) and cold summers (∼120 K). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparison between standard ionospheric parameters manually and automatically scaled from ionograms recorded at the high-latitude Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO, ionosonde SO166, 64.1° geomagnetic latitude), located in the vicinity of the auroral oval. The study is based on 2610 ionograms recorded during the period June-December 2013. The automatic scaling was made by means of the Autoscala software. A few typical examples are shown to outline the method, and statistics are presented regarding the differences between manually and automatically scaled values of F2, F1, E and sporadic E (Es) layer parameters. We draw the conclusions that: 1. The F2 parameters scaled by Autoscala, foF2 and M(3000)F2, are reliable. 2. F1 is identified by Autoscala in significantly fewer cases (about 50 %) than in the manual routine, but if identified the values of foF1 are reliable. 3. Autoscala frequently (30% of the cases) detects an E layer when the manual scaling process does not. When identified by both methods, the Autoscala E-layer parameters are close to those manually scaled, foE agreeing to within 0.4 MHz. 4. Es and parameters of Es identified by Autoscala are in many cases different from those of the manual scaling. Scaling of Es at auroral latitudes is often a difficult task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geological and geochronological U–Pb (zircon ID-TIMS) and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar (amphibole) data were obtained for six anorogenic magmatic associations in the Gobi Altai, southwestern Mongolia, in order to reveal its relationships with Late Paleozoic tectonothermal events in the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). In the Gobi Altai massifs of alkaline granites and grabens filled with bimodal volcanic suites occur as a chain 450 km long east–southeast direction. The massifs and volcanic fields are controlled by contacts of pre-Ediacaran continental crustal blocks with Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian juvenile ophiolite and arc-type complexes of the Lake zone. Gobi Altai alkaline granites bear sodic-rich mafic silicate minerals and possess typical properties of ferroan A-type granites. Our geochronological data constrain emplacement time of the Gobi Altai alkaline granites and bimodal volcanic rocks at 293 ± 1–279 ± 1 Ma. This age interval coincides with timing of the emplacement of I-type granites (with a few S-type granites) and gabbroic intrusions in the Mongolian and Chinese Altai as well as with numerous massifs of A-type granites, layered mafic–ultramafic intrusions, and eruption of bimodal volcanic rocks between the southern edge of the Siberia craton and the northern margins of the Tarim and North China cratons. Hence, the Gobi Altai anorogenic magmatic complexes were produced by a large-scale Late Paleozoic magmatic event (or events) that encompassed a wide spectrum of terranes in CAOB. The most realistic models explaining these magmatic processes are: (i) the effect of the Tarim mantle plume, (ii) slab (or slabs) break-off after subduction blocking due to accretion of terranes of various types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparison between standard ionospheric parameters manually and automatically scaled from ionograms recorded at the high-latitude Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO, ionosonde SO166, 64.1◦ geomagnetic latitude), located in the vicinity of the auroral oval. The study is based on 2610 ionograms recorded during the period June–December 2013. The automatic scaling was made by means of the Autoscala software. A few typical examples are shown to outline the method, and statistics are presented regarding the differences between manually and automatically scaled values of F2, F1, E and sporadic E (Es) layer parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha′apai volcano eruption was a unique event that caused many atmospheric phenomena around the globe. In this study, we investigate the atmospheric gravity waves in the mesosphere/lower-thermosphere (MLT) launched by the volcanic explosion in the Pacific, leveraging multistatic meteor radar observations from the Chilean Observation Network De Meteor Radars (CONDOR) and the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster in Fennoscandia. MLT winds are computed using a recently developed 3DVAR+DIV algorithm. We found eastward- and westward-traveling gravity waves in the CONDOR zonal and meridional wind measurements, which arrived 12 and 48 h after the eruption, and we found one in the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster that arrived 27.5 h after the volcanic detonation. We obtained observed phase speeds for the eastward great circle path at both locations of about 250 m s -1 , and they were 170–150 m s -1 for the opposite propagation direction. The intrinsic phase speed was estimated to be 200–212 m s -1. Furthermore, we identified a potential lamb wave signature in the MLT winds using 5 min resolved 3DVAR+DIV retrievals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meteor radars have become widely used instruments to study atmospheric dynamics, particularly in the 70 to 110 km altitude region. These systems have been proven to provide reliable and continuous measurements of horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Recently, there have been many attempts to utilize specular and/or transverse scatter meteor measurements to estimate vertical winds and vertical wind variability. In this study we investigate potential biases in vertical wind estimation that are intrinsic to the meteor radar observation geometry and scattering mechanism, and we introduce a mathematical debiasing process to mitigate them. This process makes use of a spatiotemporal Laplace filter, which is based on a generalized Tikhonov regularization. Vertical winds obtained from this retrieval algorithm are compared to UA-ICON model data. This comparison reveals good agreement in the statistical moments of the vertical velocity distributions. Furthermore, we present the first observational indications of a forward scatter wind bias. It appears to be caused by the scattering center's apparent motion along the meteor trajectory when the meteoric plasma column is drifted by the wind. The hypothesis is tested by a radiant mapping of two meteor showers. Finally, we introduce a new retrieval algorithm providing a physically and mathematically sound solution to derive vertical winds and wind variability from multistatic meteor radar networks such as the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster (NORDIC) and the Chilean Observation Network De meteOr Radars (CONDOR). The new retrieval is called 3DVAR+DIV and includes additional diagnostics such as the horizontal divergence and relative vorticity to ensure a physically consistent solution for all 3D winds in spatially resolved domains. Based on this new algorithm we obtained vertical velocities in the range of w = ± 1–2 ms-1 for most of the analyzed data during 2 years of collection, which is consistent with the values reported from general circulation models (GCMs) for this timescale and spatial resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SKYiMET meteor radar is capable of measuring the height distribution of ionized meteor trails. Observations of the Sodankyla radar (67°N, 23°E) in 2008–2019 are analyzed. A method is applied, based on the median and quartiles of meteor heights, for distinguishing meteor showers from much more intense background sporadic meteors. Since the shower meteors are commonly less dense and enter the Earth's atmosphere at a larger velocity, they produce ionization up to 3 ​km higher than sporadic meteors. This effect manifests itself in the form of narrow peaks that are clearly visible in the median and quartiles of the meteor height. Seven established showers with zenith hourly rate (ZHR) ​> ​12 were identified. In addition, using both the height parameters and the radiant distribution, a signature of a former meteor stream evolving into sporadic meteors is found. This additional sporadic inflow has an antihelion source and occurs in the January. • Parameters of the vertical profile of daily meteor echoes from the Sodankyla (67N) SKYiMET meteor radar are calculated. • The shower meteoroids produce ionization trails at considerably higher altitudes than the sporadic background. • Simple and robust method for the recognition of the occurrence of shower meteors on the much more intense sporadic background is proposed. • The radiant distribution reveals a signature of a dispersed meteor stream evolving into sporadics. • This additional quasi-sporadic inflow occurring in the end of January, likely has a north toroidal source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meteor radars have become a widely used instrument to study atmospheric dynamics, in particular in the 70 to 110 km altitude region. These systems have been proven to provide reliable and continuous measurements of horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Recently, there have been many attempts to utilize specular/transverse scatter meteor measurements to estimate vertical 5 winds and vertical wind variability. In this study we investigate potential biases in vertical wind estimation that are intrinsic to the meteor radar observation geometry and scattering mechanism, and introduce a mathematical debiasing process to mitigate them. This process makes use of a spatio-temporal Laplace filter which is based on a generalized Tikhonov regularization. Vertical winds obtained from this retrieval algorithm are compared to UA-ICON model data. This comparison reveals a good agreement in the statistical moments of the vertical velocity distributions. Furthermore, we present the first observational indications of a forward scatter wind bias. It appears to be caused by the scattering center's apparent motion along the meteor trajectory when the meteoric plasma column is drifted by the wind. The hypothesis is tested by a radiant mapping of two meteor showers. Finally, we introduce a new retrieval algorithm providing a physically and mathematically sound solution to derive vertical winds and wind variability from multistatic meteor radar networks such as the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster and the Chilean Observation Network De meteOr Radars (CONDOR). The new retrieval is called 3DVAR+DIV and includes additional 15 diagnostic such as the horizontal divergence and relative vorticity to ensure a physically consistent solution for all 3D winds in spatially resolved domains. Based on this new algorithm we obtained vertical velocities in the range of w = ±1-2 m/s for most of the analyzed data during two years of collected data, which is consistent to the values reported from GCMs for this time scale and spatial resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind and temperature in the polar mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) region are observed by the Sodankyla meteor radar, which is located in the vicinity of the southern edge of the stratospheric polar vortex and also close to the equatorial boundary of the auroral oval in the ionosphere. At 90 km height, the seasonal pattern is formed by the cold summer (100 К) and warm winter (200 К). The mean zonal winds are characterized with summer westward flow of about 30 m/s at 80-90 km heights and the eastward flow above 90 km. In winter the flow is eastward at all heights. The meridional winds are dominated by winter poleward flow and summer equatorward flow, with a jet core of about 15 m/s located slightly below 90 km. The structure observed corresponds to the polar branch of the seasonal inter-hemispheric circulation. The systematically varying winds are mostly the semidiurnal tides up to 40 m/s. Under conditions of low solar activity, pronounced sudden mesospheric cooling linked to major stratospheric warming (SSW) is observed, while no SSW-related thermal signatures are detected in the mesosphere during the solar maximum years. The mesospheric temperature minimum occurs 1 day ahead of the SSW maximum, and the cooling is almost of the same magnitude as the corresponding warming (~50 K). The reversal of mesospheric wind is also observed.A rapid-run ionosonde continuously operates at the same site since 2007. Quasi periodic oscillations of the F-layer height with a period from several minutes to hours which are related to the travelling ionospheric disturbances caused by atmospheric gravity waves (AGW) are revealed. Long term variations of the AGW amplitudes depend on seaon, solar and geomagnetic activity. At the shorter time scales, wave penetration to the ionospheric heights is affected by the underlying atmosphere. While the mesospheric temperature reaches its minimum in the course of SSW, the amplitude of ionospheric AGW with periods of 10–60 min decay abruptly. The longer period waves are not affected. The effect is explained by selective filtering and increased atmospheric turbulence near the mesopause thermal inversion layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meteor phenomena cause ionized plasmas that can be roughly divided into two distinctly different regimes: a dense and transient plasma region co-moving with the ablating meteoroid and a trail of diffusing plasma left in the atmosphere and moving with the neutral wind. Interferometric radar systems are used to observe the meteor trails and determine their positions and drift velocities. Depending on the spatial configuration of the receiving antennas and their individual gain patterns, the voltage response can be the same for several different plane wave directions of arrival (DOAs), thereby making it impossible to determine the correct direction. A low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can create the same effect probabilistically even if the system contains no theoretical ambiguities. Such is the case for the standard meteor trail echo data products of the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory SKiYMET all-sky interferometric meteor radar. Meteor trails drift slowly enough in the atmosphere and allow for temporal integration, while meteor head echo targets move too fast. Temporal integration is a common method to increase the SNR of radar signals. For meteor head echoes, we instead propose to use direct Monte Carlo (DMC) simulations to validate DOA measurements. We have implemented two separate temporal integration methods and applied them to 2222 events measured by the Sodankylä meteor radar to simultaneously test the usefulness of such DMC simulations on cases where temporal integration is possible, validate the temporal integration methods, and resolve the ambiguous SKiYMET data products. The two methods are the temporal integration of the signal spatial correlations and matched-filter integration of the individual radar channel signals. The results are compared to Bayesian inference using the DMC simulations and the standard SkiYMET data products. In the examined data set, ∼ 13 % of the events were indicated as ambiguous. Out of these, ∼ 13 % contained anomalous signals. In ∼ 95 % of all ambiguous cases with a nominal signal, the three methods found one and the same output DOA, which was also listed as one of the ambiguous possibilities in the SkiYMET analysis. In all unambiguous cases, the results from all methods concurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meteor phenomena cause ionized plasmas that can be roughly divided into two distinctly different regimes: a dense and transient plasma region co-moving with the ablating meteoroid and a trail of diffusing plasma left in the atmosphere and moving with the neutral wind. Interferometric radar systems are used to observe the meteor trails and determine their positions and drift velocities. Depending on the spatial configuration of the receiving antennas and their individual gain patterns, the voltage response can be the same for several different plane wave Directions Of Arrival (DOA), thereby making it impossible to determine the correct direction. Noise can create the same effect even if the system contains no theoretical ambiguities. We propose a method for interferometric meteor trail radar data analysis using coherent integration of the signal spatial correlation to resolve DOA ambiguities. We have validated the method by a combination of Monte Carlo simulations and application on 10 minutes of measurement data (174 meteor events) obtained with the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory SKiYMET all-sky interferometric meteor radar. We also applied a Bayesian method to determine the true location of ambiguous events in the data set.In 26 out of 27 (~ 96 %) ambiguous cases, the coherently integrated spatial correlation gave the correct output DOA as determined by Bayesian inference. In the one case that was mis-classified there were not enough radar pulses to coherently integrate for the method to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very low frequency (VLF) auroral hiss at Kannuslehto (KAN), Finland, was analyzed with reference to the progress of 98 isolated magnetic substorms measured during the winter months of 2015–2018. Of these, 91 were accompanied by auroral hiss during the substorm growth phase. No auroral hiss was recorded during the expansion and recovery phases. We found that auroral hiss was observed under rising polar cap (PC) index, showing an increased solar wind energy input into the magnetosphere during the substorm growth phase. We also found that in 58 of the 65 events studied, KAN was located in the vicinity of enhanced field‐aligned currents (FACs) during auroral hiss occurrence. For the first time, it was established that auroral VLF hiss generation in the equatorial part of the auroral oval is a typical signature of a substorm growth phase. Plain Language Summary: Auroral hiss is a well‐known type of nighttime natural VLF emission with a noise‐like structure generated by the Cherenkov instability of precipitating soft electrons above the ionosphere. Auroral hiss occurrence up to 39 kHz was studied in the equatorward region of the auroral oval at the Finnish station Kannuslehto (KAN, MLAT = 64.2°N) during 11 winter months in 2015–2018. During this time interval, 98 isolated and rather powerful magnetic substorms were recorded over Scandinavia. In 93% of the substorms studied, an auroral VLF hiss was recorded at the same time as enhancement of field‐aligned currents (FACs). FACs are caused by soft electron precipitation which could be a plausible source of the auroral VLF hiss generation. For the first time, it was found that auroral VLF hiss occurrence in the equatorward region of the auroral oval is a typical signature of the substorm growth phase. Key Points: We analyze auroral hiss occurrence at ground‐based station Kannuslehto (KAN, MLAT = 64.2°N), Finland, during 98 isolated magnetic substormsThe growth phase of 93% of substorms was accompanied by auroral hiss at KANAuroral VLF hiss observed in the equatorial region of the auroral oval (KAN location) is a typical signature of the substorm growth phase [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric gravity waves and traveling ionospheric disturbances can be observed in the neutral atmosphere and the ionosphere at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Especially at medium scales, these oscillations are often not resolved in general circulation models and are parameterized. We show that ionospheric disturbances forced by upward-propagating atmospheric gravity waves can be simultaneously observed with the EISCAT very high frequency incoherent scatter radar and the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster. From combined multi-static measurements, both vertical and horizontal wave parameters can be determined by applying a specially developed Fourier filter analysis method. This method is demonstrated using the example of a strongly pronounced wave mode that occurred during the EISCAT experiment on 7 July 2020. Leveraging the developed technique, we show that the wave characteristics of traveling ionospheric disturbances are notably impacted by the fall transition of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. We also demonstrate the application of using the determined wave parameters to infer the thermospheric neutral wind velocities. Applying the dissipative anelastic gravity wave dispersion relation, we obtain vertical wind profiles in the lower thermosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South Khangai volcanic region (SKVR) comprises fields of Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic volcanic rocks scattered over southern and central Mongolia. Evolution of the region from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cenozoic includes 13 successive igneous episodes that are more or less evenly distributed in time. Major patterns in the distribution of different-aged volcanic complexes were controlled by a systematic temporal migration of volcanic centers over the region. The total length of their trajectory exceeds 1600 km. Principle characteristics of local magmatism are determined. The composition of igneous rocks varies from basanites to rhyolites (predominantly, high-K rocks), with geochemistry close to that of OIB. The rock composition, however, underwent transformations in the Mesozoic–Cenozoic. Rejuvenation of mafic rocks is accompanied by decrease in the contents of HREE and increase of Nb and Ta. According to isotope data, the SKVR magmatic melts were derived from three isotope sources that differed in the Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic compositions and successively alternated in time. In the Early Cretaceous, the predominant source composition was controlled by interaction of the EMII- and PREMA-type mantle materials. The PREMA-type mantle material dominated quantitatively in the Late Cretaceous and initial Early Cenozoic. From the latest Early Cenozoic to Late Cenozoic, the magma source also contained the EMI-type material along with the PREMA-type. The structural fabric, rock composition, major evolutionary pattern, and inner structure of SKVR generally comply with the criteria used to distinguish the mantle plume-related regions. Analogous features can be seen in other regions of recent volcanism in Central Asia (South Baikal, Udokan, Vitim, and Tok Stanovik). The structural autonomy of these regions suggests that distribution of the Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic volcanism in Central Asia was controlled by a group of relatively small hot finger-type mantle plumes associated with the common hot mantle field of Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, aurora observation networks using high-sensitivity cameras have been developed in the polar regions. These networks allow dimmer auroras, such as pulsating auroras (PsAs), to be observed with a high signal-to-noise ratio. We reconstructed the horizontal distribution of precipitating electrons using computed tomography with monochromatic PsA images obtained from three observation points. The three-dimensional distribution of the volume emission rate (VER) of the PsA was also reconstructed. The characteristic energy of the reconstructed precipitating electron flux ranged from 6 to 23 keV, and the peak altitude of the reconstructed VER ranged from 90 to 104 km. We evaluated the results using a model aurora and compared the model's electron density with the observed one. The electron density was reconstructed correctly to some extent, even after a decrease in PsA intensity. These results suggest that the horizontal distribution of precipitating electrons associated with PsAs can be effectively reconstructed from ground-based optical observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse gravity waves in the upper-mesosphere, lower-thermosphere region from high-resolution temperature variations measured by the Rayleigh lidar and OH temperature mapper. From this combination of instruments, aided by meteor radar wind data, the full set of ground-relative and intrinsic gravity wave parameters are derived by means of the novel WAPITI (Wavelet Analysis and Phase line IdenTIfication) method. This WAPITI tool decomposes the gravity wave field into its spectral component while preserving the temporal resolution, allowing us to identify and study the evolution of gravity wave packets in the varying backgrounds. We describe WAPITI and demonstrate its capabilities for the large-amplitude gravity wave event on 16–17 December 2015 observed at Sodankylä, Finland, during the GW-LCYCLE-II (Gravity Wave Life Cycle Experiment) field campaign. We present horizontal and vertical wavelengths, phase velocities, propagation directions and intrinsic periods including uncertainties. The results are discussed for three main spectral regions, representing small-, medium- and large-period gravity waves. We observe a complex superposition of gravity waves at different scales, partly generated by gravity wave breaking, evolving in accordance with a vertically and presumably also horizontally sheared wind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze gravity waves in the mesosphere, lower thermosphere region from high-resolution temperature variation measured by Rayleigh lidar and OH temperature mapper. From this combination of instruments, aided by meteor radar wind data, the full set of ground-relative and intrinsic gravity wave parameters are derived by means of the novel WAPITI method. This Wavelet Analysis and Phase line IdenTIfication tool decomposes the gravity wave field into its spectral components while preserving the temporal resolution, allowing us to identify and study the evolution of gravity wave packets in the varying background. We describe WAPITI and demonstrate its capabilities for the large-amplitude gravity wave event on 16/17 December 2015 observed at Sodankylä, Finland, during the GW-LCYCLE-II field campaign. We present horizontal and vertical wavelengths, phase velocities, propagation directions and intrinsic periods including uncertainties. The results are discussed for three main spectral regions, representing short, medium and long-period gravity waves. We observe a complex superposition of gravity waves at different scales, partly generated by gravity wave breaking, evolving in accordance with a vertically and presumably also horizontally sheared wind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Iodine requirements increase during pregnancy and previous studies have reported the inadequate iodine status of pregnant women in areas that have achieved iodine sufficiency in the general population. We examined the urinary iodine (UI) concentrations of pregnant women in Ukraine, where the iodine status is showing improvement among the general population. Methods: We enrolled 148 pregnant women <16 weeks pregnant and 80 healthy women as a control group living in Zhitomir, Ukraine. UI concentration, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), antithyroglobulin antibodies (TGAb), and antithyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) were measured. Results: The median UI concentrations were significantly lower in pregnant women than in control women [13.0 (ND-51.0) μg/L vs. 62.0 (35.3-108.5) μg/L, p<0.001]. TSH concentrations were significantly lower in pregnant women than in control women [1.7 (1.2-2.7) IU/L vs. 2.2 (1.4-3.1) IU/L, p=0.011], but this difference disappeared when adjusted for age (2.1±0.1 IU/L vs. 2.4±0.2 IU/L, p=0.097). The frequency of TSH over 6.2 IU/L and the frequency of positive TGAb and/or TPOAb were not statistically different between groups (p=0.70 and p=0.48, respectively). The UI concentrations of 142 pregnant women (95.9%) were <150 μg/L indicating insufficient iodine intake. Conclusions: The UI concentration of pregnant women in Ukraine revealed severe iodine deficiency. Regular monitoring and appropriate nutrition education are essential because iodine deficiency can be easily prevented by adequate iodine intake. The risk of iodine deprivation during pregnancy needs to be assessed locally over time because it may occur in areas that are not globally recognized as being iodine-deficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: After the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP), the incidence of thyroid cancer increased among children. Recently, a strong relationship between solid thyroid nodules and the incidence of thyroid cancer was shown in atomic bomb survivors. To assess the prognosis of benign thyroid nodules in individuals living in the Zhitomir region of Ukraine, around the CNPP, we conducted a follow-up investigation of screening data from 1991 to 2000 in the Ukraine. Patients and Methods: Participants of this study were 160 inhabitants with thyroid nodules (nodule group) and 160 inhabitants without thyroid nodules (normal control group) intially identified by ultrasonography from 1991 to 2000. All participants were aged 0 to 10 years old and lived in the same area at the time of the accident. We performed follow-up screening of participants and assessed thyroid nodules by fine needle aspiration biopsy. Results: Among the nodule group participants, the number and size of nodules were significantly increased at the follow-up screening compared with the initial screening. No thyroid nodules were observed among the normal control group participants. The prevalence of thyroid abnormality, especially nodules that could be cancerous (malignant or suspicious by fine needle aspiration biopsy), was 7.5% in the nodule group and 0% in the normal control group (P<0.001). Conclusions: Our study indicated that a thyroid nodule in childhood is a prognostic factor associated with an increase in the number and size of nodules in individuals living in the Zhitomir region of Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented which examines the prevalence of antithyroglobulin antibody (TGAb) and antithyroperoxidase antibody (TPOAb) and serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) concentration in young adults and children in Bryansk Oblast, Russian Federation in the 2011 issue.

Dielectric grating-based sensors are usually based on the guided mode resonance (GMR) obtained using a thin planar waveguide layer (PWL) adjacent to a thin subwavelength grating layer. In this work, we present a detailed investigation of thick subwavelength dielectric grating structures that exhibit reflection resonances above a certain thickness without the need for the waveguide layer, showing great potential for applications in biosensing and tunable filtering. Analytic and numerical results are thoroughly discussed, as well as an experimental demonstration of the structure as a chemical sensor in the SWIR (short wave infrared) spectral range (1200–1800 nm). In comparison to the GMR structure with PWL, the thick grating structure has several unique properties: (i) It gives higher sensitivity when the spaces are filled, with the analyte peaking at certain space values due to an increase in the interaction volume between the analyte and the evanescent optical field between the grating lines; (ii) the TM (transverse magnetic) resonance, in certain cases, provides a better figure of merit; (iii) the sensitivity increases as the grating height increases; (iv) the prediction of the resonance locations based on the effective medium approximation does not give satisfactory results when the grating height is larger than a certain value, and the invalidity becomes more severe as the period increases; (v) a sudden increase in the Q-factor of the resonance occurs at a specific height value accompanied by the high local field enhancement (~103) characteristic of a nano-antenna type pattern. Rigorous numerical simulations of the field distribution are presented to explain the different observed phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characterization of gravity waves is one of the crucial elements for understanding middle atmospheric dynamics. Although advanced models exist, linear wave theory is still an attractive option as the first step towards data interpretation due to its simplicity. In this paper, we will review some common literature, and attempt to bring clarity into the nomenclature of wave frequencies in different frames of reference. We specifically relate the speed of the obstacle that act as a source to the phase speed of the excited wave. Using linear wave theory under steady horizontally uniform background conditions, a framework is established to re-interpret the wave pattern that has been previously recorded by lidar in Dörnbrack et al. (2017). The event can be explained by a simple quasi-monochromatic wave influenced by the change in the shear of mean wind, instead of an interaction between wave packets as has previously been suggested. The results are then compared to realistic wind data to confirm that the mean wind condition has indeed changed dramatically and that the assumed source speed around 60 m/s is a sound estimate. Furthermore, the wave possibly has traveled towards south south east direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]