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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.

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.

Earth's lower ionosphere is the region where terrestrial weather and space weather come together. Here, between 60 and 100 km altitude, solar radiation governs the diurnal cycle of the ionized species. This altitude range is also the place where nanometre-sized dust particles, recondensed from ablated meteoric material, exist and interact with free electrons and ions of the ionosphere. This study reports electron density measurements from the Arecibo incoherent-scatter radar being performed during sunset and sunrise conditions. An asymmetry of the electron density is observed, with higher electron density during sunset than during sunrise. This asymmetry extends from solar zenith angles (SZAs) of 80 to 100∘. This D-region asymmetry can be observed between 95 and 75 km altitude. The electron density observations are compared to the one-dimensional Sodankylä Ion and Neutral Chemistry (SIC) model and a variant of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model incorporating a subset SIC's ion chemistry (WACCM-D). Both models also show a D-region sunrise–sunset asymmetry. However, WACCM-D compares slightly better to the observations than SIC, especially during sunset, when the electron density gradually fades away. An investigation of the electron density continuity equation reveals a higher electron–ion recombination rate than the fading ionization rate during sunset. The recombination reactions are not fast enough to closely match the fading ionization rate during sunset, resulting in excess electron density. At lower altitudes electron attachment to neutrals and their detachment from negative ions play a significant role in the asymmetry as well. A comparison of a specific SIC version incorporating meteoric smoke particles (MSPs) to the observations revealed no sudden changes in electron density as predicted by the model. However, the expected electron density jump (drop) during sunrise (sunset) occurs at 100∘ SZA when the radar signal is close to the noise floor, making a clear falsification of MSPs' influence on the D region impossible.

Recent simulation studies have provided evidence that a pulsating aurora (PsA) associated with high-energy electron precipitation is having a clear local impact on ozone chemistry in the polar middle mesosphere. However, it is not clear if the PsA is frequent enough to cause longer-term effects of measurable magnitude. There is also an open question of the relative contribution of PsA-related energetic electron precipitation (PsA EEP) to the total atmospheric forcing by solar energetic particle precipitation (EPP). Here we investigate the PsA-EEP impact on stratospheric and mesospheric odd hydrogen, odd nitrogen, and ozone concentrations. We make use of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model and recent understanding on PsA frequency, latitudinal and magnetic local time extent, and energy-flux spectra. Analysing an 18-month time period covering all seasons, we particularly look at PsA-EEP impacts at two polar observation stations located at opposite hemispheres: Tromsø in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and Halley Research Station in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). We find that PsA EEP can have a measurable impact on ozone concentration above 30 km altitude, with ozone depletion by up to 8 % seen in winter periods due to PsA-EEP-driven NOx enhancement. We also find that direct mesospheric NOx production by high-energy electrons (E> 100 keV) accounts for about half of the PsA-EEP-driven upper stratospheric ozone depletion. A larger PsA-EEP impact is seen in the SH where the background dynamical variability is weaker than in the NH. Clearly indicated from our results, consideration of polar vortex dynamics is required to understand PsA-EEP impacts seen at ground observation stations, especially in the NH. We conclude that PsA-EEP has the potential to make an important contribution to the total EPP forcing; thus, it should be considered in atmospheric and climate simulations.

Understanding the atmospheric forcing from energetic particle precipitation (EPP) is important for climate simulations on decadal time scales. However, presently there are large uncertainties in energy flux measurements of electron precipitation. One approach to narrowing these uncertainties is by analyses of EPP direct atmospheric impacts and their relation to measured EPP fluxes. Here we use observations from the microwave limb sounder (MLS) and Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) simulations, together with EPP fluxes from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) to determine the OH and HO2 response thresholds to solar proton events (SPEs) and radiation belt electron (RBE) precipitation. Because of their better signal-to-noise ratio and extended altitude range, we utilize MLS HO2 data from an improved offline processing instead of the standard operational product. We consider a range of altitudes in the middle atmosphere and all magnetic latitudes from pole to pole. We find that the nighttime flux limits for day-to-day EPP impact detection using OH and HO2 are 50–130 protonscm-2s-1sr-1 (E>10 MeV) and 1.0–2.5×104 electronscm-2s-1sr-1 (E = 100–300 keV). Based on the WACCM simulations, nighttime OH and HO2 are good EPP indicators in the polar regions and provide best coverage in altitude and latitude. Due to larger background concentrations, daytime detection requires larger EPP fluxes and is possible in the mesosphere only. SPE detection is easier than RBE detection because a wider range of polar latitudes is affected, i.e., the SPE impact is rather uniform poleward of 60∘, while the RBE impact is focused at 60∘. Altitude-wise, the SPE and RBE detection are possible at ≈ 35–80 and ≈ 65–75 km, respectively. We also find that the MLS OH observations indicate a clear nighttime response to SPE and RBE in the mesosphere, similar to the simulations. However, the MLS OH data are too noisy for response detection in the stratosphere below 50 km, and the HO2 measurements are overall too noisy for confident EPP detection on a day-to-day basis.

We study here energetic-electron (E>30 keV) precipitation using cosmic noise absorption (CNA) during the sheath and ejecta structures of 61 interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) observed in the near-Earth solar wind between 1997 and 2012. The data come from the Finnish riometer (relative ionospheric opacity meter) chain from stations extending from auroral (IVA, 65.2∘ N geomagnetic latitude; MLAT) to subauroral (JYV, 59.0∘ N MLAT) latitudes. We find that sheaths and ejecta lead frequently to enhanced CNA (>0.5 dB) both at auroral and subauroral latitudes, although the CNA magnitudes stay relatively low (medians around 1 dB). Due to their longer duration, ejecta typically lead to more sustained enhanced CNA periods (on average 6–7 h), but the sheaths and ejecta were found to be equally effective in inducing enhanced CNA when relative-occurrence frequency and CNA magnitude were considered. Only at the lowest-MLAT station, JYV, ejecta were more effective in causing enhanced CNA. Some clear trends of magnetic local time (MLT) and differences between the ejecta and sheaths were found. The occurrence frequency and magnitude of CNA activity was lowest close to midnight, while it peaked for the sheaths in the morning and afternoon/evening sectors and for the ejecta in the morning and noon sectors. These differences may reflect differences in typical MLT distributions of wave modes that precipitate substorm-injected and trapped radiation belt electrons during the sheaths and ejecta. Our study also emphasizes the importance of substorms and magnetospheric ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves for enhanced CNA.

The charging by secondary electron emission (SEE) from particles is known as a significant charging process in astrophysical plasmas. This work aims at evaluating the significance of SEE for charging of meteoric smoke particles (MSPs) in the Earth's polar atmosphere. Here, the atmosphere is subject to a bombardment of energetic electrons from the magnetosphere (and partly the sun). We employ the SEE formalism to MSPs in the upper mesosphere using electron precipitation fluxes for three different precipitation strengths. In addition, we address the possible effect of tertiary electron emission (TEE) from MSPs induced by atmospheric secondary electrons for one precipitation case. The SEE and TEE rates from MSPs of different sizes are compared to plasma attachment and photodetachment and photoionization rates of MSPs. The needed concentration of electrons and ions have been modeled with the Sodankylä Ion and Neutral Chemistry (SIC) model with included electron precipitation spectra as an additional ionization source. We find that secondary electron emission from MSPs is not a relevant charging mechanism for MSPs. The electron attachment to MSPs and photodetachment of negatively charged MSPs are the most important processes also during energetic electron precipitation.

Understanding the altitude distribution of particle precipitation forcing is vital for the assessment of its atmospheric and climate impacts. However, the proportion of electron and proton forcing around the mesopause region during solar proton events is not always clear due to uncertainties in satellite-based flux observations. Here we use electron concentration observations of the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) incoherent scatter radars located at Tromsø (69.58° N, 19.23° E) to investigate the contribution of proton and electron precipitation to the changes taking place during two solar proton events. The EISCAT measurements are compared to the results from the Sodankylä Ion and Neutral Chemistry Model (SIC). The proton ionization rates are calculated by two different methods – a simple energy deposition calculation and the Atmospheric Ionization Model Osnabrück (AIMOS v1.2), the latter providing also the electron ionization rates. Our results show that in general the combination of AIMOS and SIC is able to reproduce the observed electron concentration within ± 50% when both electron and proton forcing is included. Electron contribution is dominant above 90 km, and can contribute significantly also in the upper mesosphere especially during low or moderate proton forcing. In the case of strong proton forcing, the AIMOS electron ionization rates seem to suffer from proton contamination of satellite-based flux data. This leads to overestimation of modelled electron concentrations by up to 90% between 75–90 km and up to 100–150% at 70–75 km. Above 90 km, the model bias varies significantly between the events. Although we cannot completely rule out EISCAT data issues, the difference is most likely a result of the spatio-temporal fine structure of electron precipitation during individual events that cannot be fully captured by sparse in situ flux (point) measurements, nor by the statistical AIMOS model which is based upon these observations.

This work investigates the influence of meteoric smoke particles (MSP) on the charge balance in the D-region ionosphere. Both experimental in situ measurements and a one-dimensional ionospheric model reveal a clear impact of MSP on the ionospheric composition of the D-region. The study reviews rocket-borne in situ measurements of electron and positive ion density, which show a distinct deficit of electrons in comparison to positive ions between 80 and 95 km. This deficit can be explained by the ambient negatively charged MSP measured simultaneously with a Faraday cup. The influence of MSP on the D-region charge balance is addressed with a simplified ionospheric model with only six components, i.e. electrons, positive and negative ions and neutral and charged MSP (both signs). The scheme includes reactions of plasma captured by MSP and MSP photo reactions as well as the standard ionospheric processes, e.g. ion-ion recombination. The model shows that the capture of plasma constituents by MSP is an important process leading to scavenging of electrons. Since Faraday cup measurements are biased towards heavy MSP because of aerodynamical filtering, we have applied an estimate of this filter on the modelled MSP densities. By doing that, we find good qualitative agreement between the experimental data and our model results. In addition, the model study reveals an increase of positive ions in the presence of MSP. That is primarily caused by the reduced dissociative recombination with electrons which have been removed from the gas phase by the MSP.

We report Geminid meteor head echo observations with the high-power large-aperture (HPLA) Shigaraki middle and upper atmosphere (MU) radar in Japan (34.85° N, 136.10° E). The MU radar observation campaign was conducted from 13 December 2010, 08:00 UTC to 15 December, 20:00 UTC and resulted in 48 h of radar data. A total of ~ 270 Geminids were observed among ~ 8800 meteor head echoes with precisely determined orbits. The Geminid head echo activity is consistent with an earlier peak than the visual Geminid activity determined by the International Meteor Organization (IMO). The observed flux of Geminids is a factor of ~ 3 lower than the previously reported flux of the 2009 Orionids measured with an identical MU~radar setup. We use the observed flux ratio to discuss the relation between the head echo mass–velocity selection effect, the mass distribution indices of meteor showers and the mass threshold of the MU radar.

We have developed an automated analysis scheme for meteor head echo observations by the 46.5 MHz Middle and Upper atmosphere (MU) radar near Shigaraki, Japan (34.85° N, 136.10° E). The analysis procedure computes meteoroid range, velocity and deceleration as functions of time with unprecedented accuracy and precision. This is crucial for estimations of meteoroid mass and orbital parameters as well as investigations of the meteoroid-atmosphere interaction processes. In this paper we present this analysis procedure in detail. The algorithms use a combination of single-pulse-Doppler, time-of-flight and pulse-to-pulse phase correlation measurements to determine the radial velocity to within a few tens of metres per second with 3.12 ms time resolution. Equivalently, the precision improvement is at least a factor of 20 compared to previous single-pulse measurements. Such a precision reveals that the deceleration increases significantly during the intense part of a meteoroid's ablation process in the atmosphere. From each received pulse, the target range is determined to within a few tens of meters, or the order of a few hundredths of the 900 m long range gates. This is achieved by transmitting a 13-bit Barker code oversampled by a factor of two at reception and using a novel range interpolation technique. The meteoroid velocity vector is determined from the estimated radial velocity by carefully taking the location of the meteor target and the angle from its trajectory to the radar beam into account. The latter is determined from target range and bore axis offset. We have identified and solved the signal processing issue giving rise to the peculiar signature in signal to noise ratio plots reported by Galindo et al. (2011), and show how to use the range interpolation technique to differentiate the effect of signal processing from physical processes.

Two case studies of upper mesospheric and lower thermospheric (UMLT) high-latitude effects of solar X-ray flares are presented. Sodankylä Ion-neutral Chemistry Model (SIC) electron density profiles agree with D-region EISCAT and riometer observations, provided that the profiles of the most variable ionisable component, nitric oxide, are adjusted to compensate for NOx production during preceding geomagnetically active periods. For the M6-class flare of 27 April 2006, following a quiet period, the agreement with cosmic noise absorption observed by the Sodankylä riometers was within reasonable limits without adjustment of the [NO] profile. For the major (X17-class) event of 28 October 2003, following high auroral activity and solar proton events, the NO concentration had to be increased up to on the order of 108 cm−3 at the D-region minimum. Thus [NO] can in principle be measured by combining SIC with observations, if the solar spectral irradiance and particle precipitation are adequately known. As the two case events were short and modelled for high latitudes, the resulting neutral chemical changes are insignificant. However, changes in the model ion chemistry occur, including enhancements of water cluster ions.

A new incoherent scatter (IS) diagnostic technique for the actively heated D-region ionosphere is presented. In this approach, an exponential autocorrelation function (ACF) was fitted to the data by using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) inversion and the Sodankylä Ion Chemistry model (SIC). The method was applied for a set of combined EISCAT heating and VHF radar experiments carried out in November 2006. A newly designed radar experiment, sippi, based on optimised phase codes and direct sampling of the transmitted and the received IS signal, was used to produce ACF estimates of the target plasma. Systematic features associated with the heating were found by comparing the mean ACFs corresponding to heated and unheated periods. However, the data analysis revealed reasonable electron temperature estimates at the altitudes of the expected maximum effect (70–75 km) only in three cases out of six, corresponding to the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. In two of these cases, the electron temperature was increased by a factor of 5 to 7, which is in a good agreement with the theoretical heating modelling. In the case of the first presented data example, the model overestimates the effect. These are the first successful IS observations of the HF-induced maximum electron temperature enhancements in the D-region ionosphere.

The EISCAT UHF system has the unique capability to determine meteor vector velocities from the head echo Doppler shifts measured at the three sites. Since even meteors spending a very short time in the common volume produce analysable events, the technique lends itself ideally to mapping the orbits of meteors arriving from arbitrary directions over most of the upper hemisphere. A radar mode optimised for this application was developed in 2001/2002. A specially selected low-sidelobe 32-bit pseudo-random binary sequence is used to binary phase shift key (BPSK) the transmitted carrier. The baud-length is 2.4 μs and the receiver bandwidth is 1.6 MHz to accommodate both the resulting modulation bandwidth and the target Doppler shift. Sampling is at 0.6 μs, corresponding to 90-m range resolution. Target range and Doppler velocity are extracted from the raw data in a multi-step matched-filter procedure. For strong (SNR>5) events the Doppler velocity standard deviation is 100–150 m/s. The effective range resolution is about 30 m, allowing very accurate time-of-flight velocity estimates. On average, Doppler and time-of-flight (TOF) velocities agree to within about one part in 103. Two or more targets simultaneously present in the beam can be resolved down to a range separation

In this work we give a review of the meteor head echo observations carried out with the tristatic 930 MHz EISCAT UHF radar system during four 24 h runs between 2002 and 2005 and compare these with earlier observations. A total number of 410 tristatic meteors were observed. We describe a method to determine the position of a compact radar target in the common volume monitored by the three receivers and demonstrate its applicability for meteor studies. The inferred positions of the meteor targets have been utilized to estimate their velocities, decelerations and directions of arrival as well as their radar cross sections with unprecedented accuracy. The velocity distribution of the meteoroids is bimodal with peaks at 35–40 km/s and 55–60 km/s, and ranges from 19–70 km/s. The estimated masses are between 10−9–10−5.5 kg. There are very few detections below 30 km/s. The observations are clearly biased to high-velocity meteoroids, but not so biased against slow meteoroids as has been presumed from previous tristatic measurements. Finally, we discuss how the radial deceleration observed with a monostatic radar depends on the meteoroid velocity and the angle between the trajectory and the beam. The finite beamwidth leads to underestimated meteoroid masses if radial velocity and deceleration of meteoroids approaching the radar are used as estimates of the true quantities in a momentum equation of motion.

In this paper we study the effect of artificial HF heating on cosmic radio noise absorption in the D-region ionosphere. The effect has earlier been studied theoretically in idealised cases and without experimental verification. Here we present a 3-dimensional modelling of the effect, taking into account the directivity patterns of the vertical beam of the EISCAT Heater at Tromsø, Norway, and the intersecting beam of the IRIS imaging riometer at Kilpisjärvi, Finland. The heater-induced enhancement of cosmic radio noise absorption at the IRIS frequency (38.2 MHz) is estimated to be between 0.02 dB and 0.05 dB in the most representative model cases. However, a statistical study of IRIS data from a selected set of heating experiments carried out during the years 1994–2004 shows that the median effect is between 0.002 dB and 0.004 dB, i.e. an order of magnitude less than theoretically predicted. This indicates that the actual HF heating effect at D-region altitudes is substantially overestimated by the present theory.

The upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere, or ionospheric D region, is an atmospheric layer which is difficult to access experimentally. A useful method that also has a large potential for further studies is artificial heating of electrons by means of powerful radio transmitters. Here we estimate the effect of D-region heating for a few typical cases of high electron density – daylight, typical auroral electron precipitation, and a solar proton event – by coupling a model of RF electron heating to the Sodankylä Ion Chemistry (SIC) model. The predicted effects are among others an increase in the ratio of the concentration of negative ions to that of free electrons, and an increase in the absorption of cosmic noise as measured by riometers. For the model runs presented in this paper we have calculated the absorption for the frequency (38.2MHz) of the IRIS imaging riometer in Kilpisjärvi, Finland, as observing the ionosphere above the EISCAT Heater in Tromsø, Norway. The predicted enhancements of the absorption are 0.2–0.8dB, an effect which is clearly detectable. Keywords. Ionosphere (Active experiments; Ion chemistry and composition; Wave propagation)

The ionospheric electron gas can be heated artificially by a powerful radio wave. According to our modeling, the maximum effect of this heating occurs in the D-region where the electron temperature can increase by a factor of ten. Ionospheric plasma parameters such as Ne, Te and Ti are measured by EISCAT incoherent scatter radar on a routine basis. However, in the D-region the incoherent scatter echo is very weak because of the low electron density. Moreover, the incoherent scatter spectrum from the D-region is of Lorentzian shape which gives less information than the spectrum from the E- and F-regions. These make EISCAT measurements in the D-region difficult. A combined EISCAT VHF-radar and heating experiment was carried out in November 1998 with the aim to measure the electron temperature increase due to heating. In the experiment the heater was switched on/off at 5 minute intervals and the integration time of the radar was chosen synchronously with the heating cycle. A systematic difference in the measured autocorrelation functions was found between heated and unheated periods.Key words: Ionosphere (active experiments; plasma temperature and density; wave propagation)