Evidence for the In‐Situ Generation of Plasma Depletion Structures Over the Transition Region of Geomagnetic Low‐Mid Latitude

On a geomagnetic quiet night of October 29, 2018, we captured an observational evidence of the onset of dark band structures within the field-of-view of an all-sky airglow imager operating at 630.0 nm over a geomagnetic low-mid latitude transition region, Hanle, Leh Ladakh. Simultaneous ionosonde observations over New Delhi shows the occurrence of spread-F in the ionograms. Additionally, virtual and peak height indicate vertical upliftment in the F layer altitude and reduction in the ionospheric peak frequency were also observed when the dark band pass through the ionosonde location. All these results confirmed that the observed depletions are indeed associated with ionospheric F region plasma irregularities. The rate of total electron content index (ROTI) indicates the absence of plasma bubble activities over the equatorial/low latitude region which confirms that the observed event is a mid-latitude plasma depletion. Our calculations reveal that the growth time of the plasma depletion is ∼2 h if one considers only the Perkins instability mechanism. This is not consistent with the present observations as the plasma depletion developed within ∼25 min. By invoking possible Es layer instabilities and associated E-F region coupling, we show that the growth rate increases roughly by an order of magnitude. This strongly suggests that the Cosgrove and Tsunoda mechanism may be simultaneously operational in this case. Furthermore, it is also suggested that reduced F region flux-tube integrated conductivity in the southern part of onset region created conducive background conditions for the growth of the plasma depletion on this night

A statistical analysis of occurrence characteristics of Spread-F irregularities over Indian region

We investigate the regularities of a change in Spread-F F probability during day-to-day, under varying solar variability, latitudinal behavior and their response to geomagnetic storm in equatorial and low-mid latitude stations. The occurrence characteristics of Spread-F irregularities, is obtained from daily hourly ionosonde data from a low-mid latitude station, Delhi (28.6 degrees N, 77.2 degrees E), for more than half a solar cycle (2001 to 2007). The latitudinal behavior of Spread-F is studied using ionosonde data from anomaly crest station, Ahmedabad (23.01 degrees N, 72.36 degrees E) and equatorial station, Kodaikanal (10.2 degrees N, 77.5 degrees E) for low, moderate and high solar activity periods. The maximum percentage occurrences of Spread-F were observed during the low solar activity year 2007, we believe, the low plasma and neutral density during 23/24 solar cycle minimum could be an important factor leading to the generation and propagation of TIDs and gravity waves. An anti-solar activity correlation to Spread-F occurrence is reported during all the seasons at different stations which are because of instability generated by the trans-equatorial meridional winds. There is a substantial variation during pre and post midnight hours in F region height from equatorial to low latitudes in response to magnetic disturbances. Concurrence was observed in the occurrence time of Spread-F to different storm events during different storm phases. The established irregularities and their behavior in Indian region are qualitatively interpreted and discussed