HR: 08:45h
AN: SA31B-04    [Abstracts]
TI: A climatology of the nighttime ionosphere acquired by the TIMED/GUVI instrument and the changes associated with storm time
AU: * Demajistre, R
EM: robert.demajistre@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory , 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723
AU: Kil, H
EM: hyosub.kil@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory , 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723
AU: Paxton, L J
EM: larry.paxton@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory , 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723
AB: We present here a global climatology of the quiet time F region derived from measurements of the TIMED/GUVI instrument. The climatology has been assembled from a large number of electron density profiles inferred from limb measurements of 135.6 nm radiance. Our technique yields maps every 60 days of electron density spanning the entire night side between 45 degrees latitude at all longitudes. This allows us to study seasonal variations of the quiet time ionosphere; in particular, we have constructed maps for the periods within thirty days of the equinoxes and solstices. Signatures of the quiet time winds and electric fields are apparent in the maps, along with a very clear longitudinal dependence due to the variation in the geographic position of the magnetic equator. Along with the maps, we present comparisons with other measurements and climatologies, including IRI, the global ionosonde network and Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements. We show that these climatologies are useful points of departure for studies of the response of the low-latitude ionosphere to geomagnetic storms.
DE: 2403 Active experiments
DE: 2415 Equatorial ionosphere
DE: 2443 Midlatitude ionosphere
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting