HR: 11:15h
AN: SA52A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: The climatology of the quiet nighttime low-latitude ionosphere
AU: * Talaat, E R
EM: elsayed.talaat@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Yee, J
EM: sam.yee@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: DeMajistre, R
EM: Robert.DeMajistre@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Paxton, L
EM: larry.paxton@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Kil, H
EM: hyosub.kil@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Zhang, Y
EM: yongliang.zhang@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Sotirelis, T
EM: thomas.sotirelis@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Christensen, A
EM: andrew.b.christensen@aero.org
AF: Aerospace Corporation, 17710 Oak Street, Fountain Valley, CA 92700 United States
AU: Palo, S
EM: palo@colorado.edu
AF: University of Colorado Aerospace Engineering Department, 429 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Azeem, I
EM: azeem71d@erau.edu
AF: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Physical Science Department, 600 S. Clyde Morris Boulevard, Daytona Beach, FL 32119 United States
AU: Hairston, M
EM: hairston@utdallas.edu
AF: University of Texas at Dallas Center for Space Sciences, MS/FO22 Box 830688, Richardson, TX 75083 United States
AU: Smith, D
EM: Daniel.Smith@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Bilitza, D
EM: bilitza@gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 632, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AB: Long term measurement datasets have recently become available from several satellite missions. The TOPEX satellite obtains the total electron content (TEC) from ~1200 km orbit and the DMSP satellites measure the in-situ ion densities at ~800 km, while the GUVI instrument onboard the TIMED satellite retrieves the electron density profile below ~550 km altitude. TOPEX and TIMED are slowly precessing satellites that are able to obtain complete local time observations approximately every two months. The DMSP satellites are sun-synchronous and sample the ionosphere at least 4 discrete local times. This rich dataset allows us to examine a climatological picture of the nighttime low-latitude ionosphere. In this paper we describe the structure of the nighttime ionosphere as observed by three different sets of measurements, including the latitudinal separation of the equatorial arcs, the asymmetry of the peak densities as a function of longitude and local time. We also will compare these results with those from the IRI model. The observed climatology is essential for understanding low-latitude electrodynamics.
DE: 2415 Equatorial ionosphere
DE: 2437 Ionospheric dynamics
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly