Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse
During solar eclipses, the Moon's shadow causes a large reduction in atmospheric energy input, including not only the stratosphere but also the thermosphere and ionosphere. The eclipse shadow has a supersonic motion which is theoretically expected to generate atmospheric bow waves, similar to a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114501 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1946-3166 |
| _version_ | 1811076948795850752 |
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| author | Vierinen, Juha Zhang, Shun-Rong Erickson, Philip J Goncharenko, Larisa Coster, Anthea J Rideout, William C |
| author2 | Haystack Observatory |
| author_facet | Haystack Observatory Vierinen, Juha Zhang, Shun-Rong Erickson, Philip J Goncharenko, Larisa Coster, Anthea J Rideout, William C |
| author_sort | Vierinen, Juha |
| collection | MIT |
| description | During solar eclipses, the Moon's shadow causes a large reduction in atmospheric energy input, including not only the stratosphere but also the thermosphere and ionosphere. The eclipse shadow has a supersonic motion which is theoretically expected to generate atmospheric bow waves, similar to a fast-moving river boat, with waves starting in the lower atmosphere and propagating into the ionosphere. However, previous geographically limited observations have had difficulty detecting these weak waves within the natural background atmospheric variability, and the existence of eclipse-induced ionospheric waves and their evolution in a complex coupling system remain controversial. During the 21 August 2017 eclipse, high fidelity and wide coverage ionospheric observations provided for the first time an oversampled set of eclipse data, using a dense network of Global Navigation Satellite System receivers at ∼2,000 sites in North America. We show the first unambiguous evidence of ionospheric bow waves as electron content disturbances over central/eastern United States, with ∼1 h duration, 300–400 km waveleng th and 280 m/s phase speed emanating from and tailing the totality region. We also identify large ionospheric perturbations moving at the supersonic speed of the maximum solar obscuration which are too fast to be associated with known gravity wave or large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance processes. This study reveals complex interconnections between the Sun, Moon, and Earth's neutral atmosphere and ionosphere and demonstrates persistent coupling processes between different components of the Earth's atmosphere, a topic of significant community interest. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:31:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/114501 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:31:42Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1145012022-09-27T09:55:58Z Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse Vierinen, Juha Zhang, Shun-Rong Erickson, Philip J Goncharenko, Larisa Coster, Anthea J Rideout, William C Haystack Observatory Zhang, Shun-Rong Erickson, Philip J Goncharenko, Larisa Coster, Anthea J Rideout, William C During solar eclipses, the Moon's shadow causes a large reduction in atmospheric energy input, including not only the stratosphere but also the thermosphere and ionosphere. The eclipse shadow has a supersonic motion which is theoretically expected to generate atmospheric bow waves, similar to a fast-moving river boat, with waves starting in the lower atmosphere and propagating into the ionosphere. However, previous geographically limited observations have had difficulty detecting these weak waves within the natural background atmospheric variability, and the existence of eclipse-induced ionospheric waves and their evolution in a complex coupling system remain controversial. During the 21 August 2017 eclipse, high fidelity and wide coverage ionospheric observations provided for the first time an oversampled set of eclipse data, using a dense network of Global Navigation Satellite System receivers at ∼2,000 sites in North America. We show the first unambiguous evidence of ionospheric bow waves as electron content disturbances over central/eastern United States, with ∼1 h duration, 300–400 km waveleng th and 280 m/s phase speed emanating from and tailing the totality region. We also identify large ionospheric perturbations moving at the supersonic speed of the maximum solar obscuration which are too fast to be associated with known gravity wave or large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance processes. This study reveals complex interconnections between the Sun, Moon, and Earth's neutral atmosphere and ionosphere and demonstrates persistent coupling processes between different components of the Earth's atmosphere, a topic of significant community interest. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NNX17AH71G) United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NNX15AB83G) United States. Office of Naval Research. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (Grant ONR15-FOA-0011) United States. Office of Naval Research. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (Grant ONR N00014-17-1-2186) 2018-04-03T14:47:17Z 2018-04-03T14:47:17Z 2017-12 2017-10 2018-02-02T19:46:06Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0094-8276 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114501 Zhang, Shun-Rong, et al. “Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse.” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 44, no. 24, Dec. 2017, pp. 12,067-12,073. © 2017 American Geophysical Union https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1946-3166 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076054 Geophysical Research Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Geophysical Union (AGU) Shun-Rong Zhang |
| spellingShingle | Vierinen, Juha Zhang, Shun-Rong Erickson, Philip J Goncharenko, Larisa Coster, Anthea J Rideout, William C Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse |
| title | Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse |
| title_full | Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse |
| title_fullStr | Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse |
| title_short | Ionospheric Bow Waves and Perturbations Induced by the 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse |
| title_sort | ionospheric bow waves and perturbations induced by the 21 august 2017 solar eclipse |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114501 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1946-3166 |
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