Eastward traverse of equatorial plasma plumes observed with the Equatorial Atmosphere Radar in Indonesia

S. Fukao (1) , T. Yokoyama (1) , T. Tayama (1) , M. Yamamoto (1) , T. Maruyama (2) , S. Saito (2)

1 RISH - Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere
2 NICT - National Institute of Information and Communications Technology [Tokyo]

The zonal structure of radar backscatter plumes associated with Equatorial Spread F (ESF), probably modulated by atmospheric gravity waves, has been investigated with the Equatorial Atmosphere Radar (EAR) in West Sumatra, Indonesia (0.20° S, 100.32° E; dip latitude 10.1° S) and the FM-CW ionospheric sounders on the same magnetic meridian as the EAR. The occurrence locations and zonal distances of the ESF plumes were determined with multi-beam observations with the EAR. The ESF plumes drifted eastward while keeping distances of several hundred to a thousand kilometers. Comparing the occurrence of the plumes and the F-layer uplift measured by the FM-CW sounders, plumes were initiated within the scanned area around sunset only, when the F-layer altitude rapidly increased. Therefore, the PreReversal Enhancement (PRE) is considered as having a zonal variation with the scales mentioned above, and this variation causes day-to-day variability, which has been studied for a long time. Modulation of the underlying E-region conductivity by gravity waves, which causes inhomogeneous sporadic-E layers, for example, is a likely mechanism to determine the scale of the PRE.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

S. Fukao, T. Yokoyama, T. Tayama, M. Yamamoto, T. Maruyama, et al.. Eastward traverse of equatorial plasma plumes observed with the Equatorial Atmosphere Radar in Indonesia. Annales Geophysicae, 2006, 24 (5), pp.1411-1418. ⟨hal-00318069⟩