TY - JOUR A1 - Siddiqui, Tarique Adnan A1 - Yamazaki, Yosuke A1 - Stolle, Claudia A1 - Lühr, Hermann A1 - Matzka, Jürgen A1 - Maute, Astrid A1 - Pedatella, Nicholas T1 - Dependence of Lunar Tide of the Equatorial Electrojet on the Wintertime Polar Vortex, Solar Flux, and QBO JF - Geophysical research letters N2 - The lower atmospheric forcing effects on the ionosphere are particularly evident during extreme meteorological events known as sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs). During SSWs, the polar stratosphere and ionosphere, two distant atmospheric regions, are coupled through the SSW-induced modulation of atmospheric migrating and nonmigrating tides. The changes in the migrating semidiurnal solar and lunar tides are the major source of ionospheric variabilities during SSWs. In this study, we use 55 years of ground-magnetometer observations to investigate the composite characteristics of the lunar tide of the equatorial electrojet (EEJ) during SSWs. These long-term observations allow us to capture the EEJ lunar tidal response to the SSWs in a statistical sense. Further, we examine the influence of solar flux conditions and the phases of quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) on the lunar tide and find that the QBO phases and solar flux conditions modulate the EEJ lunar tidal response during SSWs in a similar way as they modulate the wintertime Arctic polar vortex. This work provides first evidence of modulation of the EEJ lunar tide due to QBO. Plain Language Summary This study focuses on the vertical coupling between the polar stratosphere and equatorial ionosphere during sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs). Extreme meteorological events such as SSWs induce variabilities in the ionosphere by modulating the atmospheric migrating and nonmigrating tides, and these variabilities can be comparable to a moderate geomagnetic storm. Observations and modeling studies have found that the changes in the migrating semidiurnal solar and lunar tides are a major source of ionospheric variabilities during SSWs. The equatorial electrojet (EEJ) is a narrow ribbon of current flowing over the dip equator in the ionosphere and is particularly sensitive to tidal changes. Long-term ground-magnetometer recordings have been used in this study to estimate the variations induced in EEJ during SSWs due to the lunar semidiurnal tide in a statistical sense. The wintertime Arctic polar vortex and the occurrence of SSWs are modulated by solar flux conditions and the phases of quasi-biennial oscillation. In this work, we find the first evidence of lunar tidal modulation of EEJ due to quasi-biennial oscillation during SSWs. Our findings will be useful in providing improved predictions of ionospheric variations due to SSWs. The aeronomy community will be the most impacted by this paper. KW - lunar tide KW - equatorial electrojet KW - vertical coupling KW - SSW KW - QBO KW - planetary waves Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077510 SN - 0094-8276 SN - 1944-8007 VL - 45 IS - 9 SP - 3801 EP - 3810 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Soares, Gabriel A1 - Yamazaki, Yosuke A1 - Matzka, Jürgen A1 - Pinheiro, Katia A1 - Morschhauser, Achim A1 - Stolle, Claudia A1 - Alken, Patrick T1 - Equatorial counter electrojet longitudinal and seasonal variablity in the American sector JF - Journal of geophysical research : Space physics N2 - The equatorial electrojet occasionally reverses during morning and afternoon hours, leading to periods of westward current in the ionospheric E region that are known as counter electrojet (CEJ) events. We present the first analysis of CEJ climatology and CEJ dependence on solar flux and lunar phase for the Brazilian sector, based on an extensive ground-based data set for the years 2008 to 2017 from the geomagnetic observatory Tatuoca (1.2 degrees S, 48.5 degrees W), and we compare it to the results found for Huancayo (12.0 degrees S, 75.3 degrees W) observatory in the Peruvian sector. We found a predominance of morning CEJ events for both sectors. The afternoon CEJ occurrence rate in the Brazilian sector is twice as high as in the Peruvian sector. The afternoon CEJ occurrence rate strongly depends on season, with maximum rates occurring during the northern-hemisphere summer for the Brazilian sector and during the northern-hemisphere winter for the Peruvian sector. Significant discrepancies between the two sectors are also found for morning CEJ rates during the northern-hemisphere summer. These longitudinal differences are in agreement with a CEJ climatology derived from contemporary Swarm satellite data and can be attributed in part to the well-known longitudinal wave-4 structure in the background equatorial electrojet strength that results from nonmigrating solar tides and stationary planetary waves. Simulations with the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model show that the remaining longitudinal variability in CEJ during northern summer can be explained by the effect of migrating tides in the presence of the varying geomagnetic field in the South Atlantic Anomaly. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA025968 SN - 2169-9380 SN - 2169-9402 VL - 123 IS - 11 SP - 9906 EP - 9920 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yamazaki, Yosuke A1 - Stolle, Claudia A1 - Matzka, Jürgen A1 - Liu, Huixin A1 - Tao, Chihiro T1 - Interannual variability of the daytime equatorial ionospheric electric field JF - Journal of geophysical research : Space physics N2 - Understanding the variability of the ionosphere is important for the prediction of space weather and climate. Recent studies have shown that forcing from the lower atmosphere plays a significant role for the short-term (day-to-day) variability of the low-latitude ionosphere. The present study aims to assess the importance of atmospheric forcing for the variability of the daytime equatorial ionospheric electric field on the interannual (year-to-year) time scale. Magnetic field measurements from Huancayo (12.05 degrees S, 75.33 degrees W) are used to augment the equatorial vertical plasma drift velocity (V-Z) measurements from the Jicamarca Unattended Long-term Investigations of the Ionosphere and Atmosphere radar during 2001-2016. V-Z can be regarded as a measure of the zonal electric field. After removing the seasonal variation of similar to 10m/s, midday values of V-Z show an interannual variation of similar to 2m/s with an oscillation period of 2-3years. No evidence of solar cycle influence is found. The Ground-to-topside Atmosphere-Ionosphere model for Aeronomy, which takes into account realistic atmospheric variability below 30km, reproduces the pattern of the observed interannual variation without having to include variable forcing from the magnetosphere. The results indicate that lower atmospheric forcing plays a dominant role for the observed interannual variability of V-Z at 1200 local time. KW - interannual variability KW - plasma drifts KW - equatorial electrojet (EEJ) KW - vertical coupling KW - JULIA KW - GAIA Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JA025165 SN - 2169-9380 SN - 2169-9402 VL - 123 IS - 5 SP - 4241 EP - 4256 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yamazaki, Yosuke A1 - Stolle, Claudia A1 - Matzka, Jürgen A1 - Alken, Patrick T1 - Quasi-6-Day Wave Modulation of the Equatorial Electrojet JF - Journal of geophysical research : Space physics N2 - The equatorial electrojet is an enhanced eastward current in the dayside E region ionosphere flowing along the magnetic equator. The equatorial electrojet is highly variable as it is subject to various forcing mechanisms including atmospheric waves from the lower layers of the atmosphere. There are occasionally times when the intensity of the equatorial electrojet at a fixed longitude shows an oscillatory variation with a period of approximately 6days. We present case studies of such events based on the equatorial electrojet measurements from the CHAMP and Swarm satellites. The spatial and temporal variability of the equatorial electrojet intensity during these events reveals characteristics of a westward propagating wave with zonal wavenumber 1, consistent with the effect of the quasi-6-day planetary wave. Analyses of the geopotential height data from the Aura satellite confirm the presence of the quasi-6-day planetary wave in the lower thermosphere during the events. The amplitude of the quasi-6-day variation in the equatorial electrojet intensity depends on longitude, but no systematic longitudinal dependence is found for different events. During the event of August 2010, quasi-6-day variations are also observed by ground-based magnetometers and a radar in the Peruvian sector. The effect of the quasi-6-day wave accounts for up to +/- 5.9m/s in the equatorial vertical plasma velocity at noon, which is much larger than previously predicted by a numerical model. These results suggest that the quasi-6-day planetary wave is an important source of short-term variability in the equatorial ionosphere. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA025365 SN - 2169-9380 SN - 2169-9402 VL - 123 IS - 5 SP - 4094 EP - 4109 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER -