Ionospheric plasma structuring in relation to auroral particle precipitation

Abstract

Auroral particle precipitation potentially plays the main role in ionospheric plasma structuring. The impact of auroral particle precipitation on plasma structuring is investigated using multi-point measurements from scintillation receivers and all-sky cameras from Longyearbyen, Ny-Ålesund, and Hornsund on Svalbard. This provides us with the unique possibility of studying the spatial and temporal dynamics of the aurora. Here we consider three case studies to investigate how plasma structuring is related to different auroral forms. We demonstrate that plasma structuring impacting the GNSS signals is largest at the edges of auroral forms. Here we studied two stable arcs, two dynamic auroral bands, and a spiral. Specifically for arcs, we find elevated phase scintillation index values at the poleward edge of the aurora. This is observed for auroral oxygen emissions (557.7 nm) at 150 km in the ionospheric E-region. This altitude is also used as the ionospheric piercing point for the GNSS signals as the observations remain the same regardless of different satellite elevations and azimuths. Further, there may be a time delay between the temporal evolution of aurora (e.g., commencement and fading of auroral activity) and observations of elevated phase scintillation index values. The time delay could be explained by the intense influx of particles, which increases the plasma density and causes recombination to carry on longer, which may lead to a persistence of structures – a “memory effect”. High values of phase scintillation index values can be observed even shortly after strong visible aurora and can then remain significant at low intensities of the aurora.