TY - Generic T1 - Possible Drivers of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances by Analysis of Aggregated Ham Radio Contacts T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2024 Y1 - 2024 A1 - Diego Sanchez A1 - Mary Lou West A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Gareth W. Perry A1 - William D. Engelke A1 - Robert B. Gerzoff A1 - Philip J. Erickson A1 - J. Michael Ruohoniemi A1 - Joseph B. H. Baker A1 - V. Lynn Harvey AB -

Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (LSTIDs) are quasiperiodic electron density perturbations of the F region ionosphere that have periods of 30 min to over 180 min, wavelengths of over 1000 km, and velocities of 150 to 1000 m/s. These are seen as long slow oscillations in the bottom side of the ionosphere in data from ham radio contacts at 20 meters wavelength on roughly a third of the days in a year. They might be triggered by electromagnetic forces from above, and/or by mechanical pressures from below. The explosion of the Tonga volcano on January 15, 2022 revealed that such a LSTID could be triggered by a violent updraft from the Earth’s surface into the stratosphere and then detected in the ionosphere over the United States nine hours later. We consider other possible drivers such as the auroral electrojet, the polar vortex, thunderstorms, zonal wind speeds, gravity wave variances, and their time derivatives in 2017.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2024 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER - TY - Generic T1 - Climatology of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Observed with Amateur Radio Networks T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2023 Y1 - 2023 A1 - Diego Sanchez A1 - Mary Lou West A1 - Bob Gerzoff A1 - Gareth W. Perry A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - William D. Engelke A1 - Philip J. Erickson AB -

A new climatology of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (LSTIDs) has been observed from ham radio data in 2017. LSTIDs are quasiperiodic electron density perturbations of the F region ionosphere. LSTIDs have periods of 30 min to over 180 min, wavelengths of over 1000 km, and velocities of over 1400 km/hr. In this paper, we show a climatology of observed LSTID events using data from the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), Weak Signal Propagation Network (WSPRNet), and PSKReporter amateur radio networks. This climatology was performed twice and was cross examined between two members of the research team. Results show that most of the observed LSTIDs occurred during the winter months with a decline towards the summer, with the exception of a spike in June. This paper provides additional insight into the seasonal trends of LSTIDs and provides additional knowledge that will help in the pursuit of what is causing this phenomenon.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2023 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - CONF T1 - Web-Based Scientific Visualizations of RBN/WSPR Data (Demonstration) T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2019 Y1 - 2019 A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Evan Markowitz A1 - Diego Sanchez A1 - William D. Engelke JF - HamSCI Workshop 2019 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER -