A Statistical Study of the Decreased TEC Region During Summer at Northern High Latitudes

Abstract Based on the vertical Total Electron Content (TEC) data observed by the Global Navigation Satellite System in the northern hemisphere, a large area of low plasma density during summer at high latitudes, termed decreased TEC region, was investigated statistically between 2014 and 2024. Compared with the classical depleted structures that usually occur in the nighttime F region at high latitudes during winter, decreased TEC region is usually found in the sunlit polar cap ionosphere during summer. The decreased TEC region is predominantly located in regions above 70° magnetic latitude for moderate and high solar activity. The lower‐TEC region is biased towards the dawn and midnight sectors. Along the 18:25–06:25 Magnetic Local Time meridian, the depth of the decreased TEC region reached 7.6TECu in 2014. The decreased TEC region is deeper for higher Kp (Kp > 2) than for low Kp (Kp ≤ 2).

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2025-04-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl114676
Primary Topic
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

A Statistical Study of the Decreased TEC Region During Summer at Northern High Latitudes

Q.-H. Zhang, Shun‐Rong Zhang, Jianjun Liu, Jianping Wang et al.
Geophysical Research Letters
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
article

A Statistical Study of the Decreased TEC Region During Summer at Northern High Latitudes

Q.-H. Zhang, Shun‐Rong Zhang, Jianjun Liu, Jianping Wang, Beichen Zhang, Guojun Wang, Qinghe Zhang
article en

Abstract

Abstract Based on the vertical Total Electron Content (TEC) data observed by the Global Navigation Satellite System in the northern hemisphere, a large area of low plasma density during summer at high latitudes, termed decreased TEC region, was investigated statistically between 2014 and 2024. Compared with the classical depleted structures that usually occur in the nighttime F region at high latitudes during winter, decreased TEC region is usually found in the sunlit polar cap ionosphere during summer. The decreased TEC region is predominantly located in regions above 70° magnetic latitude for moderate and high solar activity. The lower‐TEC region is biased towards the dawn and midnight sectors. Along the 18:25–06:25 Magnetic Local Time meridian, the depth of the decreased TEC region reached 7.6TECu in 2014. The decreased TEC region is deeper for higher Kp (Kp > 2) than for low Kp (Kp ≤ 2).

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 52(8)
Polar Research Institute of China (CN), Shandong University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Baoji University of Arts and Sciences (CN), Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation (US), Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (CN), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province
Openalex Percentile: Top 94%
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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A Statistical Study of the Decreased TEC Region During Summer at Northern High Latitudes — Q.-H. Zhang, Shun‐Rong Zhang, et al. · Geophysical Research Letters (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS