Study of local and non-local post-midnight equatorial spread-F generation based on long-term AMISR-14 observations

Abstract We present results of a study of post-midnight equatorial spread F (ESF) events over the Jicamarca Radio Observatory (JRO) that examined unambiguous radar measurements of event origin in the American sector. Our analysis considers variations in post-midnight ESF generation due to changing seasonal, solar, and geomagnetic conditions. We analyzed 396 nights of observations made with the 14-panel version of the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR-14) between July 2021 and August 2023. We leveraged the 10-beam AMISR-14 mode, which effectively measures ~ 400 km zonally of the equatorial F-region ionosphere, to identify and classify post-midnight ESF as either local (i.e., generated within the instrument field of view) or non-local (i.e., generated outside the instrument field of view). Our results for the occurrence rates of post-midnight ESF exhibit a strong seasonal dependence, with maximum values in June solstice and minimum values for equinoxes. The results also show the post-midnight ESF occurrence rates are anticorrelated to the solar flux conditions. As for geomagnetic activity, the results indicate that occurrence rates decrease considerably under geomagnetically quiet conditions. The combination of these seasonal, solar flux, and geomagnetic activity influences suggests the weakened downward plasma drifts late at night during June solstice conditions can be reversed to upward drifts by contributions from disturbance drifts. In the case of upward drifts caused by geomagnetic disturbances, the reversed upward post-midnight drifts may then contribute to conditions favoring ESF development provided that a prompt penetration or disturbance dynamo electric field with appropriate polarity, even from modest geomagnetic activity, is present. In support of this proposed post-midnight ESF generation mechanism, we also present and discuss simultaneous AMISR-14 and collocated incoherent scatter radar measurements of a June solstice 2023 event. Perhaps most importantly, our results show the occurrence rates of local and non-local post-midnight ESF as observed with AMISR-14 are nearly identical. That is, local events were observed effectively as often as non-local events, and vice versa, under all seasonal, solar, and geomagnetic conditions. Therefore, data-driven forecasting approaches relying exclusively on local (i.e., “overhead”) measurements of ionospheric/thermospheric conditions may not always be well-suited to reproducing the observed ESF phenomenology. Graphical Abstract