Presenter Name: Rebecca L Bishop
Corresponder E-mail: Rebecca.L.Bishop@aero.org
Status of First Author: Nonstudent
Type of Abstract: Invited Plenary Talk
Discipline Category: Coupling of the Upper Atmos with Lower Alts
Special Requests: Rebecca L Bishop

Title:
Investigation of Ionospheric Coupling to Atlantic Hurricanes and Tropical Depressions
Authors:
R.L. Bishop, Rebecca.L.Bishop@aero.org, The Aerospace Corporation; N. Aponte, naponte@naic.edu, NAIC Arecibo; D. Livneh, dul121@psu.edu, Penn. State U.; T. Bullett, bullett@plh.af.mil, AFRL; G.D. Earle, earle@utdallas.edu, U. Texas at Dallas; J. Mathews, jdmathews@psu.edu, Penn. State U.; M. Sulzer, msulzer@naic.edu, NAIC Arecibo
Abstract:
This talk provides a summary of a two-year study under a CEDAR post-doc fellowship that investigated the coupling between large tropical storms and ionospheric disturbances. It is generally believed that gravity waves generated from tropospheric weather systems can propagate into the upper atmosphere producing observable effects. However, connecting the exact source of gravity wave generation to the upper atmosphere effects is often difficult. Intense, localized storms, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, should provide an ideal opportunity to examine the thermospheric/ionospheric connections. Since 1968, 220 hurricanes/tropical storms have passed within 500 km of an operational ionosonde or incoherent scatter radar. Five of these storms, starting in 1999, have been studied in detail over the past two years. In order to ascertain the source of any ionospheric variations observed coincident to a tropical storm, a number of instruments have been utilized: ionosondes, incoherent scatter radars, GPS receivers, and microbarographs. Specific observations include two nights of observations at the Arecibo Observatory coincident to passage of Tropical Storm Odette to within 700 km of the radar. The measurements showed a significant disturbance in the F-region plasma drifts at the same time that microbarograph data indicated the presence of intense gravity generation. Observations during the other storms studied provide mounting evidence that hurricanes and tropical storms can produce large localized effects into the E- and F-regions of the ionosphere.