Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances

Understanding the long-term variability of nighttime Spread F (SF) and its drivers is crucial for improving the knowledge of ionospheric disturbances, which impact radio communication, GNSS positioning, and space weather forecasting. This study exploits the long-term ionogram dataset from the EB040...

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Authors: Paul, Krishnendu Sekhar, Haralambous, Haris, Altadill Felip, David, Segarra, Antoni, Navas-Portella, Víctor, de Paula Vila, Víctor
Format: article
Publication Date:2025
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:20.500.14342/5927
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14342/5927
https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2025046
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Mid-latitude ionosphere
Spread F
MSTIDs
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spelling Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbancesPaul, Krishnendu SekharHaralambous, HarisAltadill Felip, DavidSegarra, AntoniNavas-Portella, Víctorde Paula Vila, VíctorMid-latitude ionosphereSpread FMSTIDsUnderstanding the long-term variability of nighttime Spread F (SF) and its drivers is crucial for improving the knowledge of ionospheric disturbances, which impact radio communication, GNSS positioning, and space weather forecasting. This study exploits the long-term ionogram dataset from the EB040 ionosonde in Spain (1955–2022) to investigate the climatology of nighttime SF and its dependence on solar activity. We analyze the diurnal, seasonal, and solar-cycle variability of both Range Spread F (RSF) and Frequency Spread F (FSF). The results reveal a strong inverse relationship between SF occurrence and solar activity, with SF maxima during solar minima. SF is confirmed as a predominantly nighttime phenomenon in western European mid-latitudes, primarily occurring between 20:00 and 05:00 UT, peaking near the solstices, with higher occurrence in June–July than in December–January, and with RSF accounting for 69% of SF events. Complementary analysis using GNSS-derived detrended Total Electron Content (d-TEC) and Rate of TEC index (ROTI) maps (2012–2016) quantifies the connection with Medium-Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (MSTIDs). Approximately 85% of SF occurrences at EB040 coincide with MSTID activity, with correlation coefficients above 0.96 between their onset times. MSTID activity exhibits the same seasonal pattern as SF, peaking at the solstices—particularly in June–July—and displaying the same inverse dependence on solar activity. Furthermore, 62% of RSF events at EB040 are associated with strong ROTI activity, especially during summer, and 83% of RSF events lasting over two hours correspond to strong ROTI activity. Overall, these findings highlight MSTIDs as the dominant electrodynamic driver of mid-latitude SF and underline the seasonal and solar activity dependencies of SF variability, providing new constraints for understanding ionospheric dynamics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionEDP SciencesUniversitat Ramon Llull. Observatori de l'Ebre2025info:eu-repo/semantics/article19http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14342/5927https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2025046reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésJ. Space Weather Space Clim. 2025, 15, 49Attribution 4.0 International© L'autor/ahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:20.500.14342/59272026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances
title Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances
spellingShingle Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances
Paul, Krishnendu Sekhar
Mid-latitude ionosphere
Spread F
MSTIDs
title_short Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances
title_full Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances
title_fullStr Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances
title_full_unstemmed Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances
title_sort Climatology of the spread F over Roquetes, Spain: Impact of the medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Paul, Krishnendu Sekhar
Haralambous, Haris
Altadill Felip, David
Segarra, Antoni
Navas-Portella, Víctor
de Paula Vila, Víctor
author Paul, Krishnendu Sekhar
author_facet Paul, Krishnendu Sekhar
Haralambous, Haris
Altadill Felip, David
Segarra, Antoni
Navas-Portella, Víctor
de Paula Vila, Víctor
author_role author
author2 Haralambous, Haris
Altadill Felip, David
Segarra, Antoni
Navas-Portella, Víctor
de Paula Vila, Víctor
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universitat Ramon Llull. Observatori de l'Ebre
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Mid-latitude ionosphere
Spread F
MSTIDs
topic Mid-latitude ionosphere
Spread F
MSTIDs
description Understanding the long-term variability of nighttime Spread F (SF) and its drivers is crucial for improving the knowledge of ionospheric disturbances, which impact radio communication, GNSS positioning, and space weather forecasting. This study exploits the long-term ionogram dataset from the EB040 ionosonde in Spain (1955–2022) to investigate the climatology of nighttime SF and its dependence on solar activity. We analyze the diurnal, seasonal, and solar-cycle variability of both Range Spread F (RSF) and Frequency Spread F (FSF). The results reveal a strong inverse relationship between SF occurrence and solar activity, with SF maxima during solar minima. SF is confirmed as a predominantly nighttime phenomenon in western European mid-latitudes, primarily occurring between 20:00 and 05:00 UT, peaking near the solstices, with higher occurrence in June–July than in December–January, and with RSF accounting for 69% of SF events. Complementary analysis using GNSS-derived detrended Total Electron Content (d-TEC) and Rate of TEC index (ROTI) maps (2012–2016) quantifies the connection with Medium-Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (MSTIDs). Approximately 85% of SF occurrences at EB040 coincide with MSTID activity, with correlation coefficients above 0.96 between their onset times. MSTID activity exhibits the same seasonal pattern as SF, peaking at the solstices—particularly in June–July—and displaying the same inverse dependence on solar activity. Furthermore, 62% of RSF events at EB040 are associated with strong ROTI activity, especially during summer, and 83% of RSF events lasting over two hours correspond to strong ROTI activity. Overall, these findings highlight MSTIDs as the dominant electrodynamic driver of mid-latitude SF and underline the seasonal and solar activity dependencies of SF variability, providing new constraints for understanding ionospheric dynamics.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14342/5927
https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2025046
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14342/5927
https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2025046
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv J. Space Weather Space Clim. 2025, 15, 49
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv Attribution 4.0 International
© L'autor/a
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Attribution 4.0 International
© L'autor/a
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 19
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv EDP Sciences
publisher.none.fl_str_mv EDP Sciences
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,812429

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