Traveling ionospheric disturbances detected in the FRONT Campaign

Abstract

The F ‐region Radio and Optical measurement of Nighttime TID (FRONT) campaign was conducted to clarify the non‐classical features of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) at mid‐latitudes in May, 1998 and August, 1999. A cluster of all‐sky CCD cameras and a GPS receiver network observed a wide area of the ionosphere over Japan to detect the spatial structure and temporal evolution of TIDs. The propagation direction of the nighttime TID detected during the FRONT campaign periods is restricted to the southwest. The time evolution of their amplitude indicates that the TID structure is intensified as it travels from high‐latitudes to low‐latitudes. The significant coincidence between the structures of 630 nm band airglow and total electron content indicates that the perturbations take place in the bottomside of the ionospheric F region. Coherent echoes from the field‐aligned irregularities were observed by the MU radar in the nights when the TID activity was high.