A study of mid-latitude E-region anomalies in the ionosphere due to lightning
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The goal of this research is to study the effects of lightning on the enhancement of ionization in the ionosphere. The ionosphere is a region of charged particles in the upper atmosphere and plays a significant role in high frequency radio communication. Any anomalous behaviour in the ionization properties of the ionosphere can potentially have adverse effects on radio users. While the upper regions of the ionosphere (200~km altitude and above) are well modeled and there exist instruments to provide a temporally and spatially good map of these regions, the lower ionosphere (60 to 200~km) is not as well understood due to limitations in continuous measurements of this region. Consequently, anomalous features in the lower ionospheric properties are not easily forecastable. It is hypothesized that certain features in the lower ionosphere are formed due to lightning and thunderstorm activity in the lower atmosphere, through convective mechanisms propagating upwards from the thunderstorm clouds to the ionosphere altitudes. We use an ionospheric model and lightning data for a 15 day period period from July 1 to July 15, 2010 over the continental USA, and use computational means to understand if there are any correlations between lower ionosphere anomalies and lightning. For the given data period and spatial domain, we find that there appears to be no statistically significant correlation between the two and further analysis is recommended.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Kumar, Vaibhav |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. |
| Advisor | Close, Sigrid, 1971- |
| Thesis advisor | Close, Sigrid, 1971- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Vaibhav Kumar. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Engineering)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Vaibhav Kumar
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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