Observations of poleward-propagating large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances in southern China

Abstract. We report here on two cases of poleward-propagating large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (LSTIDs) in China during a medium-scale storm between 27 May and 1 June 2011. The observations were conducted by making use of the Global Positioning System network and ionosondes in China and Southeast Asia. One northeastward-propagating LSTID occurred on the morning of 30 May, while the other was observed during the nighttime of 1 June. Both poleward-traveling LSTIDs occurred during the storm's recovery phase in southern China's low-latitude region (geomagnetic latitude ~ 7.3–24° N) and experienced severe dissipation during their propagation from south to north. Although the initial relative amplitude of the nighttime LSTID was ~ 60% larger than that of the morning event, the nighttime event dissipated more quickly than the morning event because of a strong nighttime enhancement in background total electronic content (TEC) during storm time, which led to strong ion-drag dissipation during the evening. The poleward-propagating LSTIDs exhibit a narrower latitudinal range, a smaller amplitude, and a slightly higher elevation compared with the equatorward-moving LSTIDs observed in the same region. Given these features, the poleward-propagating LSTIDs were likely excited by some local source near southern China. Excitation of secondary LSTIDs during the dissipation of some primary medium-scale disturbances from the lower atmosphere is a possible mechanism.