Ionospheric irregularities are a common phenomenon in the low-latitude ionosphere. In this paper, we compared simultaneous observations of plasma plumes by the JULIA radar, ionogram spread F generated from ionosonde observations installed at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, and irregularities observed in situ by Swarm to determine whether Swarm in situ observations can be used as indicators of the presence of plasma plumes and spread F on the ground.

The paper focuses on the analyses of the global occurrence of equatorial plasma bubble events using S4 data that were calculated from GPS radio occultation measurements of the FormoSat-3/COSMIC mission. The advantage in using radio occultation data is that we get information not only on the occurrence and intensity of the equatorial bubble events, but also on the altitude distribution. We analyzed a 10.5-year time series of COSMIC data and demonstrated a strong dependence on the solar cycle.

This paper investigates a feature in the Southern Hemisphere ionosphere that is observed near midday in the form of a localized enhancement of the electron density. After being discovered in global ionospheric maps, the enhancements were also observed via in situ measurements of the electron concentration. The probability of detecting an enhancement is maximal during the autumn–winter period and does not seem to be directly dependent on geomagnetic indices or solar wind parameters.

To get the global distribution of the stratification phenomenon, the in situ plasma density measurements, obtained by the Swarm satellites orbiting at different altitudes above the F2 peak, are used to study this phenomenon. The continuous morphology of this phenomenon and its features along the latitudinal direction are obtained, and a new discovery from the in situ measurements is the stratification on southern mid-latitudes.

During the night, in the F region, equatorial ionospheric irregularities manifest as plasma depletions observed by satellites and may cause radio signals to fluctuate. We checked the distribution traits of ionospheric F-region irregularities in the low latitudes using 16 Hz electron density observations made by the faceplate onboard Swarm satellites. Using the high-resolution faceplate data, we were able to identify ionospheric irregularities of scales of only a few hundred metres.

An equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) event, emerging near dawn and developing after sunrise, was simultaneously observed by an all-sky imager and the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) network. The observed EPBs showed westward drifts, different from post-sunset EPBs. The EPBs occurred in the recovery phase of a geomagnetic storm, possibly playing a key role in initializing their developments. The results provide a new perspective of EPBs, enriching our knowledge of ionospheric irregularity.

The relation between the occurrence of ionospheric irregularities and the spatial gradient of TEC derived from two closely located stations, located within the equatorial region over Ethiopia, was investigated. The relationship between σ(∆TEC/∆long) and ROTI_ave correlate linearly with correlation coefficients of C = 0.7975 and C = 0.7915 over ASAB and DEBK, respectively. In addition to latitudinal gradients, the longitudinal gradient of TEC has a significant contribution to the TEC fluctuations.

The density distribution of ice particles and electrons near the boundary of the polar mesosphere summer echo (PMSE) region is studied. The results show that when the radius distribution function of the condensation nucleus is a Gaussian type, for a certain range of the condensation core radius, sharp peaks with a meter scale appear in the density profiles of ice particles and electrons. These small-scale structures of electron density may be one of the causes of the PMSE phenomenon.

The Brazilian Space Weather Study and Monitoring Program (Embrace) has been developing different indexes that describe ionospheric effects in the Brazilian sector. The main purpose of this work was to produce a new ionospheric scale based on the analysis of the ionospheric plasma drift velocity. We analyzed 7 years of data in order to construct a standardized scale. The results of this new index allow us to evaluate the impacts of ionospheric phenomena in the space weather environment.

The equatorial spread F (ESF) is a nighttime phenomenon that can have a deleterious effect on the radio communication system. We investigated the parameters influencing the seasonal morphology of the range type spread F (RSF) using ionosonde data from different longitude sectors. The observed RSF occurrence features showed distinct patterns across these sectors, including seasonal asymmetry. This asymmetry was attributed to the probable effect of the zonal wind reversal and gravity waves.

To check the difference between data observed at different altitudes of the DEMETER satellite, a statistical method is adopted to evaluate whether data difference is caused by normal data fluctuation or by altitude adjustment. Based on the method, in situ electron density data at higher altitudes are found to be greater than those at lower altitudes. We speculate that this phenomenon is caused by stratification above F2 peak region. The proposed method is useful when comparing fluctuated data.

The GPS radio occultation data of the COSMIC-FORMOSAT-3 mission are used to visualize the global distribution of ionospheric irregularities in the F2 region during a geomagnetic storm, at solar minimum, and at solar maximum.

The variability of the Earth's ionosphere (the electrified region of the Earth's upper atmosphere) results from external forcing from above (through solar activity and space weather effects) and from below (via natural sources such as lightning storms and tectonics). Bombing raids over Europe during World War II were used to determine the quantitative impact of explosions on the ionosphere. It was found that raids using more than 300 tonnes of explosives weakened the ionosphere for up to 5 h.