Efeitos do SSW na Ionosfera equatorial observado pelo TEC: estudo de caso

Abstract

The Sudden Stratospheric Warming(SSW) is a weather event that occurs during the winters of both the northern and southern hemispheres. This type of event has several saws ranging from changes in global climate, to disturbances in the transmission of satellite signals. These perturbations are waves generated after the event and that propagated to terrestrial ionosphere causing fluctuations in the electron density of the ionosphere. One way to analyze ifthis meteorological phenomenon, which is more common in the northern hemisphere, has repercussions in the region of the South American continent is analyzing the Total Electron Content (TEC), which is a measure that depends on the electronic density of the medium. In this work a case study was done tothe event occurred in March of 2016, and TEC maps were elaborated with the intent to identify disturbances in the TEC caused by SSW in the equatorial and low latitude regions of the American continent. The analysis of the elaborated maps and graphs shows some present irregularities that may be due to SSW. In particular, wave features that may be SSW waves, as well as clear changes in the amplitude and time of occurrence of the pre-reversal enhancement on the days of the event, when compared to calm days. Additionally, a magnetic storm over the same period may have potentiated the effects of SSW. The present work suggests that the TEC analysis is very promising and can be efficient to investigate the effects on the ionosphere due to an SSW.