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Geomagnetic and Solar dependency of MSTIDs occurrence rate: A climatology based on airglow observations from the Arecibo Observatory Remote Optical Facility (ROF)
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  • Pedrina Terra,
  • Fabio Vargas,
  • Christiano Garnett Marques Brum,
  • Ethan S Miller
Pedrina Terra
University of Central Florida / Arecibo Observatory

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Fabio Vargas
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
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Christiano Garnett Marques Brum
Arecibo Observatory
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Ethan S Miller
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Abstract

We employ in this work the first airglow dataset registered at the Remote Optical Facility (ROF) in Culebra, Puerto Rico, during the descending phase of the solar cycle #24. From November 4, 2015, to September 26, 2019, observations were carried out during 633 nights at ROF using a small all-sky imager, while events were identified in 225 of 499 nights classified as clear. A quantitative analysis of these and their dependency by geophysical parameters (solar and geomagnetic activities) are the main focus of this study. We introduce an original statistical methodology that examines the unique features of the dataset and minimizes the cross-contamination of individual modulators onto one another, avoiding bias in the results. Our findings include a primary peak of occurrence in the December solstice and a secondary peak in the June solstice. We observed a remarkable correlation in the occurrence rate of the with the geomagnetic activity. A notable modulation of the occurrence rate with the solar activity is also found, which includes periods of correlation and anti-correlation depending on the season. This modulation has an annual component that is ~33% and ~83% stronger than the semi-annual and terannual components, respectively. We discuss these findings based on the behavior of the thermospheric neutral winds derived from 30 years of Fabry-Perot interferometer observations. Our results, which are valid for low to moderate solar activity, point out circumstances that might explain differences in previous climatological studies of nighttime
Jul 2020Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics volume 125 issue 7. 10.1029/2019JA027770