TY - JOUR
T1 - Ionospheric Disturbances Observed From a Single GPS Station in Hong Kong During the Passage of Super Typhoon Hato in 2017
AU - Yu, Shiwei
AU - Liu, Zhizhao
AU - Lee, Tsz Cheung
N1 - Funding Information:
The grant support from the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project No.: 41730109) is acknowledged. The grant supports from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) projects (B‐Q61L RGC/Gov No. PolyU 152222/17E) are highly appreciated. The Emerging Frontier Area (EFA) Scheme of Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University under Grant 1‐BBWJ is acknowledged. The Lands Department of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is acknowledged for providing the GPS data from the Hong Kong Satellite Positioning Reference Station Network (SatRef) ( https://www.geodetic.gov.hk/en/rinex/downv.aspx ). The Institute of Earth Sciences (IES) of the Academia Sinica of Taiwan ( http://gdbweb.earth.sinica.edu.tw/ ) and the International GNSS Service (IGS) ( https://cddis.nasa.gov/archive/gnss/ ) are acknowledged for providing the GPS data in Taiwan, Philippines, Wuhan of China. The Beijing National Observatory of Space Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences is also acknowledged for ionosonde data ( http://wdc.geophys.ac.cn/dbList.asp?dType=IonoPublish&dStation=Sanya&dYear=2017 ) in Sanya, China. The Hong Kong Observatory is also acknowledged for providing the best track data set of Hato. In addition, we also would like to thank National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and NOAA/NASA for providing the space physics data including the geomagnetic indices ( https://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/form/dx1.html ) and solar flares ( https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/satellite/goes/dataaccess.html ). We appreciate the COSMIC Data Analysis and Archive Centre (CDAAC) for providing GNSS RO data ( https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/index.html ).
Funding Information:
The grant support from the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project No.: 41730109) is acknowledged. The grant supports from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) projects (B-Q61L RGC/Gov No. PolyU 152222/17E) are highly appreciated. The Emerging Frontier Area (EFA) Scheme of Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University under Grant 1-BBWJ is acknowledged. The Lands Department of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is acknowledged for providing the GPS data from the Hong Kong Satellite Positioning Reference Station Network (SatRef) (https://www.geodetic.gov.hk/en/rinex/downv.aspx). The Institute of Earth Sciences (IES) of the Academia Sinica of Taiwan (http://gdbweb.earth.sinica.edu.tw/) and the International GNSS Service (IGS) (https://cddis.nasa.gov/archive/gnss/) are acknowledged for providing the GPS data in Taiwan, Philippines, Wuhan of China. The Beijing National Observatory of Space Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences is also acknowledged for ionosonde data (http://wdc.geophys.ac.cn/dbList.asp?dType=IonoPublish&dStation=Sanya&dYear=2017) in Sanya, China. The Hong Kong Observatory is also acknowledged for providing the best track data set of Hato. In addition, we also would like to thank National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and NOAA/NASA for providing the space physics data including the geomagnetic indices (https://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/form/dx1.html) and solar flares (https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/satellite/goes/dataaccess.html). We appreciate the COSMIC Data Analysis and Archive Centre (CDAAC) for providing GNSS RO data (https://cdaac-www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cdaac/index.html).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. The Authors.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - The powerful convection in the lower atmosphere, for example, tropical cyclones (TCs), has a high probability of causing ionospheric disturbances. We observed evident ionospheric disturbances during the passage of Super Typhoon Hato in 2017 by analyzing the highest elevation vertical total electron content (HeVTEC) time series, that is, the VTEC from the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite with the highest elevation at each epoch, retrieved from a single GPS station in Hong Kong. The results demonstrate that the daily maximum of HeVTEC time series on each day during the TC period experienced a large fluctuation ranging from 33.5 TEC unit (TECU) to the peak value 62.0 TECU. The peak value 62.0 TECU occurred on the TC landfall day 23 August 2017, approximately twice as high as that of non-TC-impacted days. We also found that the TEC spatial gradients above the landfall area increased by around 50% and 200% in the north-to-south and west-to-east directions, respectively. We also examined the daily mean bias (MB) of VTEC above Hong Kong with respect to the mean VTEC during the past 27 days from 20 July to 15 August in 2017. The largest VTEC MB was observed in the west of the landfall area along the TC moving direction, on the TC landfall day. Our findings provided the evidence that the Hato's landfall over the coast near Hong Kong caused the apparent ionospheric disturbances above the landfall area.
AB - The powerful convection in the lower atmosphere, for example, tropical cyclones (TCs), has a high probability of causing ionospheric disturbances. We observed evident ionospheric disturbances during the passage of Super Typhoon Hato in 2017 by analyzing the highest elevation vertical total electron content (HeVTEC) time series, that is, the VTEC from the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite with the highest elevation at each epoch, retrieved from a single GPS station in Hong Kong. The results demonstrate that the daily maximum of HeVTEC time series on each day during the TC period experienced a large fluctuation ranging from 33.5 TEC unit (TECU) to the peak value 62.0 TECU. The peak value 62.0 TECU occurred on the TC landfall day 23 August 2017, approximately twice as high as that of non-TC-impacted days. We also found that the TEC spatial gradients above the landfall area increased by around 50% and 200% in the north-to-south and west-to-east directions, respectively. We also examined the daily mean bias (MB) of VTEC above Hong Kong with respect to the mean VTEC during the past 27 days from 20 July to 15 August in 2017. The largest VTEC MB was observed in the west of the landfall area along the TC moving direction, on the TC landfall day. Our findings provided the evidence that the Hato's landfall over the coast near Hong Kong caused the apparent ionospheric disturbances above the landfall area.
KW - GPS-derived total electron content (TEC)
KW - ionospheric disturbances
KW - Super Typhoon Hato
KW - tropical cyclone (TC)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123593767&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2021SW002850
DO - 10.1029/2021SW002850
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85123593767
SN - 1542-7390
VL - 20
JO - Space Weather
JF - Space Weather
IS - 1
M1 - e2021SW002850
ER -