Comparison of TADs observed by GOLD with TIDs observed by ground-based GPS

Abstract:

Traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs) are believed to be important in coupling different regions of the upper atmosphere. As they propagate, they may produce ionospheric counterparts known as traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs). These TIDs are readily observed with distributed networks of ground-based instrumentation such as GPS receivers. Observations of the TADs themselves are comparatively rare, and very few exist within the middle thermosphere. GOLD makes observations of airglow emissions from the middle thermosphere that carry with them information about TADs. During dedicated campaigns with GOLD, the signatures of TADs have been identified. Here we focus on a campaign from 2019 that was centered over North America, permitting detailed comparison of the observations form GOLD with ground-based GPS data. Comparing the atmospheric and ionospheric counterparts of these signatures allows us to estimate the wave properties, their propagation characteristics, and their amplitudes in the atmosphere and ionosphere at the same time.