Disambiguating the Detection of Rossby and Kelvin Wave Signatures in the Ionosphere

Rossby and Kelvin waves play a critical role in shaping the interplay between the thermosphere and ionosphere. Both waves originate from the lower atmosphere and propagate upwardly by growing exponentially with height until they reach the ~ 90 – 100 km E-region altitude. At this altitude, they interact with ionized particles and upset the E-region dynamo, generating electric fields that subsequently modifies the F-region ionosphere at ~ 200 – 400 km altitude. The detection of the signatures of these waves in the ionosphere remains poorly understood due to challenges in identifying and quantifying them with episodic cases and short dataset. We disambiguate the detection of these waves by investigating all the cases of 2-, 3-, 5- and 6-day Rossby and Kelvin waves in the ionosphere and derive an efficiency for their detection and how these efficiencies may vary. For efficiency, the key thing is consistent long dataset. This study relies on global observations from NASA’s TIMED/SABER temperature satellite measurements and global positioning satellite (GPS) total electron content (TEC) data from 2002 – 2022, covering solar cycle 23, 24 and 25. To prevent false signals in the detections, we exclude variations in solar flux and geomagnetic / magnetospheric disturbances. The outcome of this study offers insightful findings for both observational and modeling communities with the potential to initiate modeling efforts that will provide a refine understanding of the dynamics of planetary wave – ionosphere coupling mechanisms