M. R. Deshpande

Amplitude scintillations of ATS-6 radio beacon signals within the equatorial electrojet region (Ootacamund, dip 4° N)

The recordings of the amplitudes of radio beacon signals on 40, 140 and 360 MHz from ATS-6 (at 34° E longitude) recorded at Ootacamund, India (11.43° N, 76.70°E, dip 4°N, elevation angle 41°) have revealed largest occurrence of scintillations for about 60% of cases around 2200 hr during the nighttime, and two secondary peaks (25% of cases) around 0900 hr and 1400 hr during the daytime.During the daytime, the scintillation decreases approximately as the inverse of the frequency for higher frequencies while for lower frequencies the law is valid till scintillation index at 40 MHz does not exceed 0.9. The temporal variation of daytime scintillation shows impulsive character, the duration of activity lasts for 1–2 hours at a time.During the nighttime, the scintillation decreases inversely with frequency for weak and moderate scintillation activity. The scintillation index at 360 MHz becomes independent of that at 140 MHz when the index at 140 MHz exceeds 0.85. For the set of frequencies 40–140 MHz, on some occasions scintillation index at 40 MHz is seen to be less than that at 140 MHz. The nighttime scintillations are in general stronger and remain so for extended length of time.The daytime scintillations are suggested to be due to blanketing or some other non-q type of sporadicE layer. The nighttime scintillations are most probably due to spreadF condition and the abnormal frequency variation of the scintillations may be due to multiple scattering layer during periods of intense spreadF.

Rotational Modulation of Microwave Solar Flux

Time series data of 10.7 cm solar flux for one solar cycle (1985–1995 years) was processed through autocorrelation. Rotation modulation with varying persistence and period was quite evident. The persistence of modulation seems to have no relation with sunspot numbers. The persistence of modulation is more noticeable during 1985–1986, 1989–1990, and 1990–1991. In other years the modulation is seen, but its persistence is less. The sidereal rotation period varies from 24.07 days to 26.44 days with no systematic relation with sunspot numbers. The results indicate that the solar corona rotates slightly faster than photospheric features. The solar flux was split into two parts, i.e., background emission which remains unaffected by solar rotation and the localized emission which produces the observed rotational modulation. Both these parts show a direct relation with the sunspot numbers. The magnitude of localized emission almost diminishes during the period of low sunspot number, whereas background emission remains at a 33% level even when almost no sunspots may be present. The localized regions appear to shift on the solar surface in heliolongitudes.

Dissimilar forms of the ionospheric equatorial anomaly observed in East Asia and India

A longitudinal comparison has been undertaken of electron content-latitude profiles at low latitudes obtained in East Asia and India from measurements of the Faraday rotation of transiting beacon satellite signals. Very appreciable differences in the extents of the development of the equatorial anomaly have been found (1) between the East Asia and India regions (longitude difference 40°) for two particular months and (2) between similar months in two consecutive years for the India region alone. A comparison of the daily ranges of the horizontal magnetic field component (ΔH) measured near the magnetic equator in these two regions showed that ΔH was less (by about 25γ) during the period of poor development of the equatorial anomaly in the Indian region. It is considered that changes in ΔH are related to changes in the magnitude of the eastward electric field E overhead the magnetic equator and these in turn affect the development of the ionospheric equatorial anomaly via corresponding variations of the magnitude of the ionisation uplifting, (E × B) mechanism. The correlation between ΔH and the equatorial anomaly development was found to be poor in the northern summer but throughout the rest of the year it is thought that ionospheric predictions at low latitudes could be improved by considering the noon values of H monitored at appropriate longitudinally-sited stations. The day-to-day and longitudinal variabilities of ΔH and the equatorial anomaly development are thought to have their origin in the lower atmosphere. The upward propagation of semi-diurnal tides and planetary waves are affected by the temperature-height profiles in the mesosphere and also the structure of the middle atmosphere jet, these being most variable in local winter. These tides in turn would produce a variability of local winds in the upper atmosphere and by dynamo action create electric fields in the vicinity of the magnetic equator affecting the electrojet and the development of the ionospheric equatorial anomaly. It is proposed that a search should be made for planetary and tidal waves in both the lower and higher atmosphere at low latitudes.

Total electron content and F-region electron density distribution near the magnetic equator in India

Abstract Total electron content derived from the group delay measurements of ATS-6 radio beacons received at Ootacamund (India) are compared with the electron-density vs height distributions derived from the ionosonde data of the nearby station Kodaikanal. The daily variation of equivalent vertical total electron content (NTV) does not show the midday bite out which is so prominently present in the corresponding daily variation of NmF2, the peak electron density. The topside electron content (Na) continues to increase from sunrise to a maximum value around 1500LT, while the bottomside electron content (Nb) reaches a maximum value around 0500 LT. Daily variations of these as well as other parameters, e.g. the vertical slab thickness, the bottomside semi-thickness, the height of theF2 peak have been also studied for a geomagnetically quiet and a disturbed day.

Multifrequency studies of equatorial ionospheric scintillations at Ootacamund

Abstract Intensity scintillations of 40 MHz, 140 MHz and 360 MHz radio beacons on board the geostationary satellite ATS-6, (at 34°E longitude), recorded at Ootacamund (magnetic dip latitude 3°N) during the ATS-6 phase II (1975–1976) are described. The scintillation index S4, which is the normalised RMS value of the intensity fluctuations, is found to be very large at 2100-0200 h associated with equatorial spread-F, and in the forenoon and afternoon hours associated with a blanketing type of sporadic E-layer. At 40 MHz there seems to be a weak scintillation (S4 The frequency exponent, n, (with S 4 ∝ ƒ −1 , whereƒ is the signal frequency), was found to decrease monotonically with increasing intensity of scintillations, approaching a value of zero for saturated scintillations. The relationship between the frequency exponent and the scintillation index was found to be independent of the time of the day or the season, in spite of different kinds of irregularities being involved in the scintillation processes.

The equatorial anomaly in ionospheric total electron content and the equatorial electrojet current strength

Faraday Rotation of 40 and 41 MHz signals from the satellite BE-B (Explorer 22) recorded simultaneously at Ahmedabad (dip 34° N) and Kodaikanal (dip 3·4° N) during the years 1964–69 are used to derive the latitudinal profiles of Total Electron Content (TEC) over the Indian equatorial anomaly region. From these profiles the diurnal development of the equatorial anomaly and its correlation with equatorial electrojet strength are studied. The anomaly is found to maximise around 1400 LT,i.e., two-three hours after the electrojet attains its peak. The anomaly parameters such as the dip latitude of the anomaly peak,φ, the normalised depth,d, of the anomaly and the strength of the anomaly defined asS=ϕxd are found to be well correlated with the electrojet strength.

The Fe-Line Feature in the X-Ray Spectrum of Solar Flares: First Results from the SOXS Mission

We present the first results from the low-energy detector payload of the solar X-ray spectrometer (SOXS) mission, which was launched onboard the GSAT-2 Indian spacecraft on May 08, 2003 by the GSLV-D2 rocket to study solar flares. The SOXS low-energy detector (SLD) payload was designed, developed, and fabricated by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in collaboration with the Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore. The SLD payload employs state-of-the-art, solid-state detectors, viz., Si PIN and Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride (CZT) devices that operate at near room temperature (−20 °C). The energy ranges of the Si PIN and CZT detectors are 4 – 25 and 4 – 56 keV, respectively. The Si PIN provides sub-keV energy resolution, while the CZT provides ~1.7 keV energy resolution throughout the energy range. The high sensitivity and sub-keV energy resolution of the Si PIN detector allows measuring the intensity, peak energy, and the equivalent width of the Fe-line complex at approximately 6.7 keV, as a function of time in all ten M-class flares studied in this investigation. The peak energy (Ep) of the Fe-line feature varies between 6.4 and 6.7 keV with increase in temperature from 9 to 58 MK. We found that the equivalent width (w) of the Fe-line feature increases exponentially with temperature up to 30 MK and then increases very slowly up to 40 MK. It remains between 3.5 and 4 keV in the temperature range of 30 – 45 MK. We compare our measurements of w with calculations made earlier by various investigators and propose that these measurements may improve theoretical models. We interpret the variation of both Ep and w with temperature as being to the changes in the ionization and recombination conditions in the plasma during the flare, and as a consequence, the contribution from different ionic emission lines also varies.

Energetics and Dynamics of an Impulsive Flare on March 10, 2001

We present Hα observations from ARIES (Nainital) of a compact and impulsive solar flare that occurred on March 10, 2001 and which was associated with a CME. We have also analyzed HXT, SXT/Yohkoh observations as well as radio observations from the Nobeyama Radio Observatory to derive the energetics and dynamics of this impulsive flare. We coalign the Hα, SXR, HXR, MW, and magnetogram images within the instrumental spatial-resolution limit. We detect a single HXR source in this flare, which is found spatially associated with one of the Hα bright kernels. The unusual feature of HXR and Hα sources, observed for the first time, is the rotation during the impulsive phase in a clockwise direction. We propose that the rotation may be due to asymmetric progress of the magnetic reconnection site or may be due to the change of the peak point of the electric field. In MW emission we found two sources. The main source is at the main flare site and another is in the southwest direction. It appears that the remote source is formed by the impact of accelerated energetic electrons from the main flare site. From the spatial correlation of multiwavelength images of the different sources, we conclude that this flare has a three-legged structure.

Solar x-ray spectrometer (SOXS) mission – Low energy payload – First results

We present the first results from the ‘Low Energy Detector’ pay-load of ‘Solar X-ray Spectrometer (SOXS)’ mission, which was launched onboard GSAT-2 Indian spacecraft on 08 May 2003 by GSLV-D2 rocket to study the solar flares. The SOXS Low Energy Detector (SLD) payload was designed, developed and fabricated by Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in collaboration with Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad and ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The SLD payload employs the state-of-the-art solid state detectors viz., Si PIN and Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride (CZT) devices that operate at near room temperature (-20°C). The dynamic energy range of Si PIN and CZT detectors are 4–25 keV and 4–56 keV respectively. The Si PIN provides sub-keV energy resolution while CZT reveals ∼1.7keV energy resolution throughout the dynamic range. The high sensitivity and sub-keV energy resolution of Si PIN detector allows the measuring of the intensity, peak energy and equivalent width of the Fe-line complex at approximately 6.7 keV as a function of time in all 8 M-class flares studied in this investigation. The peak energy (Ep) of Fe-line feature varies between 6.4 and 6.8 keV with increase in temperature from 9 to 34 MK. We found that the equivalent width (ω) of Fe-line feature increases exponentially with temperature up to 20 MK but later it increases very slowly up to 28 MK and then it remains uniform around 1.55 keV up to 34 MK. We compare our measurements ofw with calculations made earlier by various investigators and propose that these measurements may improve theoretical models. We interpret the variation of both Epand ω with temperature as the changes in the ionization and recombination conditions in the plasma during the flare interval and as a consequence the contribution from different ionic emission lines also varies.

Interplanetary and terrestrial observations of an Earth‐directed coronal mass ejection

In this article we report interplanetary scintillation observations at 103 and 327 MHz of an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) which occurred near the center of the solar disk at 0435 UT on May 12, 1997. The disturbance was found to have plasma density ∼4 times more than that of the ambient plasma at a distance of ∼ 0.5 AU from the Sun. The most peculiar aspect of this CME is that it appears that the disturbance moved slightly slower than the ambient medium. Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and interplanetary scintillation (IPS) estimates of solar wind are quite different; it appears that the difference could be due to the projection effect of the SOHO image.Though the disturbance was not very severe, its impact on Earths environment produced a geomagnetic storm. This event was associated with a two-ribbon flare.The ionospheric effects of soft X rays from this solar flare were observed by a digital ionosonde at Ahmedabad in the form of excess ionization (∼1200 el cm−3) in the D region of the ionosphere.