Relationship between the activity of thunderstorms and ionospheric oscillation during the RELAMPAGO Project

Abstract

This article aims to study the variations that occur in the ionosphere as a consequence of a thunderstorm. For this purpose, we started by analyzing the thunderstorms of November 10 at night in the central region of Argentina, the place and time when the RELAMPAGO-CACTI Project was developed. The data used were The Total electron Content (TEC) which was computed from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements provided by Argentine Continuous Satellite Monitoring Network (RAMSAC by its Spanish acronym) stations and the atmospheric electrical activity data which were provided by the Earth Network Total Lightning Network (ENTLN). We found that thunderstorms generated some oscillations in the vertical total electron content (VTEC). Some variations showed oscillations with periodicities of 25–30 minutes and amplitudes greater than 0.3 total electron content units (TECU). While in other cases oscillatory variations were observed with periods of about 4 minutes and amplitudes around 0.1 TECU. The former could be related to gravity waves, while the latter could be considered acoustic waves.