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On 6 December 2015, the Magnetospheric Multiscale satellites traversed the southward outflow of a magnetic reconnection on the magnetopause from the outside in. The magnetic structures or the geometries of the field lines inside this outflow are distinguished in detail by using the plasma and magnetic field observations. A flux rope and the magnetic flux piling-up against this flux rope are found embedding in this outflow. The strong magnetosheath magnetic field allows the formation of a magnetic mirror in the flux pileup region. As the Magnetospheric Multiscale satellites approached the flux rope inside this mirror, the pitch angles of electrons converge toward 90 degrees, indicating that the electrons are trapped inside the mirror. The local loss cones of these electrons along the satellite trajectory are estimated. It is found that the triangle-like pitch angle distribution is well embraced by the curves of the estimated local loss cones. The energy spectra inside the mirror show that the electrons are accelerated in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field. A test particle method is used to reproduce the acceleration process in a fitted 3-D magnetic field model. The results show that the quasi-perpendicular electrons experience the betatron acceleration when drifting into the stronger field region and that the electrons may also experience the Fermi acceleration when their pitch angles enlarge. The mirror structure on the magnetopause provides a unique opportunity to explore the behaviors of the magnetic reconnection associated electrons.

This paper presents a review of the progress in the understanding of an additional layer in the low latitude ionosphere, the F3 layer. A brief introduction to the daytime equatorial electrodynamics required for understanding the formation of F3 layer and formation of the usual ionospheric regions and layers are also included for continuity. Numerous papers on various aspects of F3 layer and topside ledge (F3 layer in the topside ionosphere) were published by different research groups using observations and modelling. The first time observations and important new aspects are highlighted and areas for further studies are suggested in this review. The important new aspects include an automated procedure for identifying F3 layer, global map of F3 layer and its longitudinal wave structure, solar activity variation of F3 layer and its long term trend, F3 layer in TEC, F3 layer at sunrise and sunset hours, simultaneous observations of F3 layer and upward ExB drift velocity, simultaneous observations of F3 layer in conjugate summer and winter locations, rapid ascend of F3 layer during geomagnetic storms as an indicator of eastward prompt penetration electric field and mechanism of F4 layer. Main points are summarized at the end.

Following a brief history and progress of ionospheric research, this paper presents a brief review of the recent developments in the understanding of two major phenomena in low and mid latitude ionosphere—the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) and involved equatorial plasma fountain (EPF) and ionospheric irregularities. Unlike the easy-to-understand misinterpretations, the EPF involves field perpendicularE×B plasma drift and field-aligned plasma diffusion acting together and plasma flowing in the direction of the resultant at all points along the field lines at all altitudes. The EIA is formed mainly from the removal of plasma from around the equator by the upward E×B drift creating the trough and consequently the crests with small accumulation of plasma at the crests when the crests are within ~±20° magnetic latitudes and no accumulation when they are beyond ~±25° magnetic latitudes. The strong EIA under magnetically active conditions arises from the simultaneous impulsive action of eastward prompt penetration electric field and equatorward neutral wind. Intense ionospheric irregularities develop in the post-sunset bottom-side equatorial ionosphere when it rises to high altitudes, and evolve nonlinearly into the topside. Pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) of the vertical upward E×B drift and its fluctuations amplified during PRE provide the driving force and seed, with neutral wind and gravity waves being the primary sources. At low solar activity especially in summer when fast varying PRE is absent, the slow varying gravity waves including large scale waves (LSW) seem to act as both driver and seed for weak irregularities. At mid latitudes, the irregularities are weak and associated with medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs). A low latitude minimum in the occurrence of the irregularities at March equinox predicted by theoretical models is identified. The minimum occurs on the poleward side of the EIA crest and shifts equatorward from ~25° magnetic latitudes at high solar activity to below 17° at low solar activity.

Previous investigations on ionospheric responses to solar flares focused mainly on the photoionization caused by the increased X-rays and extreme ultra-violet irradiance. However, little attention was paid to the related electrodynamics. In this letter, we explored the equatorial electric field (EEF) and electrojet (EEJ) in the ionosphere at Jicamarca during flares from 1998 to 2008. It is verified that solar flares increase dayside eastward EEJ but decrease dayside eastward EEF, revealing a negative correlation between EEJ and EEF. The decreased EEF weakens the equatorial fountain effect and depresses the low latitude electron density. During flares, the enhancement in the Cowling conductivity may modulate ionospheric dynamo and decrease the EEF. Besides, the decreased EEF is closely related to the enhanced ASYH index that qualitatively reflects Region 2 field aligned current (R2 FAC). We speculated that solar flares may also decrease EEF through enhancing R2 FAC that leads to an overshielding-like effect.

The 2015 St. Patrick's day geomagnetic storm with SYM-H value of -233 nT is an extreme space weather event in the current 24th solar cycle. In this work, we investigated the main mechanisms of the profound ionospheric disturbances over equatorial and low latitudes in the Asian-Australian sector and the American sector during this super storm event. The results reveal that the disturbed electric fields, which comprise penetration electric fields (PEFs) and disturbance dynamo electric fields (DDEFs), play a decisive role in the ionospheric storm effects in low latitude and equatorial regions. PEFs occur on March 17 in both the American sector and the Asian-Australian sector. The effects of DDEFs are also remarkable in the two longitudinal sectors. Both the DDEFs and PEFs show the notable local time dependence, which causes the sector differences in the characteristics of the disturbed electric fields. This differences would further lead to the sector differences in the low-latitude ionospheric response during this storm. The negative storm effects caused by the long-duration DDEFs are intense over the Asian-Australian sector, while the repeated elevations of hmF2 and the EIA intensifications caused by the multiple strong PEFs are more distinctive over the American sector. Especially, the storm time F3-layer features are caught on March 17 in the American equatorial region, proving the effects of the multiple strong eastward PEFs.

In this paper, the dusk-to-nighttime enhancement (DNE) of summer NmF2 was investigated based on COSMIC radio occultation observations at solar minimum. The global distributions of the magnitude and the peak time of the DNE as well as the role of the DNE in NmF2 diurnal cycle were presented. The DNE mainly exists in three regions (one in the Southern Hemisphere and two in the Northern Hemisphere); and its distribution is related to geomagnetic configuration, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. For most DNEs, their peaks correspond to the maxima of NmF2 diurnal cycle. The DNEs are much more prominent in the southern than in the northern summer hemisphere; they last to later nighttime hours, have larger magnitudes, and play more important roles in NmF2 diurnal cycle in the southern than in the northern summer hemisphere. The distribution of the DNE was analyzed in terms of photoionization and the vertical plasma drift induced by neutral winds. The positive geomagnetic declinations and the smaller geomagnetic inclinations at higher geographic latitudes over the South Pacific are crucial for the prominent DNEs in the southern summer hemisphere; they result in larger upward plasma drift at higher latitudes where photoionization is still significant at sunset and evening hours.

Although the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) has been widely studied, it was seldom investigated from observations for the topside ionosphere. In this paper, the climatology characteristics of the latitudinal structure of topside ion density (Ni) were investigated in detail using ROCSAT-1 and DMSP Ni observations. EIA double-peak structure may exist at 600 km, depending on longitude, local time, season, and solar activity; while it is not a prevalent characteristic at 840 km even at solar maximum sunset. Local time evolution of the EIA at 600 km was presented. The double-peak structure begins to appear at noontime, being later than the appearance of the EIA in F2-peak region. The pronounced EIA induced by the strong prereversal enhancement at solar maximum begins to appear at 19:00 LT and can last to pre-midnight; EIA crest-to-trough ratio (CTR) is largest (lowest) at March equinox (June solstice) and reaches a maximum at 20:00 LT in all seasons. EIA structure shows evident longitudinal difference. Pronounced EIA exists around about 100°E at 13:00 LT at the two equinoxes and June solstice, while it exists at more extensive longitudes (about 90°E to 240°E) at December solstice. The trans-equator plasma transport induced by neutral winds can weaken the double-peak structure in the topside ionosphere. The longitudinal difference in the EIA structure at 600 km is related to the longitudinal variations of equatorial upward plasma drift and geomagnetic declination.

In this paper, we developed a two-dimensional ionospheric assimilation model that assimilates the observations of peak electron density of F2-layer (NmF2) and the peak height of F2-layer (hmF2) derived from five ionosonde stations along the 120°E meridian, using three-dimensional variation techniques (3DVAR) based on a physics-based ionosphere theoretical model. The assimilation system can well produce the assimilated results along the 120°E meridian plane by using the data of NmF2 and hmF2 at five ionosonde stations from Mohe (52.0°N) to Sanya (18.3°N). The root mean square error (RMSE) between the analysis results of the assimilation model and the ionosonde observations is much lower than that between the results from international reference ionosphere (IRI) and the ionosonde observations. In addition, we carried out the assimilation test by taking the IRI results as the observations to check the assimilated results in the regions without observations. The assimilated result in the southern hemisphere (RMSE=0.29) is much worse than that in the northern hemisphere (RMSE=0.10) because no observations in the southern hemisphere were used. If the data derived from the four ionosonde stations in Australia are used, the assimilated result in the southern hemisphere would be much more accurate. In addition to NmF2 and hmF2, the assimilation model can also adjust the total electron content (TEC). The RMSE between the TEC after assimilation and the observed GPS TEC is much lower than that between the TEC from the IRI model and the observed GPS TEC.

Recent studies based on the satellite observations demonstrated that the equatorial vertical plasma drift can also enhance near sunrise in a way similar to the prereversal enhancement. However, it is not clear whether the signature of this sunrise enhancement appears in observations with other sounding techniques. In this work, we explore the Jicamarca (12°S, 283.2°E) incoherent scatter radar measurements to present the evidence of sunrise enhancement in vertical plasma drift on 12 May and 10 June 2004, which are under magnetically quiet and solar minimum conditions. The effects of the sunrise enhancement on the ionosphere are, for the first time, investigated by analyzing the ionograms recorded by the Digisonde Portable Sounder at Jicamarca and conducting the Theoretical Ionospheric Model of the Earth in Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The observations showed that, during the sunrise enhancement, the F2 layer peak height is lifted remarkably, and the F2 layer peak density and bottomside electron density tend to decrease compared to the days without sunrise enhancements. The simulations indicated that the sunrise enhancement drift can lift the equatorial ionosphere to higher heights and distort the equatorial electron density profiles. What is more, the simulations display an F3 layer in the equatorial F region during the sunrise enhancement, and a new F2 layer develops at lower altitudes under the jointed control of the usual photochemical and dynamical processes.

The study of ionospheric anomaly variation before large earthquakes has attracted the attention of geophysicists for many years. This is primarily because ionospheric anomaly variation has been considered to constitute one possible method to identify earthquake precursors. Since China covers several major earthquake zones, it is critical for Chinese scientists to study possible ionospheric earthquake precursors. In this report, we provide a brief summary of recent progress in the study of ionospheric earthquake precursors mainly from Chinese mainland researchers, as well as some other scientists. This report focuses on: (1) some case studies of ionospheric abnormal behaviors before some great earthquakes around the world (e.g., M7.9 Wenchuan Earthquake, M9.0 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake, M7.0 Haiti Earthquake); and (2) some statistical characteristics of ionospheric anomalies before earthquakes, including their temporal and spatial distributions, and the relationship with the forthcoming earthquake. The above-mentioned studies may provide some new and beneficial insights for the future study of ionospheric earthquake precursors.

In this paper the global features of NmF2 enhancement occurring during ionospheric F2 region nighttime (the period when the sunlight is occulted by the Earth in the altitudinal range of ionospheric F2 region) and lasting for more than 2 h were investigated based on Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) measurements during the 2007–2009 solar minimum. This nighttime enhancement of NmF2 mainly appears at the latitudes with dips larger than 45° in the winter hemisphere in solstice seasons. The magnitude of NmF2 enhancement reaches latitudinal maxima (minima) at the geomagnetic latitudes of about 40°–50° (60°–70°), with larger magnitudes in the northern winter hemisphere than in the southern winter hemisphere. The longitudinal variation of nighttime enhancement is also evident; especially the magnitude of NmF2 enhancement shows a significant longitudinal modulation in the southern winter hemisphere. The controlling factors of the spatial variations of NmF2 nighttime enhancement were analyzed. The longitudinal variation of NmF2 nighttime enhancement is suggested to be related to the longitudinal differences in background NmF2, thermospheric density, and interhemispheric plasma transport, and the latitudinal variation of NmF2 nighttime enhancement is possibly related to the latitudinal variations of geomagnetic inclination and the plasma storage in the topside ionosphere and the plasmasphere. The configuration of the geomagnetic field plays an important role in the longitudinal and latitudinal variations of NmF2 nighttime enhancement.