Planetary waves and midlatitude sporadic E layers:: Strong experimental evidence for a close relationship -: art. no. 1078

[1] A large-amplitude, 7-day period westward propagating S = 1 planetary wave has been reported from ground radar and satellite wind measurements in the mesosphere lower thermosphere (MLT) during the second half of August and well into September 1993. Following recent suggestions that planetary waves might play a role in the formation of midlatitude sporadic E layers (E-s), we have obtained and analyzed, for the period from August 1 to September 30, 1993, the sporadic E critical frequency (f(o)E(s)) time series from eight midlatitude ionosonde stations covering a large longitudinal zone from similar to58degreesE to 157degreesW. The analysis revealed that all eight station f(o)E(s) data showed a strong 7-day periodicity, occurring concurrently with the 7-day planetary wave reported elsewhere. Using independent methods for the analysis of the f(o)E(s) time series, we computed identical estimates for the propagation direction, zonal wave number, and phase velocity of the 7-day wave, which are in agreement with those reported from radar and satellite neutral wind MLT measurements. The present findings provide the first direct evidence, proving that planetary waves play an important role in the physics of midlatitude sporadic E region layers. In addition, our results include an important implication, that the E-s parameters measured routinely and rather reliably with a dense global network of digital ionosondes, as well as the enormous ionogram databases existing in World Data Centers, may be used as an alternative means of studying large-scale neutral atmospheric dynamics in the MLT region.