Ionospheric Scaling and Plasma Bubble Dynamics Across Latitudinal Regimes During the Extreme Solar Eruptive Events of 2024

Abstract

The study investigates how the ionospheric dynamics responded for equatorial, mid latitude, and polar regions to the severe solar events in March, May, and October 2024.The satellite observations from GOES-16, SOHO/LASCO, and TIMED/GUVI with the dual-frequency GNSS and ionosonde observations were integrated with a special resampling approach. This method allows handling the different sampling rates from the different regions and provides the possibility to obtain the foF2, TEC, and dTEC profiles synchronized with equatorial (JJ433), mid-latitude (JR055), and polar (TR169) monitoring stations. TIMED/GUVI data suggest that global molecular upwelling resulted in a significant decrease in the ƩO/N2 ratio (< 0.4) and, consequently, in longer chemical negative ionospheric storms at mid and high latitudes. Our statistical assessment revealed clear regional differences in coupling. At the equatorial site, significant negative correlation for both March (R = -0.3287, p < 0.001) and May (R = -0.1689, p < 0.001) events suggests the accelerated Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities (RTI) and dense equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) depletions that ultimately led to GPS loss of lock. The mid- latitude zone, on the other hand, showed Large-Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (LSTIDs), characterized by positive correlations, which became increasingly stronger from March (R = 0.2333, p < 0.001) to October (R = 0.4163, p < 0.001). Finally, there was severe Polar Cap Absorption (PCA) resulting in frequent data loss at the polar station. The different behaviors emphasize the importance of synchronizing and operating at multiple latitudes to create reliable space weather models.