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Evaluating the Capability of ICON-MIGHTI to Detect Plasma Bubbles in the Ionosphere

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dc.contributor.authorLech, Brendenen
dc.contributor.committeechairEngland, Scott Leslieen
dc.contributor.committeememberFitzgerald, Riley McCreaen
dc.contributor.committeememberBaker, Joseph Benjaminen
dc.contributor.committeememberBailey, Scott M.en
dc.contributor.departmentAerospace and Ocean Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2024-12-10T09:00:30Zen
dc.date.available2024-12-10T09:00:30Zen
dc.date.issued2024-12-09en
dc.description.abstractThe MIGHTI airglow imager onboard the ICON spacecraft in LEO was built to make remote thermospheric windspeed measurements at low latitudes. The MIGHTI team, when reviewing the data, observed variations in day-to-day brightness potentially indicative of plasma bubbles: regions of low-density E-region plasma which rise through the F-region and cause radio scintillation that interferes with communications and GPS performance. Here, we explore the possibility of MIGHTI observing plasma bubbles by using its red-line airglow measurements to attempt to detect this phenomenon. Small-scale structuring indicative of plasma bubbles is searched for by comparing measurements between MIGHTI's two identical imagers, which make remote airglow measurements at the same region from perpendicular directions. The usability of the two imagers for this purpose is assessed, given they are not calibrated to measure absolute airglow brightness, and it is determined that the level of disagreement between them does not prevent these comparisons. The evolution of the ionosphere in the time between the two instruments' measurements is accounted for using seasonal medians of expected behavior. Co-located measurements where the two MIGHTI imagers disagreed significantly were found, filtering out disagreements in measurement not likely to have a significant underlying ionospheric cause, although none were indicative of plasma bubble observations. These significantly differing measurements were most common shortly after dusk and in regions near the equator, especially between -30 to 70 degrees longitude. Simulations show the lack of definitive plasma bubble detections is likely due to MIGHTI's long image exposure time averaging out the effect of plasma bubbles as ICON orbits. More is now known about the potential for making comparative red-line airglow measurements between MIGHTI's imagers, and this information could be used in future work to explore larger-scale ionospheric structuring within the MIGHTI dataset.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralThe ionosphere is a region of Earth's atmosphere from an altitude of 70 to 500 km that plays an important role in radio communications, GPS, and spacecraft operation. Instabilities called plasma bubbles can develop within this region, causing interference in radio communications and degrading GPS accuracy. Therefore, understanding this region is important and has become a priority for NASA. The Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI) is an instrument onboard the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) spacecraft, designed to measure winds and temperatures from 90 to 300 km altitude. MIGHTI accomplishes this by observing red-line airglow: a phenomenon where the gasses in the upper atmosphere emit red light due to photochemical reactions. Because of these reactions, red-line airglow is brighter where plasma density is higher, and dimmer inside plasma bubbles, where plasma density is lower. In this thesis, we explore the potential for using MIGHTI to detect plasma bubbles in the ionosphere by imaging red-line airglow. We find that plasma bubbles are relatively small enough that MIGHTI cannot conclusively detect them because of its long exposure time as its imager sweeps over an area of about 460 km.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:41628en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/123762en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectICONen
dc.subjectMIGHTIen
dc.subjectPlasma Bubblesen
dc.subjectIonosphereen
dc.titleEvaluating the Capability of ICON-MIGHTI to Detect Plasma Bubbles in the Ionosphereen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineAerospace Engineeringen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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