About this Research Topic
The equatorial ionosphere has been under investigation since the earliest days of radio science, seeing the deployment of an ionosonde in the 1930s and an incoherent scatter radar in the 1960s. It has also been the subject of numerous sounding rocket investigations, and, of course, almost every satellite flies over the equator. Nonetheless, thanks to the ongoing renewal of instrumentation deployed near the equator, including radio, optical, and spaceborne instrumentation, it continues to be the source for both fundamental and application-oriented discoveries. Many recent discoveries together with the emergence of new experimental, theoretical, and computational methods for addressing them justify the need for this Research Topic.
The goals of this Research Topic are to familiarize the community with recent findings in equatorial ionospheric research, to prompt the application of novel instruments and methods to the expansion of these findings, and to catalyze the research of different groups of investigators toward the end of analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating the findings in the broader context of global space physics and aeronomy.
Recent findings include causal mechanisms for ionospheric irregularities associated with equatorial spread F (ESF), physical mechanisms responsible for so-called “150-km echoes,” plasma instabilities in the nighttime valley region, daytime and nighttime E-region irregularities, lower-hybrid waves in the equatorial topside ionosphere, signatures of substorms in ionospheric state parameters measured with incoherent scatter, mesospheric waves and instabilities, and long-lived, non-specular meteor echoes.
Many of these phenomena remain poorly appreciated outside the discipline of equatorial aeronomy despite having critical implications for space science and space weather outside the equatorial zone. This Research Topic seeks to promote equatorial ionospheric research, highlighting results from the recent ICON and GOLD missions, upgrades at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, including the AMISR-14 UHF radar, the deployment of a regional network of multistatic meteor radars in South America, the buildout of the distributed network of instruments in South America, Africa, and Asia, and showcasing new, incisive, theoretical, and computational methods.
We will accept Original Research, Method, and Review articles. Focus areas include but are not limited to the following:
• New experimental findings in equatorial aeronomy.
• Novel results from satellite missions (ICON, GOLD, COSMIC-2, etc.)
• Descriptions of investigations appropriate for the NASA sounding rocket campaign scheduled for Peru in 2028.
• Experiments carried out with the upgraded Jicamarca Radio Observatory, the new LWA radio arrays being deployed in Peru, and other incoherent scatter radar near the equator.
• Results from equatorial instrument networks (meteor radars, GNSS receivers, airglow imagers, etc.)
• Theory, models, and simulations pertaining to the above.
• Planned campaigns and future experimental capabilities in South America, Asia, and Africa.
• Theory, models, and simulations pertaining to the above.
The goals of this Research Topic are to familiarize the community with recent findings in equatorial ionospheric research, to prompt the application of novel instruments and methods to the expansion of these findings, and to catalyze the research of different groups of investigators toward the end of analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating the findings in the broader context of global space physics and aeronomy.
Recent findings include causal mechanisms for ionospheric irregularities associated with equatorial spread F (ESF), physical mechanisms responsible for so-called “150-km echoes,” plasma instabilities in the nighttime valley region, daytime and nighttime E-region irregularities, lower-hybrid waves in the equatorial topside ionosphere, signatures of substorms in ionospheric state parameters measured with incoherent scatter, mesospheric waves and instabilities, and long-lived, non-specular meteor echoes.
Many of these phenomena remain poorly appreciated outside the discipline of equatorial aeronomy despite having critical implications for space science and space weather outside the equatorial zone. This Research Topic seeks to promote equatorial ionospheric research, highlighting results from the recent ICON and GOLD missions, upgrades at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, including the AMISR-14 UHF radar, the deployment of a regional network of multistatic meteor radars in South America, the buildout of the distributed network of instruments in South America, Africa, and Asia, and showcasing new, incisive, theoretical, and computational methods.
We will accept Original Research, Method, and Review articles. Focus areas include but are not limited to the following:
• New experimental findings in equatorial aeronomy.
• Novel results from satellite missions (ICON, GOLD, COSMIC-2, etc.)
• Descriptions of investigations appropriate for the NASA sounding rocket campaign scheduled for Peru in 2028.
• Experiments carried out with the upgraded Jicamarca Radio Observatory, the new LWA radio arrays being deployed in Peru, and other incoherent scatter radar near the equator.
• Results from equatorial instrument networks (meteor radars, GNSS receivers, airglow imagers, etc.)
• Theory, models, and simulations pertaining to the above.
• Planned campaigns and future experimental capabilities in South America, Asia, and Africa.
• Theory, models, and simulations pertaining to the above.
Keywords: Equatorial ionosphere, space weather, aeronomy, radio science, heliophysics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
