Ionospheric absorption and planetary wave activity in East Asia sector

In this paper, we focus on ionospheric absorption in the East Asia sector, and look for manifestations of atmospheric influences in this area. First, a 4-year historical record of absorption measurement at Beijing is presented. This record was obtained by a sweep frequency technique, in which 27-days periodic variation of the absorption level was found to be dominant, appearing in most seasons except winters. Instead, unusual enhancements of the absorption level appeared in winters (winter anomaly), at the meantime the level varied with periods mainly in the range of 8–12 days. Comparing to 27-days period from the Sun, the shorter period oscillations should be related to planetary wave activities in lower atmosphere. Second, fmin data from 5 mid-latitude ionosondes in Japan were used as an indirect but long-term measurement. With the fmin data covering two solar cycles, disturbances with various periods were found to be active around solar maximum years, but the 8–12 days oscillations always existed in winter, showing seasonal dependence instead of connection to solar activity. These results given in this paper demonstrate seasonal and solar cycle-dependent features of the ionospheric absorption in East Asia sector, and confirm the existence of influence from atmosphere-ionosphere coupling in this area, as well as the relationship between ionospheric winter anomaly and planetary wave activity.