The Dynamical Ionosphere: A Systems Approach to Ionospheric Irregularity

The Dynamical Ionosphere: A Systems Approach to Ionospheric Irregularity examines the Earth’s ionosphere as a dynamical system with signatures of complexity. The system is robust in its overall configuration, with smooth space-time patterns of daily, seasonal and Solar Cycle variability, but shows a hierarchy of interactions among its sub-systems, yielding apparent unpredictability, space-time irregularity, and turbulence. This interplay leads to the need for constructing realistic models of the average ionosphere, incorporating the increasing knowledge and predictability of high variability components, and for addressing the difficulty of dealing with the worst cases of ionospheric disturbances, all of which are addressed in this interdisciplinary book.

Borrowing tools and techniques from classical and stochastic dynamics, information theory, signal processing, fluid dynamics and turbulence science, The Dynamical Ionosphere presents the state-of-the-art in dealing with irregularity, forecasting ionospheric threats, and theoretical interpretation of various ionospheric configurations.

• Presents studies addressing Earth’s ionosphere as a complex dynamical system, including irregularities and radio scintillation, ionospheric turbulence, nonlinear time series analysis, space-ionosphere connection, and space-time structures
• Utilizes interdisciplinary tools and techniques, such as those associated with stochastic dynamics, information theory, signal processing, fluid dynamics and turbulence science
• Offers new data-driven models for different ionospheric variability phenomena
• Provides a synoptic view of the state-of-the-art and most updated theoretical interpretation, results and data analysis tools of the "worst case" behavior in ionospheric configurations

Massimo Materassi received his PhD in theoretical physics, and served his post-doc in near-Earth plasma turbulence. He is now a researcher for the National Research Council in Italy. His research interests include space weather dynamics, turbulence, information analysis, theoretical dynamical models, plasma physics, and dissipative processes.

Biagio Forte is a Research Fellow for the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath. His research interests include physics and chemistry of the upper ionised atmosphere, plasma turbulence and instabilities in magnetized plasmas, trans-ionospheric radio waves propagation, radio wave scintillation (ionospheric and interplanetary), radio occultation, and space weather effect mitigation.

Anthea J. Coster is Assistant Director and Principal Research Scientist at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, which collaborates with faculty and staff in various departments and laboratories at MIT and includes a 37-meter radio telescope for observation. Her research interests include physics of the ionosphere, magnetosphere, and thermosphere, GPS positioning and measurement accuracy, space weather and storm time effects, and magnetosphere and ionosphere coupling.

Susan Skone is Associate Professor of Geomatics Engineering at the University of Calgary. Dr. Skone's research focuses on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Specific interests include ionosphere modeling for wide area differential GPS applications, scintillation monitoring for GPS, and water vapour estimation for GPS meteorology. Dr. Skone is also involved in several national and international working groups, and is active in Women in Science and Engineering activities at the University of Calgary.