The Dynamical Ionosphere

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

Geophysicists, Plasma Physicists, Space Physicists, as well as graduate students and upper level undergraduates in these areas. Also researchers in other applied physics fields, including astronomy

The Earth’s Ionosphere, An Overview
1. Introduction
2. Day-to-day Variability of the Ionosphere
3. Ionospheric Conjugate Point Science: Hemispheric Coupling
4. Status and Future Directions
5. Mid-Latitude Ionospheric Features: Natural Complexity In Action
6. Empirical Ionospheric  Models
7. Wrap Up

Global Complexity
8. Complex Dynamics of the Sun-Earth Interaction
9. Storms and Sub-storms
10. Geomagnetically Induced Currents

Local Irregularities
11. From instabilities to irregularities
12. Equatorial F region Irregularities
13. Scintillation Theory

The Future Era of Ionospheric Science
14. The Complex Ionosphere
15. New high resolution techniques to probe the ionosphere
16. Advanced Statistical Tools in Near-Earth Space Science
17. Ionospheric Science in the age of Big Data
18. Scintillation Modeling
19. Multiscale Analysis of the Turbulent Ionospheric Medium
20. The future Ionospheric Physics