Influence of Tropical Cyclones on Total Electron Content

Understanding the connection between terrestrial and space environments is an emerging field of study that can significantly improve different aspects of operational weather forecasting. In particular, it is well known that tropical cyclones and thunderstorms can initiate gravity waves that generate fluctuations in the total electron content (TEC) of the ionosphere. These perturbations can deteriorate and delay the transmission of high-frequency (HF) communications used in emergency services, amateur radio, and aviation, for example. This study investigates changes in TEC according to the number of lightning flashes and gravity wave energy generated by global tropical cyclones. A composite analysis will be performed using the global lightning dataset from the 14^th Weather Squadron, MIT Haystack’s GPS Total Electron Content, and the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere extension (WACCM-X) datasets to characterize the influence of lightning and convectively generated gravity waves on the ionosphere. It is hypothesized that the number and energy of the lightning flashes and gravity waves generated by tropical cyclones will be directly related to the magnitude of the TEC perturbations around the tropical cyclone. Overall, improved characterization of the dynamic and electrodynamic connection between the lower and upper atmospheres has important implications for both space physics and atmospheric science communities.