Ann. Geophys., 35, 413–422, 2017 www.ann-geophys.net/35/413/2017/ doi:10.5194/angeo-35-413-2017 © Author(s) 2017. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Rocket in situ observation of equatorial plasma irregularities in the region between E and F layers over Brazil Siomel Savio Odriozola1,2, Francisco Carlos de Meneses Jr.1,3, Polinaya Muralikrishna1, Alexandre Alvares Pimenta1, and Esfhan Alam Kherani1 1National Institute for Space Research – INPE, Av. dos Astronautas, 1758, Jd. Granja-CEP: 12227-010 SJC, SP, Brazil 2Department of Space Geophysics, Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy – IGA, Calle 212, 2906, La Coronela, La Lisa, Havana, Cuba 3State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, National Space Science Center NSSC, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), No. 1 Nanertiao, Zhongguancun, Haidian district, 100190, Beijing, China Correspondence to: Siomel Savio Odriozola (
[email protected]) Received: 30 July 2016 – Revised: 23 February 2017 – Accepted: 23 February 2017 – Published: 16 March 2017 Abstract. A two-stage VS-30 Orion rocket was launched LaBelle, 1998; Muralikrishna et al., 2004). Studies using in from the equatorial rocket launching station in Alcântara, situ measurements of equatorial nighttime E region irregular- Brazil, on 8 December 2012 soon after sunset (19:00 LT), ities, however, are quite a few, as noted by Sinha et al.(2011). carrying a Langmuir probe operating alternately in swept and The lack of references is most noticeable when it comes to constant bias modes. At the time of launch, ground equip- the intermediate region between the E and F layers ( ∼ 130– ment operated at equatorial stations showed rapid rise in the 300 km).