Coordinated study of scintillations recorded by Chinese FY-2 geostationary meteorological satellite and VHF coherent radar observations over south china

Abstract The first scintillation observations of Chinese FY-2 geostationary meteorological satellite (86.5°E) observed at Guangzhou (23.2°N, 113.3°E, dip 18°N) and simultaneous VHF (47.5 MHz) coherent radar measurements from Sanya (18.3°N, 109.6°E, dip 13°N) during equinoctial months of 2011 and 2012 have been presented here. The observations are used for a coordinated study for the relationship between the L-band scintillation patches on the propagation path of FY-2 satellite and the extended 3-m irregularity structures known as plumes over South China. The statistical results showed that the plumes and the scintillation patches have nearly a one-to-one correspondence. In case study, the zonal drift velocity of the irregularities was estimated by comparison of the onset times of the scintillation and plume and the irregularities were found to drift eastwards at a speed ranging about tens of meters to one hundred meters per second. From the derived value of drift speed and duration of scintillation events, the irregularity patches were found to have east-west extent about a few hundred kilometers. On the other hand, the scintillation did not always occur following the appearance of plume which might be due to the associated irregularities occurring at lower altitudes failing to reach the region of the ionosphere through which the satellite to ground link passes. In addition, weak scintillations were observed on FY-2 link without any plume structure on radar backscatter maps occasionally.