Three-dimensional hollow tubular structure of rocket chemical depletion

Abstract

The rocket launch process causes a series of disturbances in the ionosphere, among which a typical phenomenon is the formation of ionospheric electron density depletions caused by chemical reactions involving rocket exhaust, known as Holes in the Ionosphere from Rocket Exhaust (HIREs). Current research on the HIREs mainly focuses on the horizontal features observed from ground-based GNSS data. By utilizing COSMIC radio occultation data, we clearly observed the vertical structure of HIREs following the launch of an ATLAS-V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 22 May 2014. Additionally, combining ground-based GNSS, Swarm satellite observations, and numerical simulations, we delineated, for the first time, the three-dimensional “hollow tube” structure of the HIREs. Then, the spatiotemporal evolution of the HIREs is analyzed, and considered to mainly consist of three stages: “rapid formation, diffusion-driven growth, and diffusion-driven recovery”. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the formation and development of artificial ionospheric plasma hollow-tubes.