Ground Level Pressure Fluctuations Connected with Ionospheric Disturbances

Abstract

Given a 12-min period harmonic wave train, with a phase velocity of 550 m Sec?1, the amplitude distribution with height is examined for some possible atmospheric models. It is shown, if the atmosphere above 90 km becomes anomalous (in that the acoustic cutoff frequency is less than the Väisälä frequency) and if strong wind shears are introduced, that ground level pressures of the order of 1 ?b can be associated with displacements of the order of 1 km at altitudes of 110?180 km, i.e., at ionospheric heights. This suggests that ionospheric disturbances reported in the literature may, under favorable conditions, be measured by means of microbarographs on the land surface.