Semidiurnal Tidal Influence on the Occurrence of Postmidnight F Region FAI Radar Echoes

The Equatorial Atmosphere Radar observations at Kototabang (0.2°S, 100.3°E) are used to study the possible semidiurnal tidal influence on the occurrence of postmidnight echoes from the field‐aligned irregularities (FAIs) due to spread F. It is found that the postmidnight FAI echoes show high percentage of occurrence (PO) during June–July and low PO in December–January of low solar activity years. As solar activity approaches minimum, the PO increase is extended to May, August, and September. The space‐time Fourier analysis on the temperature information obtained from the Sounding of Atmosphere by Broadband Emission Radiometry instrument onboard Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite reveals that at the low‐latitude upper mesospheric heights, though the migrating diurnal tide propagating westward with zonal wavenumber (k) 1 (DW1) dominates the migrating semidiurnal tide propagating westward with k = 2 (SW2) particularly during the equinox months, the SW2 tidal amplitudes are larger than DW1 during June–July. The postmidnight FAI echoes appear to be more frequent during the sudden stratospheric warming of the Solar Minimum Years 2018–2019 and 2008–2009 but not in the Solar Maximum Year 2013. The dominance of SW2 over DW1 is also noted during these years. This indicates that the SW2 plays a major role in the occurrence of postmidnight spread F. It is suggested that the dominant semidiurnal variation of zonal electric field can become eastward and lift the F layer to higher heights during midnight hours, which can favor the growth of the Rayleigh‐Taylor instability to cause delayed spread F around midnight. Key Points The postmidnight FAI echo occurrence shows high percentage during June–July and SSW times and low percentage in December–January Upper mesospheric migrating semidiurnal tide (SW2) shows larger amplitudes than migrating diurnal tide (DW1) in June–July and in SSW times As SW2 is dominant than DW1 both during June–July and SSW times, it plays a major role in the occurrence of postmidnight FAI radar echoes