Ionospheric Response to the July 2, 2019 South American Solar Eclipse

Solar eclipses are known to cause large spatial and temporal temperature gradients. These drastic temperature changes—i.e., the sudden cooling and heating of the atmosphere—are important sources of wave perturbations in the lower atmosphere (gravity waves [AGW]) and upper atmosphere (traveling ionospheric disturbances [TIDs]). In the present study, we used multiple instruments such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR), ionograms, and SWARM satellite data to investigate the effects of the July 2, 2019, solar eclipse on the lower and upper atmospheres. The responses of AGW and TID wave structures to the solar eclipse are documented. We also compare the similarities and differences between two recent solar eclipses (the 2017 North American solar eclipse and the 2019 South American solar eclipse) and find that the North American solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, generated substantially larger ionosphere disturbances with clearer wave signatures than the July 2, 2019, South American solar eclipse. We investigate the causes of the significant differences between the two solar eclipses.