Coupling between severe weather events and the middle atmosphere, potentially affecting even the ionospheric heights

Our study analyses the coupling between the troposphere, stratosphere and ionosphere during severe weather events of the last two years. We selected several situations with a rapid cold front transition associated with a strong jet stream visible at 300 hPa. We also selected several summer situations associated with organised convection on the sub-synoptic horizontal scale in the tropical air mass. It is known that the frequency and extremity of thunderstorms will continue to increase significantly according to climate model projections for Central and Eastern Europe. We study the winds in the stratosphere during the selected situations and their possible influence on the ionosphere.

To analyse the tropospheric situation, we use data from standard weather station measurements, vertical radiometric sounding data, and surface and upper level weather charts provided by the GFS and ICON models. For detailed analyses of the ionospheric plasma response, we use data from the European ionospheric vertical sounding observatories and an array of Doppler sounders.