Probing Low‐Mid Latitude Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances vis‐à‐vis the 23–24 April 2023 Geomagnetic Storm

Abstract We present the first time airglow imaging results from Srinagar during and after a severe G4‐level geomagnetic storm that occurred during the intervening night of 23–24 April 2023. Several cases of strong night time medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTID) events were recorded during both the main and the recovery phases of the storm. The MSTIDs obtained during the main phase of the storm (23–24 April) propagated in the northeast direction while in the night after the storm ended the MSTIDs propagated in the south‐westward direction. In addition to the MSTIDs, the strong mesospheric gravity wave events from the airglow images were also recorded. A detailed analysis of all these events and the implications of the G4‐storm on these MSTIDs has been discussed in this paper. Although the gravity waves might likely act as initial perturbation sources and control the propagation directions, the dominant amplification of MSTIDs might be triggered by the storm‐time electric fields. Moreover, the enhanced prompt penetration electric field (PPEF) during the storm main phase might have played a major role in modifying the effective electric field and polarization electric fields within MSTID structures, leading to enhanced MSTIDs during storm times. The storm‐time enhancements in electron density and background electric fields likely increase the efficiency with which gravity‐wave perturbations map into observable MSTIDs.