Sounding the Origin of L-Band SAR Stripes in the Equatorial Ionosphere: Coordinated Observation of Alos-2 and Air Glow Imager

We study small scale ionospheric effects on L-band SAR images in the equatorial region, known as equatorial stripes or streaks by using ALOS- 2/PALSAR-2 and ground air glow imager. Our experiment shows the existence of density depletion regions in the ionosphere within the radar geometry when SAR stripe phenomena occurred. This study experimentally demonstrates that the equatorial L-band SAR stripes are associated with plasma irregularities in density depletion regions, although further work is necessary to clarify the formation mechanism of irregularities.