Comment on “The winter anomaly in the middlelatitude F region during the solar minimum period observed by the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate” by W. K. Lee, H. Kil, Y.-S. Kwak, Q. Wu, S. Cho, and J. U. Park

Abstract

Seasonal or winter anomaly in the F2 layer has been known since the beginning of regular ionospheric observations [e.g., Berkner and Wells, 1938, and references therein], and one may be sure that such a fundamental feature of this phenomenon as its height extent has been analyzed. However, Lee et al. [2011] using radio occultation Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) Ne(h) observations have decided to reconsider this problem starting from the very beginning without any analyses of previous investigations and comparisons to earlier obtained results as if ionospheric F2 layer physics has started with them. Besides, the authors have done some incorrect statements which contradict the present theory of the ionospheric F2 layer. They claim that “The topside plasma density is greater in the summer hemisphere than in the winter hemisphere; … the electron density below the F peak at middle latitudes is also greater during summer than during winter; Therefore, the seasonal anomalous behavior is a phenomenon only near the F-peak height in the Northern Hemisphere; The question is why the seasonal behavior of the ionosphere near the F-peak height is different from the behavior below and above the F peak. ….there was no explanation for the different seasonal behaviors of electron density in the lower F region and at F-peak height”. This is the main contents and results of the paper. Let us consider what was known about winter anomaly before the paper by Lee et al. [2011].