Why Does the October Effect Not Occur at Night?

The October effect is known as a rapid and strong decrease in the signal amplitude of radio waves with very low frequency (VLF), reflected at the lowest edge of the ionosphere. This strong decrease can be observed only during the daytime. Although the October effect is long known, it is hardly investigated and its mechanism is still unknown. To get closer to a mechanism, we answer why the October effect does not occur during nighttime. Therefore, average characteristics of the October effect are obtained from different VLF transmitter-receiver combinations. The occurrence of the October effect is then compared with characteristics of the neutral atmosphere temperature at VLF reflection heights as it seems to act as a proxy for the unknown mechanism. The temperature shows an asymmetric seasonal behavior at daytime VLF reflection heights poleward of 50 degrees N but not during the nighttime, resulting in the October effect. The October effect is known as a rapid and strong decrease in the signal amplitude of radio waves with very low frequency, reflected at the lowest edge of the ionosphere (60-90 km). This strong decrease can be observed only during the daytime. Although the October effect has been long known, it is hardly investigated and its mechanism is still unknown. To get one step closer to a mechanism, we want to answer the question of why the October effect does not occur during nighttime. There are two main reasons why the October effect does not occur during nighttime. First, the radio wave reflection height is at around 70 km during daytime and at 85 km during nighttime. The second is the different behavior of the temperature at these two altitudes. While the temperature follows the seasonal cycle of the sun at 85 km, it shows an asymmetric behavior between spring and autumn at 70 km. This unexpected behavior of the temperature at 70 km leads to the October effect during the daytime only. Strong and rapid decrease in VLF amplitude in October Spring-fall asymmetry in VLF amplitude and lower mesospheric temperature Asymmetry only at daytime VLF reflection height