Compatible analysis of vertical and oblique ionospheric sounding data

Abstract

Examples are presented of the ray-tracing synthesis of multifrequency Oblique Sounding (OS) data on the Dourbes (Belgium) í Roquetes (Spain) path using electron density height profiles derived from Vertical Sounding (VS) measurements at both terminals. Comparison with the measured OS ionograms provides a means of assessing the accuracy of the VS true-height procedure POLAN. Particular attention was paid to a consideration of the E-F1 valley, that as concluded is often less deep than currently supposed, when derived using both ordinary and extraordinary components of the VS ionograms. Also, it was found that the peak of the F1 -layer should be expressed more distinctly (sometimes with a small valley between the F1 and F2 layers) though the corresponding VS ionograms may have no discontinuity in the region.

Keywords

• Ionosphere
• VS and OS ionograms
• OS ionograms synthesis
• ray-tracing technique