The bottomside mid-latitude ionospheric trough

Lockwood, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7397-2172 (1980) The bottomside mid-latitude ionospheric trough. Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, 42 (7). pp. 605-615. ISSN 00219169 doi: 10.1016/0021-9169(80)90095-1

Abstract/Summary

The measured power losses and Doppler shifts of h.f. radio waves propagated over a long, west-east, sub-auroral path are found to exhibit features which cannot be explained by simple predictions and models. Both theory and the limited available data indicate that a bottomside F2-layer depletion should be present below the topside mid-latitude trough. Introducing this into the models (using the mean statistical positions of the trough deduced from Alouette I and II soundings) is shown to explain many of these features. From the Doppler shifts and a simple ray-tracing model the height of the depleted F2-peak inside the trough is deduced to be greater than its value outside the trough by an amount of the order of only 30–80 km.