Oblique h.f. radiowave propagation in the main trough region of the ionosphere

Lockwood, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7397-2172 and Mitchell, V.B. (1980) Oblique h.f. radiowave propagation in the main trough region of the ionosphere. Radio and Electronic Engineer, 50 (11-12). pp. 559-566. ISSN 00337722 doi: 10.1049/ree.1980.0082

Abstract/Summary

The propagation of 7.335 MHz, c.w. signals over a 5212 km sub-auroral, west-east path is studied. Measurements and semi-empirical predictions are made of the amplitude distributions and Doppler shifts of the received signals. The observed amplitude distribution is fitted with one produced by a numerical fading model, yielding the power losses suffered by the signals during propagation via the predominating modes. The signals are found to suffer exceptionally low losses at certain local times under geomagnetically quiet conditions. The mid-latitude trough in the F2 peak ionization density is predicted by a statistical model to be at the latitudes of this path at these times and at low Kp values. A sharp cut-off in low-power losses at a mean Kp of 2.75 strongly implicates the trough in the propagation of these signals. The Doppler shifts observed at these times cannot be explained by a simple ray-tracing model. It is shown however, that a simple extension of this model to allow for the trough can reproduce the form of the observed diurnal variation.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/38931
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	Elsevier
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