Academic literature on the topic 'VHF scintillation'

Abstract. The characteristics of ionospheric scintillations at Rajkot in the equatorial anomaly crest region in India are described for the years 1987–1991 by monitoring the 244-MHz transmission from the satellite FLEETSAT. This period covers the ascending phase of solar cycle 22. Scintillations occur predominantly in the pre-midnight period during equinoxes and winter seasons and in the post-midnight period during summer season. During equinoxes and winter, scintillation occurrence increases with solar activity, whilst in summer it is found to decrease with solar activity. Statistically, scintillation occurrence is suppressed by magnetic activity. The characteristics observed during winter and equinoxes are similar to those seen at the equatorial station, Trivandrum. This, coupled with the nature of the post-sunset equatorial F-region drift and h'F variations, supports the view that at the anomaly crest station, scintillations are of equatorial origin during equinox and winter, whilst in summer they may be of mid-latitude type. The variations in scintillation intensity (in dB) with season and solar activity are also reported.

Abstract. Multistation observations of ionosphere scintillation at VHF (250 MHz) and GNSS L1 frequency from three locations – (i) Bokkhali (BOK) (geographic 21.6° N, 88.2° E, dip 31.48°, (ii) Raja Peary Mohan College Centre (RPMC) (geographic 22.66° N, 88.4° E, dip 33.5°) and (iii) Krishnath College Centre (KNC), Berhampore (geographic 24.1° N, 88.3° E, dip 35.9°) – at ~ 1° latitudinal separations near the northern crest of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) of the Indian longitude sector are investigated in conjunction with total electron content (TEC) data and available ionosonde data near the magnetic equator to study fine structure in spatial and temporal variability patterns of scintillation occurrences. The observations are carried out in the autumnal equinoctial months of a high solar activity year (2011). In spite of smaller latitudinal/spatial separation among the observing stations, conspicuous differences are reflected in the onset time, duration, fade rate and fade depth of VHF scintillations as well as in spectral features. Scintillations are mostly associated with depletion in TEC around the anomaly crest and occurrence of ESF near the magnetic equator at an earlier time. Not only the strength of EIA, but also the locations of observing stations with respect to the post-sunset resurgence peak of EIA seem to play dominant role in dictating the severity of scintillation activity. A secondary enhancement in diurnal TEC in the post-sunset period seems to accentuate the irregularity activities near the anomaly crest, and a threshold value of the same may fruitfully be utilized for the prediction of scintillation around the locations. An idea regarding latitudinal extent of scintillation is developed by considering observations at L1 frequency from the GPS and GLONASS constellation of satellites. A critical value of h'F near the magnetic equator for the occurrence of simultaneous scintillation at the three centres is suggested. The observations are discussed considering electrodynamical aspect of equatorial irregularities.

Abstract. This short paper presents phase and coherence data from the cross-wavelet transform applied on longitudinally separated very high frequency (VHF) equatorial ionospheric scintillation observations over Christmas Island. The phase and coherence analyses were employed on a pair of scintillation observations, namely, the east-looking and west-looking VHF scintillation monitors at Christmas Island. Our analysis includes 3 years of peak season scintillation data from 2008, 2009 (low solar activity), and 2011 (moderate solar activity). In statistically significant and high spectral coherence regions of the cross-wavelet transform, scintillation observations from the east-looking monitor lead those from the west-looking monitor by about 20 to 60 (40 ± 20) min (most frequent lead times). Using several years (seasons and solar cycle) of lead (or lag) and coherence information of the cross-wavelet transform, we envisage construction of a probability model for forecasting scintillation in the nighttime equatorial ionosphere.

Abstract. An important component of ionospheric plasma irregularity studies in the Indian low latitudes involves the study of the plasma bubbles which produce intense scintillations of the transionospheric satellite signals. Many such plasma bubble induced (PBI) scintillation events were identified while recording 244 MHz signal from the geostationary satellite Fleetsat (73°E) at Delhi (28.6°N, 77.2°E) during March-April 1991. This type of scintillations represents changes in plasma processes. These scintillations are spectrally analyzed using an autoregressive (AR) scheme, which is equivalent to maximum entropy method of spectrum analysis, amenable to extracting optimum spectral content from short data lengths (20 – 40 s). Each spectrum is assigned a level of detectability using the final prediction error (FPE) derived from the optimum filter order required to resolve the spectrum. Lower detectability together with a higher order filter indicate a higher level of coherence for the plasma irregularities (discrete structures). Consistent patterns for these scintillations emerge from the present analysis as follows: (1) the initial and final phases of a scintillation patch display quasiperiodic oscillations. Their corresponding spectra show dominant (Gaussian shaped) spectral features with detectability levels of –6 dB to –12 dB and requiring a higher order (>6) AR filter for their spectral resolution. These are most likely associated with discrete "filament-like" or "sheet-like" plasma structures that exist near the bubble walls. (2) Two main features of the scintillation spectra could be positively associated with the well-developed plasma bubble stage: (a) spectra displaying a power-law process with a single component spectral slope between 1.6 to 3.0. Generally such spectra are resolved with a 2nd order filter and have a 1 dB to 6 dB of detectability. (b) Spectra displaying a double slope, indicating an inner and an outer scale regime for the power-law irregularities. These spectra are resolved with higher order filters (>3 but <7) and possess detectability levels of –1 dB to 3 dB. These spectra display finer spectral changes, perhaps indicative of the nature of continuously evolving plasma irregularities. As an example, an analysis of a single scintillation patch is presented to highlight the geophysical significance of the present approach. Some important parameters used in the AR scheme of spectral analysis are given in the Appendix.

Abstract. The characteristics of VHF radiowave scintillations at 244 MHz (FLEETSAT) during a complete solar cycle (1983–93) at a low-latitude station, Waltair (17.7°N, 83.3°E), are presented. The occurrence of night-time scintillations shows equinoctial maxima and summer minima in all the epochs of solar activity, and follows the solar activity. The daytime scintillation occurrence is negatively correlated with the solar activity and shows maximum occurrence during the summer months in a period of low solar activity. The occurrence of night-time scintillations is inhibited during disturbed days of high solar activity and enhanced during low solar activity.

Abstract. The VHF amplitude scintillation recorded during the period January 1991 to December 1993 in the declining phase of a solar cycle and April 1998 to December 1999 in the ascending phase of the next solar cycle at Varanasi (geogr. lat.=25.3°, long.=83.0°, dip=37°N) have been analyzed to study the behavior of ionospheric irregularities during active solar periods and magnetic storms. It is shown that irregularities occur at arbitrary times and may last for <30min. A rise in solar activity increases scintillations during winter (November-February) and near equinoxes (March-April; September-October), whereas it depresses the scintillations during the summer (May-July). In general, the role of magnetic activity is to suppress scintillations in the pre-midnight period and to increase it in the post-midnight period during equinox and winter seasons, whilst during summer months the effect is reversed. The pre-midnight scintillation is sometimes observed when the main phase of Dst corresponds to the pre-midnight period. The annual variation shows suppression of scintillations on disturbed days, both during pre-midnight and post-midnight period, which becomes more effective during years of high solar activity. It is observed that for magnetic storms for which the recovery phase starts post-midnight, the probability of occurrence of irregularities is enhanced during this time. If the magnetic storm occurred during daytime, then the probability of occurrence of scintillations during the night hours is decreased. The penetration of magnetospheric electric fields to the magnetic equator affects the evolution of low-latitude irregularities. A delayed disturbance dynamo electric field also affects the development of irregularities.

Abstract. Simultaneous observations of equatorial spread F (ESF) irregularities made on 10 nights during March-April 1998 and 1999, using an 18-MHz radar at Trivandrum (77° E, 8.5° N, dip 0.5° N) and two spaced receivers recording scintillations on a 251-MHz signal at Tirunelveli (77.8° E, 8.7° N, dip 0.4° N), have been used to study the evolution of Equatorial Spread F (ESF) irregularities. Case studies have been carried out on the day-to-day variability in ESF structure and dynamics, as observed by 18-MHz radar, and with spaced receiver measurements of average zonal drift Vo of the 251-MHz radio wave diffraction pattern on the ground, random velocity Vc, which is a measure of random changes in the characteristics of scintillation-producing irregularities, and maximum cross-correlation CI of the spaced receivers signals. Results show that in the initial phase of plasma bubble development, the greater the maximum height of ESF irregularities responsible for the radar backscatter, the greater the decorrelation is of the spaced receiver scintillation signals, indicating greater turbulence. The relationship of the maximum spectral width derived from the radar observations and CI also supports this result.

Abstract. VHF Faraday rotation (FR) and amplitude scintillation data recorded simultaneously during May 1978–December 1980 at Delhi (28.63° N, 77.22° E; Dip 42.44° N) is analyzed in order to study the Faraday polarization fluctuations (FPFs) and their dependence on the occurrence of post sunset secondary maximum (PSSM) and amplitude scintillations. It is noted that FPFs are observed only when both PSSM and scintillations also occur simultaneously. FPFs are observed only during winter and the equinoctial months of high sunspot years. FPFs events are associated with intense scintillation activity, which is characterized by sudden onsets and abrupt endings, and are observed one to three hours after the local sunset. When FPFs and scintillation data from Delhi is compared with the corresponding data from a still lower latitude station, Hyderabad (17.35° N, 78.45° E), it is found that the occurrence of FPFs and scintillations at Delhi is conditional to their prior occurrence at Hyderabad, which indicates their production by a plasma bubble and the as-sociated irregularities generated initially over the magnetic equator. In addition, FPFs and scintillation data for October 1979, when their occurrence was maximum, is also examined in relation to daytime (11:00 LT) electrojet strength (EEj) values and evening hour h’F from an equatorial location, Kodaikanal (10.3° N, 77.5° E). It is interesting to note that FPFs and scintillations are most likely observed when the EEj was 100 nT or more and h’F reaches around 500 km. These results show that EEj and evening hours h’F values over the magnetic equator are important parameters for predicting FPFs and scintillation activity at locations such as Delhi, where scintillation activity is much more intense as compared to the equatorial region due to the enhanced back-ground ionization due to the occurrence of PSSM.Key words. Ionosphere (equatorial ionosphere; ionospheric irregularities) – Radio science (ionospheric physics)

Abstract. The coherence scale length, defined as the 50% decorrelation scale length along the magnetic east-west direction, in the ground scintillation pattern obtained at a dip equatorial location, due to scattering of VHF radio waves by equatorial spread F (ESF) irregularities, is calculated, using amplitude scintillation data recorded by two spaced receivers. The average east-west drift of the ground scintillation pattern, during the pre- and post-midnight periods, also calculated from the same observations, shows an almost linear increase with 10.7-cm solar flux. In the present paper the variability of the drift is automatically taken into account in the calculation of the coherence scale length of the ground scintillation pattern. For weak scintillations, the coherence scale depends on the Fresnel scale, which varies with the height of the irregularity layer, and also on the spectral index of the irregularity power spectrum. It is found that for weak scintillations, the coherence scales are much better organized according to the 10.7-cm solar flux, during the pre-midnight period, than during the post-midnight period, with a general trend of coherence scale length increasing with 10.7-cm solar flux except for cases with F 10.7-cm solar flux <100. This indicates that, during the initial phase of ESF irregularity development, the irregularity spectrum does not have much variability while further evolution of the spatial structure in ESF irregularities is controlled by factors other than the solar flux.