Investigations on ionospheric electron content and electron density irregularities at low latitudes with geostationary satellites

The report embodies the results of continuous measurements of ionospheric electron content and scintillations obtained for the first time with a geostationary satellite over the Indian subcontinent. The observations near the crest of the equatorial anomaly indicate the importance of plasma transport in the equatorial ionosphere. Solar and geomagnetic controls also show some interesting features. It has been observed that though the occurrence of scintillation is very low, there may be cases of intense scintillations even at a frequency of 136 MHz. Scintillation in this region has been found to be induced by both E and F regions.