Use of the Italian satellite program /SIRIO/ for ionospheric modification studies
Abstract
Faraday rotation measurements of ionospheric electron content by the SIRIO VHF radio beacon have provided the first complete morphological description of a large-scale ionospheric hole. The hole was caused by rapid chemical reactions between the ambient F-region plasma and the molecular exhaust cloud of the Atlas/Centaur rocket used to launch the HEAO-C satellite on September 20, 1979. The depleted region was found to extend over an area exceeding one-million sq km.
- Publication:
-
Alta Frequenza
- Pub Date:
- October 1980
- Bibcode:
- 1980AlFr...49..362M
- Keywords:
-
- Faraday Effect;
- Ionospheric Electron Density;
- Ionospheric Sounding;
- Satellite Observation;
- Sirio Satellite;
- Diurnal Variations;
- European Space Programs;
- Heao 3;
- Ionospheric Propagation;
- Plasma Diagnostics;
- Radio Beacons;
- Signal Measurement;
- Very High Frequencies;
- Geophysics