A climatology of quiet/disturbed ionospheric conditions derived from 22 years of Westerbork interferometer observations.
Abstract
Knowledge of the quiet and disturbed conditions in the propagation medium is essential for quality control of trans-atmospheric radio signals. This holds equally for the troposphere and the ionosphere. This paper describes a climatology of ionospheric irregularities obtained from observations of celestial radio sources by radio interferometry, i.e. by the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) in The Netherlands. This instrument is located at geomagnetic mid-latitude. All WSRT calibrator observations in the 22-year period 26 June 1970 - 31 December 1991 have been checked for manifestations of ionospheric effects. Although seasonal effects are clear, the occurrence and "strength" of ionospheric irregularities show no dependence on solar activity.
- Publication:
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Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics
- Pub Date:
- August 1996
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0021-9169(95)00143-3
- Bibcode:
- 1996JATP...58.1229S
- Keywords:
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- Earth Ionosphere: Radio Astronomy