Computation and Application of Synoptic Ionospheric Profiles

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Abstract
Results from the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy (ITSA) synoptic surveys of ionospheric morphology by systematic calculation of large numbers of electron‐density profiles are described. Averages of individual hourly profiles provide a quantitative measure of the day‐to‐day variability of the ionosphere in addition to much information concerning average ionospheric structure. The average profiles can also be obtained from a ‐composite virtual“height curve” representing all of the observations at a given hour in a month. It is shown that these two ways of obtaining averages are equivalently useful for survey purposes. Observations from five years of profile calculations using both systems illustrate the decrease of F‐region electron content, height of peak density, and characteristic thickness with decreasing solar flux in a 12‐month running average.

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