ResourceName
Australian Space Weather Services Auckland Ionogram
ReleaseDate
2021-03-29 17:14:50Z
Description
An Ionogram is an image of frequency versus time delay (virtual height) of HF echoes from the ionosphere recorded by an ionosonde. An ionosonde is a swept frequency HF pulsed radar used to monitor the ionosphere. SWS WDC has archived ionogram data from 26 stations, 12 of them still active at present. An IPS 4D ionosonde had been sounding between 15/12/1992 and 31/03/1998 at Auckland. The 4D vertical sounding ionosondes normally sweep in frequency from about 1.0 to 21.5 MHz. Frequency step resolution for the 4D is 5 kHz, with up to 4095 steps available. The step interval is variable, becoming more coarse at higher frequencies as ionograms are generally displayed on a logarithmic scale. Every five minutes, a Ionogram data file is recorded. The raw ionogram file is recorded in a DVD monthly, which will be posted to Sydney SWS head office every month for scaling and further analysis. SWS WDC archives all raw ionogram files and cleaned ionogram files. The Auckland digital clean ionogram data is available since 01/01/1998 to 01/02/1998. The Auckland scaled hourly ionospheric data include parameters of foF2, foF1, FoE, foEs, fbEs, fmin, fxl, f'scaling F/s, M(3000)F2, h'F2, h'F, h'E, h'Es, h'Scaling R/S and Type Es. They are available since 01/01/1970 to 31/12/1978. The Auckland median data of foF2 and M(3000)F2 are available since 01/1967 to 12/1978.
Acknowledgement
We thankful to the former IPS Space and Radio Services, Bureau of Meteorology of Australia for the observations of Auckland ionogram data.
Contacts
InformationURL
Name
Documentation (not with most browsers)
URL
Description
includes descriptions of data format of raw ionogram data and clean ionogram data
Language
en
InformationURL
Name
Software (not with most browsers)
URL
Description
Softwares to view clean ionogram data with scaling function
Language
en
The original ionogram data are raw data, they then cleaned by reducing noise signals at the station. The manually scaled data is calibrated and the autoscaled data is uncalibrated.
Name
Virtual Height
Description
The apparent height of an ionospheric layer deduced from the time delay of a reflected radio pulse upon the assumption that it travelled at the speed of light over its entire path. However, the radio wave actually slows down as it is refracted so that the virtual height is greater than the true height of the refracting layer.
Cadence
PT5M
Units
km
ValidMin
50
ValidMax
1000
Mixed