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Ann. Geophys., 25, 895-904, 2007
www.ann-geophys.net/25/895/2007/
© European Geosciences Union 2007

Assessing the quality of ionogram interpretation using the HF Doppler technique

D. Buresova¹, V. Krasnov^1,2, Ya. Drobzheva^1,2, J. Lastovicka¹, J. Chum¹, and F. Hruska^1
1Institute of Atmospheric Physics, 14131 Prague, Czech Republic
²Institute of the Ionosphere, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan

Abstract. The first joint common volume measurements by the Digisonde Portable Sounder (DPS-4) and a new Doppler type system has been run at the Pruhonice ionospheric observatory (49.99° N, 14.54° E) since January 2004. The measurement of the Doppler shift is carried out continuously on a frequency of 3.6 MHz, thus the radio wave is reflected predominantly from the ionospheric F layer. To compare digisonde measurements with the Doppler data, a phase path was calculated from both Doppler and digisonde records. Under stormy conditions and in the case where a sporadic E layer was present, a significant disagreement between both measurements has been found. The discrepancies could be related to the uncertainties of the observational inputs and to the interpretation of the digisonde data. The comparison of the phase paths shows that during geomagnetically quiet days, in the absence of the sporadic E layer, and when high quality ionograms are available and correctly scaled, the electron density N(h) profiles, calculated by the Automatic Real Time Ionogram Scaler with True height algorithm (ARTIST), can be considered reliable.

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Citation: Buresova, D., Krasnov, V., Drobzheva, Ya., Lastovicka, J., Chum, J., and Hruska, F.: Assessing the quality of ionogram interpretation using the HF Doppler technique, Ann. Geophys., 25, 895-904, 2007.   Bibtex   EndNote   Reference Manager