Dependences of the NmF2 midlatitude statistical characteristics on the month of a year under geomagnetically quiet conditions near noon at low solar activity

Abstract

The month-to-month variations in the statistical characteristics of the electron density at the mid-latitude ionospheric F2 layer maximum (NmF2) were studied for geomagnetically quiet conditions near noon. The ionospheric F2 layer critical frequencies, measured by ionosondes in Ashkhabad, Tashkent, Rostov, Irkutsk, Moscow, Sverdlovsk, Tomsk, and Magadan at low solar activity from 1957 to 2013, were used in the performed statistical analysis. The mathematical expectation and the arithmetical mean value of NmF2, the arithmetical mean value of the NmF2 median, and the most probable NmF2 value were calculated for each month. The months with local extremums of these NmF2 statistical characteristics were indicated. It was demonstrated that the semiannual symmetry in the implementation time of local maximums of the NmF2 mathematical expectation, arithmetical mean values, and mean median is observed in the month-to-month variations over Ashkhabad, Tashkent, and Sverdlovsk. The semiannual symmetry of the most probable NmF2 value was found over Ashkhabad. The NmF2 statistical characteristics were compared with one another for each ionosonde at a fixed month. This comparison shows that the values of the most probable NmF2 and the NmF2 mathematical expectation and arithmetically mean median can pronouncedly differ from one another, and the maximal difference of the NmF2 mathematical expectation from the NmF2 arithmetical mean is 0.9%.