Investigation of the Small-scale Irregularities in F-region of the Mid-latitude Ionosphere by Radioprobing and Radiolocation

Abstract

Small-scale irregularities of the ionosphere have a significant impact on the operation of various technological systems. In this paper, two independent methods are used to study them: radio illumination with satellite signals (the receiver is located at the Lomonosov Moscow State University) and radar (the DPS-4 ionosonde is located at IZMIRAN). To interpret the experimental data, a special program LocalDrift was developed to calculate the direction and speed of drift in a local area with small-scale irregularities. The data were obtained in the mid-latitude zone during September - December 2011 in quiet geomagnetic conditions. Comparison of the direction of the medium-scale irregularities drift and the orientation of the transverse anisotropy of small-scale irregularities in the F-region showed good agreement between these experimental data. The difference from the results of using the standard DriftExplorer program is shown.