Oscillations detected near the lower boundary of the Venus ionosphere from the radio occultation measurements of the Venera-15 and Venera-16 satellites

Abstract

The possibility of detecting wave processes in the atmosphere-ionosphere system of the planet from perturbations of radio signals in radio occultation experiments is studied. A method of interpretation of the radio-raying data that does not employ integral transforms and is well-adapted to problems of detecting refractive index oscillations observed during sensing of the stratified gas envelope of the planet is presented. Periodic oscillations of the radio signal power that are linearly related with the rate of variation in the frequency of the signal used for probing of the atmosphere and ionosphere are found, which evidences wave perturbations of the medium near the lower boundary of the daytime ionosphere of Venus.