Wavelet-based analysis and power law classification of C/NOFS high-resolution electron density data

Abstract

This paper applies new wavelet-based analysis procedures to low Earth-orbiting satellite measurements of equatorial ionospheric structure. The analysis was applied to high-resolution data from 285 Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite orbits sampling the postsunset period at geomagnetic equatorial latitudes. The data were acquired during a period of progressively intensifying equatorial structure. The sampled altitude range varied from 400 to 800 km. The varying scan velocity remained within 20° of the cross-field direction. Time-to-space interpolation generated uniform samples at approximately 8 m. A maximum segmentation length that supports stochastic structure characterization was identified. A two-component inverse power law model was fit to scale spectra derived from each segment together with a goodness-of-fit measure. Inverse power law parameters derived from the scale spectra were used to classify the scale spectra by type. The largest category was characterized by a single inverse power law with a mean spectral index somewhat larger than 2. No systematic departure from the inverse power law was observed to scales greater than 100 km. A small subset of the most highly disturbed passes at the lowest sampled altitudes could be categorized by two-component power law spectra with a range of break scales from less than 100 m to several kilometers. The results are discussed within the context of other analyses of in situ data and spectral characteristics used for scintillation analyses.