Abstract The shape of the electron density profile obtained from daytime hours centered at noon composed ionograms at three low modifed dip ionospheric stations (Tucumán: −22,7; San Juan: −29,1; Buenos Aires: −32,24) was investigated. The profiles were divided in sections defined by the following points: the electron density corresponding to foE (NE), the inflection point in the F1 region (NF1) as defined by the authors in a previous paper, the electron density corresponding to 0.5 of the maximum electron density in the F2 layer (NBF2) and the electron density corresponding to foF2 (NF2). In all cases the possible existence of a valley between the E and F regions was ignored, following the assumption accepted in the literature for low latitude and hours centered around noon. Several simple mathematical functions were used to adjust the different sections of the profiles. A function that adjusted very well the two sections was the exponential. When no inflection point was present at F1 heights the profile between NE and NBF2 was found to be adjusted by a unique exponential. The profile section between NBF2 and NF2 was adjusted by a linear equation or a parabolic one with very small cuadratic term. The seasonal and solar activity variations of the coefficient of the exponential functions for the middle ionosphere were analyzed in terms of an effective scale height H∗. A semithickness parameter DH was introduced to look for a possible correlation of it with the height of the electron density maximum in the F2 layer (hmF2). In all cases a high linear correlation was found. The slope of the corresponding regression line increases toward high latitudes, showing a greater sensitivity of the layer semithickness with the height of the maximum electron density of higher latitudes.
Electron density profile analysis at low latitudes
Advances in Space Research ; 8 , 4 ; 79-82
1988-01-01
4 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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