STUDY OF THE EARTH'S IONOSPHERE BY RECEPTION OF RADIO WAVES FROM SATELLITES.

Abstract

A study of ionospheric scintillations by the reception of signals from the Russian satellite 1962 Cosmos I was undertaken. The satellite transmitted at a frequency of 20 Mc/s and it was found possible to receive the first two harmonics at 40 Mc/s and 60 Mc/s. A high percentage of scintillation was observed on all night-time transits of the satellite. No marked variation of scintillation index with elevation angle was observed. The scintillation index varied with wavelength as lambda (0.78) for magnetically quiet days and as lambda (0.36) for magnetically disturbed days. A pronounced latitude dependence of scintillations was observed. The onset of scintillations occurred at a sub-ionospheric latitude (referred to a height of 300 km) of 35 degrees N on magnetically quiet days and the same effect was observed at 33 degrees N for magnetically disturbed days. A zone of almost uniform scintillation exists beyond a latitude of 41 degrees N. On certain occasions the satellite passed through clouds of irregularities, the size of which were about 550 km. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1964
Accession Number
AD0611093

Entities

People

  • Sunanda Basu

Organizations

  • Boston University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Satellites
  • Elevation
  • Frequency
  • Harmonics
  • Ionosphere
  • Ionospheric Scintillation
  • Latitude
  • Radio Waves
  • Scintillation
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology

Technology Areas

  • Space