STATISTICAL INVESTIGATION OF IONOSPHERIC DRIFT.
Abstract
Drift data obtained with the three antennas fading method have been analyzed with a simple 'digitized' method using 12 steps for direction and 14 for the speed value. The reduction method has been applied to observations at (A) Breisach, 1958/64, (B) Puerto Rico, 1954/60, (C) Eglin AFB, fall 1962. (A) concerns observations with 6 antennas i.e. in four triangles. By comparison it is stated that in spite of the rather large dispersion obtained with individual fades, the usual method using medians of about 10 fades gives rather satisfactory results. The angular error has median dispersion of plus or minus 18 degrees, standard deviation of plus or minus 27 degrees. A seasonal influence exists, it is rather small for the directional error but more important for the distribution of speeds. This influence is studied with differential statistical methods, and analyzed in terms of yearly and halfyearly variations. To (B) a complete set of monthly drift statistics is presented for the whole period. To (C) we show similar statistics for three months, and individual data obtained from the artificial ion cloud of four 'Firefly' release experiments. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 31, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0663443
Entities
People
- E. Harnischmacher
- K. Rawer