Equatorial Ionospheric Specification and Forecasting with HF Beacons, Radar, and Simulation
Abstract
We review the accomplishments of the Cornell effort to study and forecast equatorial spread F in the Peruvian sector. Equatorial spread F (ESF) is a phenomenon associated with plasma convective instability in the post sunset equatorial F-region ionosphere. Convective instability can disrupt ground- and space-based radio communication, navigation, and imaging systems. While the effects have been known about for 80+ years, they remain difficult to predictand mitigate. Our forecast strategy incorporates a novel AFOSR-supported numerical ionospheric instability model which includes both 1) nonequipotential field lines and 2) complete transport in the {\em E}, valley, and F regions. It can be initialized and forced solely with data from the Jicamarca Radio Observatory. The model has been shown to be able to reproduce, qualitatively and quantitatively, plasma density irregularities observed at Jicamarca during campaigns conducted under a range of background conditions. This has been demonstrated in an extensive series of AFOSR-supported experimental campaigns. While the simulation code does not produce false alarms, it occasionally fails to predict irregularities. These failures could be due to causes outside the ionospheric region visible to Jicamarca. To investigate this shortcoming, we deployed a network of HF beacon transmitters and receivers in the Peruvian sector under this award.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 14, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1153199
Entities
People
- D. L. Hysell
Organizations
- Cornell University