Study of sporadic-E clouds by backscatter radar

Z. Houminer (1) , C. J. Russell (2) , P. L. Dyson (2) , J. A. Bennett (3)

1 ASRI - Asher Space Research Institute
2 School of Physics
3 Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering

It is shown that swept-frequency backscatter ionograms covering a range of azimuths can be used to study the dynamics of sporadic-E clouds. A simple technique based on analytic ray tracing can be used to simulate the observed narrow traces associated with E_s patches. This enables the location and extent of the sporadic-E clouds to be determined. The motion of clouds can then be determined from a time sequence of records. In order to demonstrate the method, results are presented from an initial study of 5 days of backscatter ionograms from the Jindalee Stage B data base obtained during March-April 1990. Usually 2?3 clouds were observed each day, mainly during the evening and up to midnight. The clouds lasted from 1?4 h and extended between 30°?80° in azimuth and 150-800 km in range. The clouds were mostly stationary or drifted generally westward with velocities of up to 80 m s^?1. Only one cloud was observed moving eastward.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

Z. Houminer, C. J. Russell, P. L. Dyson, J. A. Bennett. Study of sporadic-E clouds by backscatter radar. Annales Geophysicae, 1996, 14 (10), pp.1060-1065. ⟨hal-00316207⟩