Geostationary-satellite beacon-receiver array for studies of ionospheric irregularities

摘要

Ionospheric irregularities can be studied by various techniques. These include widely spaced Doppler sounders or ionosondes, Faraday rotation polarimetry, and two-frequency differential Doppler, and radio interferometry. With geostationary satellites, one usually uses Faraday rotation of the beacon signal to measure the ionospheric TEC. With a network of polarimeters, the horizontal wave parameters of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDS) can be deduced, but the shortcoming of this technique is its poor sensitivity. This paper describes a geostationary-satellite beacon-receiver array at Los Alamos, New Mexico, which will be employed for the studying of ionospheric irregularities, especially the fine-scale TIDS.