Spatial variability of total electron content in the eastern Mediterranean region

Technical Report · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984

OSTI ID:6845763

Soicher,; Klobuchar, J A; Doherty, P H

Faraday-rotation observations were conducted at Haifa, Israel (32.87N, 35.09E), and Athens, Greece (37.97N, 23.72E), during the maximum phase of the current solar cycle using the VHF beacon of the SIRIO satellite. The subionospheric points (at 420km) are (29.9N, 27.9E) and (34.5N, 18.4E), and the subionospheric L-shell values are 1.24 and 1.37, respectively. Expected latitudinal and local time differences in total electron content (TEC) for the two locales are observed. However, the Haifa data are characterized by generally occurring, seasonally independent, large postsunset electron content maxima which are absent for the Athens data. Furthermore, the postsunset increases would appear to be a solar-maximum phenomenon, as they are not observed during the minimum phase of the solar cycle. The postsunset increases are attributed to electron fluxes arriving from the equatorial regions along the magnetic lines of force. The correlation coefficients of hourly TEC at the Haifa/Athens locales exhibit a seasonally independent diurnal variation with minimum values at night and maximum values generally at the end of the buildup phase of TEC variation. The daytime ratios of the standard deviation of TEC to the average TEC are generally seasonally independent and behave quite similarly at the two locals, with daytime values below about 25%.

• Research Organization: Air Force Geophysics Lab., Hanscom AFB, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6845763
• Report Number(s): AD-A-174036/4/XAB; AFGL-TR-86-0230
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASIA
DAILY VARIATIONS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTRON DENSITY
FARADAY EFFECT
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
IONOSPHERE
ISRAEL
LATITUDE EFFECT
MIDDLE EAST
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SOLAR CYCLE
VARIATIONS