Scattered reflections and multiple traces in the range of 7–10 MHz on ionograms of the interkosmos-19 satellite

Abstract

The scattered reflections and multiple traces regularly recorded on the topside sounding ionograms of the Interkosmos-19 satellite in the frequency range of 7–10 MHz are considered. The reflected radio signals in this frequency range appear both above and below the critical frequency of the regular layer F2. They are observed at all altitudes of the topside ionosphere from hmF2 to a satellite altitude of 1000 km. It is shown that these phenomena regularly appear at high latitudes (≥60° ILAT) and, less often, in the equatorial region. The scattered reflections indicate the presence of small-scale irregularities, and continuous traces are a consequence of total internal reflection from large-scale irregularities. Small-scale irregularities evidently form within a large-scale irregularity. Ray tracing shows that the size of large-scale irregularities is hundreds of kilometers in height and tens of kilometers in latitude. The appearance of scattered reflections and multiple traces at high latitudes is nearly independent of local time; in the equatorial region, they appear only in the interval of 20–08 LT. All of this agrees well with other observations of irregularities in the ionospheric plasma of different scales.