Calibration of h'Es from VIPIR2 ionosondes in Japan

Abstract The measurement of virtual height of the sporadic E layer (h'Es) is very sensitive to the type of ionosonde used and the calibration processes. The ionosondes used by the national institute of communication and technology (NICT) has changed several times in the past, resulting in large...

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Main Authors: Sorai Teraoka, Huixin Liu, Michi Nishioka, Susumu Saito, Toru Takahashi, Atsushi Kumamoto, Yuki Ashihara, Takumi Abe
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-02-01
Series:Earth, Planets and Space
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-025-02138-4
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Summary:Abstract The measurement of virtual height of the sporadic E layer (h'Es) is very sensitive to the type of ionosonde used and the calibration processes. The ionosondes used by the national institute of communication and technology (NICT) has changed several times in the past, resulting in large differences in h'Es before and after the change. We propose a simple method to calibrate h'Es. We used the data of ionosonde observations at four stations, i.e., Wakkanai (45.16°N, 141.75°E), Tokyo (35.71°N, 139.49°E), Yamagawa (31.20°N, 130.62°E), Okinawa (26.68°N, 128.15°E) to calibrate the latest ionosondes VIPIR2, which were installed in May 2017. We carried out the analysis by applying the double-reflection method to the original ionogram images between 2017 and 2021. By developing an automated image detecting algorithm, we were able to process a large amount of data and achieve a calibration with high accuracy. As a result, it was found that the current VIPIR2 data had an offset of 26–28 km. Graphical abstract
ISSN:1880-5981