A simple model of the effects of the mid‐latitude total ion trough in the bottomside <i>F</i> layer on HF radiowave propagation

Abstract

Observations of the amplitudes and Doppler shifts of received HF radio waves are compared with model predictions made using a two‐dimensional ray‐tracing program. The signals are propagated over a sub‐auroral path, which is shown to lie along the latitudes of the mid‐latitude trough at times of low geomagnetic activity. Generalizing the predictions to include a simple model of the trough in the density and height of the F 2 peak enables the explanation of the anomalous observed diurnal variations. The behavior of received amplitude, Doppler shift, and signal‐to‐noise ratio as a function of the K p index value, the time of day, and the season (in 17 months of continuous recording) is found to agree closely with that predicted using the statistical position of the trough as deduced from 8 years of Alouette satellite soundings. The variation in the times of the observation of large signal amplitudes with the K p value and the complete absence of such amplitudes when it exceeds 2.75 are two features that implicate the trough in these effects.