Simultaneous observations of equatorial ionospheric scintillation on four frequencies

Abstract

Radio waves emanating from stars or satellites fluctuate in intensity when received on the ground. This phenomenon, radioscintillation, arises from irregularities in the ionosphere through which the waves must pass. These scintillations have been studied in an attempt to understand the properties of the irregulatiries themselves but with the advent of satellite communications the knowledge of the ionospheric scintillations has become essential for the proper planning of the systems. One of the important unresolved problems is the variation of scintillation with frequency. This note describes our recordings of the scintillations at equatorial latitudes occurring simultaneously on 40, 140, 360 and 860 MHz.