Data Access
Ionograms are an image of frequency versus time delay (virtual height) of HF echoes from the ionosphere recorded by an ionosonde. An ionosonde is a swept frequency HF pulsed radar used to monitor the ionosphere. SWS WDC has archived ionogram data from 26 stations, 12 of them are still active at present. A vertical analog ionosonde had been installed at Alice Springs and sounded since 01/05/1985 to 11/10/1985. The vertical sounding ionosondes normally sweep in frequency from about 1.0 to 21.5 MHz. Frequency step resolution is 5 kHz, with up to 4095 steps available. The step interval is variable, becoming more coarse at higher frequencies as ionograms are generally displayed on a logarithmic scale. Every five minutes, a Ionogram data file is recorded. The raw ionogram is recorded in a film, which will be posted to Sydney SWS head office. SWS manually scaled and archived all ionogram films. There is no digital raw or clean ionogram data for Alice Springs. The Alice Springs scaled hourly ionospheric data include parameters of foF2, foF1, FoE, foEs, fbEs, fmin, fxl, f'scaling F/s, M(3000)F2, h'F2, h'F, h'E, h'Es, h'Scaling R/S and Type Es. They are available since 01/05/1985 to 11/10/1985. The Alice Springs median data of foF2 and M(3000)F2 are available since 05/1985 to 10/1985.
Alice Springs station is closed in October 1985.
Version:2.3.2
Ionograms are an image of frequency versus time delay (virtual height) of HF echoes from the ionosphere recorded by an ionosonde. An ionosonde is a swept frequency HF pulsed radar used to monitor the ionosphere. SWS WDC has archived ionogram data from 26 stations, 12 of them are still active at present. A vertical analog ionosonde had been installed at Alice Springs and sounded since 01/05/1985 to 11/10/1985. The vertical sounding ionosondes normally sweep in frequency from about 1.0 to 21.5 MHz. Frequency step resolution is 5 kHz, with up to 4095 steps available. The step interval is variable, becoming more coarse at higher frequencies as ionograms are generally displayed on a logarithmic scale. Every five minutes, a Ionogram data file is recorded. The raw ionogram is recorded in a film, which will be posted to Sydney SWS head office. SWS manually scaled and archived all ionogram films. There is no digital raw or clean ionogram data for Alice Springs. The Alice Springs scaled hourly ionospheric data include parameters of foF2, foF1, FoE, foEs, fbEs, fmin, fxl, f'scaling F/s, M(3000)F2, h'F2, h'F, h'E, h'Es, h'Scaling R/S and Type Es. They are available since 01/05/1985 to 11/10/1985. The Alice Springs median data of foF2 and M(3000)F2 are available since 05/1985 to 10/1985.
Alice Springs station is closed in October 1985.
| Role | Person | StartDate | StopDate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | GeneralContact | spase://ASWS/Person/Kehe.Wang | |||
| 2. | MetadataContact | spase://ASWS/Person/Kehe.Wang | |||
| 3. | MetadataContact | spase://SMWG/Person/Lee.Frost.Bargatze |
includes descriptions of data format of raw ionogram data and clean ionogram data
Softwares to view clean ionogram data with scaling function
includes browse display interface, button to get yearly data file and link to data availability chart
includes browse display interface, button to get the median data file and link to data availability chart
Access to the scaled ionospheric data of Alice Springs ionosondes
Frequencies used to sonde ionopshere
The apparent height of an ionospheric layer deduced from the time delay of a reflected radio pulse upon the assumption that it travelled at the speed of light over its entire path. However, the radio wave actually slows down as it is refracted so that the virtual height is greater than the true height of the refracting layer.