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. The first ionosonde was installed in Mundaring in April 1959. An IPS 4D ionosonde has been sounding since 03/08/1994 at Mundaring and it was replaced by a CADI ionosonde in April 2001 until the station was completely closed in December 2007. The vertical sounding ionosondes normally sweep in frequency from about 1 to 21.5 MHz. Frequency step resolution for the is 5kHz, 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, cleaned and the cleaned ionogram is transfered to SWS Sydney head office for autoscaling and further analysis. The raw ionogram file was recorded monthly, and then was posted to Sydney SWS head office every month. SWS WDC archived all raw ionogram files and cleaned ionogram files. The Mundaring digital clean ionogram data is available since 15/02/1995, and digital raw ionogram data since 03/08/1994. The Mundaring 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 avalable since 02/04/1959 to 23/12/2007. The Mundaring median data of foF2 and M(3000)F2 are available since 04/1959 to 12/2007.
The Mundaring station was closed due to vandalism in December 2007.
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. The first ionosonde was installed in Mundaring in April 1959. An IPS 4D ionosonde has been sounding since 03/08/1994 at Mundaring and it was replaced by a CADI ionosonde in April 2001 until the station was completely closed in December 2007. The vertical sounding ionosondes normally sweep in frequency from about 1 to 21.5 MHz. Frequency step resolution for the is 5kHz, 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, cleaned and the cleaned ionogram is transfered to SWS Sydney head office for autoscaling and further analysis. The raw ionogram file was recorded monthly, and then was posted to Sydney SWS head office every month. SWS WDC archived all raw ionogram files and cleaned ionogram files. The Mundaring digital clean ionogram data is available since 15/02/1995, and digital raw ionogram data since 03/08/1994. The Mundaring 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 avalable since 02/04/1959 to 23/12/2007. The Mundaring median data of foF2 and M(3000)F2 are available since 04/1959 to 12/2007.
The Mundaring station was closed due to vandalism in December 2007.
| Role | Person | StartDate | StopDate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | GeneralContact | spase://ASWS/Person/Kehe.Wang | |||
| 2. | MetadataContact | spase://ASWS/Person/Kehe.Wang |
includes descriptions of data format of raw ionogram data, clean ionogram data and scaled 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 raw and clean ionogram data of Mundaring IPS 4D and CADI 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.