HPDE.io

Australian Space Weather Services Watheroo Ionogram

ResourceID
spase://ASWS/NumericalData/Ionogram/Wat_Ionogram

Description

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 Watheroo and sounded since 31/05/1938 to 13/03/1959. 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 every month. SWS manually scaled and archived all ionogram films. There is no digital raw or clean ionogram data for Watheroo. The Watheroo 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 31/05/1938 to 13/03/1959. The Watheroo median data of foF2 and M(3000)F2 are available since 05/1938 to 03/1959.

Watheroo station is in operation from July of 1935 to March of 1959. Since April of 1959 Watheroo was replaced by Mundaring Observatory station.

View XML | View JSON | Edit

Details

Version:2.3.2

NumericalData

ResourceID
spase://ASWS/NumericalData/Ionogram/Wat_Ionogram
ResourceHeader
ResourceName
Australian Space Weather Services Watheroo Ionogram
ReleaseDate
2021-03-29 17:14:50Z
Description

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 Watheroo and sounded since 31/05/1938 to 13/03/1959. 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 every month. SWS manually scaled and archived all ionogram films. There is no digital raw or clean ionogram data for Watheroo. The Watheroo 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 31/05/1938 to 13/03/1959. The Watheroo median data of foF2 and M(3000)F2 are available since 05/1938 to 03/1959.

Watheroo station is in operation from July of 1935 to March of 1959. Since April of 1959 Watheroo was replaced by Mundaring Observatory station.

Acknowledgement
We are thankful to the Space Weather Network, Bureau of Meteorology of Australia for the observations of Watheroo ionogram data.
Contacts
RolePersonStartDateStopDateNote
1.GeneralContactspase://ASWS/Person/Kehe.Wang
2.MetadataContactspase://ASWS/Person/Kehe.Wang
3.MetadataContactspase://SMWG/Person/Lee.Frost.Bargatze
InformationURL
Name
Documentation (not with most browsers)
URL
Description

includes descriptions of data format of raw ionogram data, clean ionogram data and scaled data

Language
en
AccessInformation
RepositoryID
Availability
Online
AccessRights
Open
AccessURL
Name
World Data Centre: Data Display and Download: Hourly Ionospheric Data
URL
Style
Search
Description

includes browse display interface, button to get yearly data file and link to data availability chart

Language
en
Format
Text
Encoding
GZIP
AccessInformation
RepositoryID
Availability
Online
AccessRights
Open
AccessURL
Name
World Data Centre: Data Display and Download: Monthly Median Ionospheric Data
URL
Style
Search
Description

includes browse display interface, button to get the median data file and link to data availability chart

Language
en
Format
Text
Encoding
None
AccessInformation
RepositoryID
Availability
Online
AccessRights
Open
AccessURL
Name
Access to scaled data (not with most browsers)
URL
Style
Listing
Description

Access to the scaled ionospheric data of Watheroo ionosondes

Language
en
Format
Binary
Encoding
ZIP
ProviderProcessingLevel
The manually scaled data is calibrated and the autoscaled data is uncalibrated.
InstrumentIDs
MeasurementType
Waves.Active
TemporalDescription
TimeSpan
StartDate
1938-05-31 00:00:00Z
StopDate
1959-03-13 00:00:00Z
Note
The earliest scaled ionospheric data since 31/05/1938.
SpectralRange
RadioFrequency
ObservedRegion
Earth.NearSurface.Ionosphere
Keywords
Ionogram
Ionospheric data
Ionosphere
Median ionospheric data
Hourly ionospheric data
Scaled parameters
Parameter #1
Name
Frequency
Description

Frequencies used to sonde ionopshere

Cadence
PT60M
Units
MHz
Wave
WaveType
Electromagnetic
Qualifier
Directional
Qualifier
Group
WaveQuantity
Frequency
FrequencyRange
SpectralRange
RadioFrequency
Low
1.0
High
21.5
Units
MHz
Parameter #2
Name
Virtual Height
Description

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.

Cadence
PT60M
Units
km
ValidMin
50
ValidMax
1000
Mixed
MixedQuantity
Other