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 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.
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 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.
| 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, clean ionogram data and scaled data
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 Watheroo 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.