Determining the drift velocity of ionospheric irregularities by analyzing three mutually orthogonal projections of the HF radio signal field vector

This paper presents results of an experimental verification of our earlier suggested spectral-polarization method of measuring the interference patter n velocity by analyzing three mutually orthogonal projections of the radio signal field vector using a single receiving antenna, The measurements were made on an HF radio path about 100 km in length, with a simultaneous monit oring of the ionospheric situation using an oblique-incidence sounding chir p-ionosonde. In an effort to eliminate multipath effects, in the analysis w e used nighttime intervals, for which a stable one-mode reflected radio sig nal was observed. It is shown that the proposed method gives the mean value s of the azimuth and zenith angle which differ by no more than 2 to 5 degre es from calculated values, Mean values of the velocity of travelling ionosp heric disturbances (of order 50 m/s) and propagation directions (north-west ward changing to northward by the morning hours) obtained for these time in tervals are consistent with existing published data. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.