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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Space Physics
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspas.2024.1343286

Interferometry of ionospheric E-region irregularities based on Kunming VHF radars

Provisionally accepted
Yihao Xu Yihao Xu 1Xiang Wang Xiang Wang 2*Tong Xu Tong Xu 3*Zhongxin Deng Zhongxin Deng 3*Bin Xu Bin Xu 3*Jian Feng Jian Feng 3*Ting Lan Ting Lan 4*Haiyin Qing Haiyin Qing 5*Yuqiang Zhang Yuqiang Zhang 6Chen Zhou Chen Zhou 6Yi Liu Yi Liu 6*
  • 1 School of physics, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
  • 2 School of artificial Intelligence, Hubei University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
  • 3 National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Environment, China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
  • 4 School of Computer Science, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang, Hubei Province, China
  • 5 Key Laboratory of Detection and Application of Space Effect in Southwest Sichuan at Leshan Normal Univer-sity, Sichuan Provincial Department of Education, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 6 Department of Space Physics, School of Electronic Information, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    There is a long history of using VHF radar systems to detect ionospheric irregularities based on the theory of coherent scattering. According to previous work, there is a high occurrence of field-aligned irregularities (FAIs) in the ionospheric E-region over Kunming, China. In this paper, the VHF coherent scattering radar at Kunming is used to study the FAIs in the ionospheric E-region. Different arrangement of VHF radar antenna arrays, interferometry, and FAI echo parameter inversion methods are designed and tested. The measurement results show that the temporal and spatial characteristics of the irregularities can be obtained using these methods, as well as more refined spatial three-dimensional structure information. It is indicated that the new arrangement of the VHF radar antenna array is feasible to operate interferometry detection of E-region FAIs with the Kunming VHF radar.

    Keywords: VHF radar, field-aligned irregularities, three-dimensional structure, Interferometry, Parameter inversion

    Received: 23 Nov 2023; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xu, Wang, Xu, Deng, Xu, Feng, Lan, Qing, Zhang, Zhou and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xiang Wang, School of artificial Intelligence, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, Hubei Province, China
    Tong Xu, National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Environment, China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
    Zhongxin Deng, National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Environment, China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
    Bin Xu, National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Environment, China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
    Jian Feng, National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Environment, China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
    Ting Lan, School of Computer Science, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang, 438000, Hubei Province, China
    Haiyin Qing, Key Laboratory of Detection and Application of Space Effect in Southwest Sichuan at Leshan Normal Univer-sity, Sichuan Provincial Department of Education, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Yi Liu, Department of Space Physics, School of Electronic Information, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei Province, China

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