A method for automatic detection of equatorial spread-F in ionograms

A method is presented for automatic detection of spread-F. The method is based on an image recognition technique and is applied to ionograms recorded at the ionospheric station of Tucumán (26.9°S, 294.6°E). The performance achieved is statistically evaluated and demonstrated with significant examples. The proposed method improves Autoscala's ability to reject ionograms with insufficient information, including those featuring Spread-F. Automatic identification of cases of spread-F is of additional interest in Space Weather applications, when it helps detect degraded radio propagation conditions.

The present data analysis is a retrospective study but forms the basis for real-time application as an extension of Autoscala’s capabilities.