Scintillation modeling using in situ data

Satellite in situ measurements of plasma (electron) density fluctuations provide direct
information about the structure and morphology of irregularities that are responsible
for scintillation of radio waves on transionospheric links. When supplemented with the
ionosphere model and irregularity anisotropy model, they can be applied to model
morphology of scintillation provided a suitable propagation model is used. In this paper
we present a scintillation climatological model for the Northern Hemisphere high-latitude
ionosphere, which makes use of the Dynamics Explorer 2 retarding potential analyzer
plasma density data, IRI ionosphere model, and the phase screen propagation model. An
important aspect of our work is that we derived from the satellite data not just the
turbulence strength parameter Cs but also the spectral index p, which influences the
scintillation level as well. We discuss the magnetic activity, season, magnetic time, and
latitude dependence of these parameters. We were able to reproduce successfully the
observed scintillation intensity diurnal and seasonal variations. The model satisfactorily
describes the expansion of the scintillation zone under magnetically disturbed conditions
and reproduces the dawn-dusk asymmetry in the scintillation intensity. The results
demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed approach.

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