Massive statistical analysis of autoscaled data: the case of the double reflection signature in mid-latitude vertical ionograms

Abstract

This work shows how new capabilities can emerge from a massive statistical analysis of previously overlooked autoscaled data. In particular, the paper shows how autoscaling methods for vertical ionograms, specifically Autoscala, can offer a new kind of data that are not currently available at World Data Center or elsewhere and not reported by manual ionogram scalers. In this context, an example of such new analyses is the presentation of a statistics of occurrence of the double reflection phenomenon that sometimes characterizes ionograms. In order to establish this original statistics, a method developed to smooth out a specific autoscaling problem was utilized, and a large data set of ionograms recorded from 2003 to 2008 by the AIS-INGV ionosondes installed at the ionospheric stations of Rome (41.8°N, 12.5°E) and Gibilmanna (37.9°N, 14.0°E), Italy, was analyzed. The main results that emerged from the study are hence illustrated and briefly discussed.