EVALUATION OF THE S4 SCINTILLATIONS INDEX IN TRANSCONTINENTAL DECAMETER RADIO LINES

Abstract

On the HAARP and EISCAT heating stands, to solve a number of applied problems, studies are being carried out on the excitation of an interlayer ionospheric waveguide. The success of the implementation of these tasks depends on many factors, including the level of fading of the electromagnetic field in the waveguide, to assess the variations of which researchers use the scintillation index S4. The waveguide excitation model proposed by the experimenters is based on the perspective "self-scattering effect" on artificial magnetically oriented irregulars of the ionosphere. However, within the frame work of this approach, the possibility of the existence of other mechanisms of excitation of the waveguide and the influence of the geophysical environment on this process is not taken into account. To test this assumption, we use multi-position diagnostics based on SDR technology. Measurements on quasi-longitudinal and quasi-transverse paths with respect to the Earth's magnetic field line, as well as under different geophysical conditions, showed a significant difference in the variations of the scintillation index S4 and the intensity of the scattered wave. The results obtained can be used in the problems of optimizing schemes for pumping an information signal into an interlayer ionospheric waveguide.