SPASE version 2.2.3

Numerical Data Product: Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre Townsville Ionogram

Resource ID

spase://ASWS/NumericalData/Ionogram/Tvl_Ionogram

Name

Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre Townsville Ionogram

Alternate name

Description

Ionograms are an image of frequency versus time delay (virtual height) of HF echoes from the ionosphere recorded by an ionosonde. An ionosonde is a swept frequency HF pulsed radar used to monitor the ionosphere. The WDC has archived ionogram data from 30 stations, 12 of them are still active at present. An IPS 5D ionosonde has been sounding since 17/08/2000 at Townsville until 10/09/2018. During 09/01/2019 and 27/09/2022 an IPS 5F ionosonde was in operation. The 5D/5F vertical sounding ionosondes normally sweep in frequency from about 1 to 21.5 MHz. Frequency step resolution for the 5D/5F is 5kHz, with up to 4095 steps available. The step interval is variable, becoming more coarse at higher frequencies as ionograms are generally displayed on a logarithmic scale. Every five minutes, a Ionogram data file is recorded, cleaned and the cleaned ionogram is transfered to Sydney for autoscaling and further analysis. The raw ionogram file is recorded in a DVD monthly, which will be posted to Sydney every month. During 13/05/1994 to 19/12/2001, Townsville also had an IPS 4D ionosonde. During 01/01/1991 to 03/09/1998, an IPS 5a ionosonde. and During 03/09/1998 to 15/08/2000, a CADI ionosonde. Since 24/10/2021, a 6A ionosonde started to sound at Townsville. The 6A vertical sounding ionosondes normally sweep in frequency from 1 to 22 MHz. Minimum frequency step resolution for the 6A is 5kHz, with up to 4200 frequency points available. The step interval is variable, starting from 25 kHz at 1 MHz and becoming more coarse at higher frequencies (100 kHz at 22 MHz) as ionograms are generally displayed on a logarithmic scale. Every five minutes, an Ionogram data file is recorded, cleaned and the cleaned ionogram is transferred to Sydney for autoscaling and further analysis. The WDC archives all raw ionogram files and cleaned ionogram files. The Townsville digital clean ionogram data is available since 01/01/1991, and digital raw ionogram data since 13/05/1994. The Townsville scaled hourly ionospheric data include parameters of foF2, foF1, FoE, foEs, fbEs, fmin, fxl, f'scaling F/s, M(3000)F2, h'F2, h'F, h'E, h'Es, h'Scaling R/S and Type Es. They are avalable since 09/06/1951. The Townsville median data of foF2 and M(3000)F2 are available since 06/1946.

Additional information

World Data Centre: Data Display and Download: Hourly Ionospheirc Data

includes browse display interface, button to get yearly data file and link to data availability chart

Language

en

World Data Centre: Data Display and Download: Monthly Median Ionospheirc Data

includes browse display interface, button to get the median data file and link to data availability chart

Language

en

Documentation

includes descriptions of data format of raw ionogram data and clean ionogram data

Language

en

Software

Softwares to view clean ionogram data with scaling function

Language

en

Real Time Display

Online viewer of Real Time clean ionogram data

Language

en

Acknowledgement

Contact

	Role	Person
1.	General contact	spase://SMWG/Person/Kehe.Wang
2.	Metadata contact	spase://SMWG/Person/Kehe.Wang

Release date

2016-02-25 17:00:00

Repository

Name

spase://SMWG/Repository/SWS

Availability

Online

Access rights

Open

URL

https access to raw and clean ionogram data

https access to the raw and clean ionogram data of Townsville IPS 4D (tvl4d), 5A (tvl5a) and IPS 5D (tvl5d) ionosondes and CADI ionosonde (tvlcd)

Language

en

Format

Binary

Encoding

None

Acknowledgement

Provider processing level

The original ionogram data are raw data, they are then cleaned by reducing noise signals at the station. The manually scaled data is calibrated and the autoscaled data is uncalibrated.

Instrument

spase://ASWS/Instrument/Ground/Townsville/Ionosonde

Measurement type

Active waves

Temporal description

Start date

1946-06-01 00:00:00

Relative stop date

1 day ago

Note

The earliest median ionospheric data since 06/1946. Digital clean ionogram data are current to within a day.

Spectral range

RadioFrequency

Observed regions

Earth.NearSurface.Ionosphere

Caveats

Keywords

Hourly ionospheric data

Ionogram

Ionosphere

Ionospheric data

Median ionospheric data

Scaled parameters

Parameters