Improvement of HF coherent radar line-of-sight velocities by estimating the refractive index in the scattering volume using radar frequency shifting

Abstract

Measurements of ionospheric drift velocities using HF coherent scatter radars, such as SuperDARN, are generally underestimated because the refractive index in the scattering volume has not been taken into account. Refractive index values evaluated from electron density measurements, international reference ionosphere predictions, or elevation angle measurements have been applied to SuperDARN velocities in past studies. However, the SuperDARN velocities so obtained were, on average, statistically lower than velocities measured by other instruments. One possible explanation for this underestimation is that HF coherent scatter preferentially occurs in regions of the ionosphere where the scattering cross section is largest, and such regions are characterized by small-scale structures which have higher-than-average electron densities. This was not accounted for in past studies because the refractive index estimates used were from large scale and therefore smoothed estimates of electron density. In this paper, a new method of estimating the actual electron density (or plasma frequency) at the location of SuperDARN scatter (instead of the larger-scale background electron density) is presented. This method takes advantage of the frequency shifts which occur in normal SuperDARN operations. If it is assumed that, on average, the actual ionospheric drift velocity and plasma frequency are roughly constant before and after a shift in frequency, any change in measured velocity as SuperDARN changes frequency is due to a change in refractive index. An analysis of the change in the measured velocity resulting from each shift in frequency gives an experimentally based estimate of the electron density in the scattering volume. A statistical analysis of essentially all frequency shifts by SuperDARN and the estimated electron densities in the scattering volume has been performed. The resulting electron densities are appreciably higher than previous methods to estimate electron density predict. Application of this new method to velocity comparisons between SuperDARN and other instruments results in agreement between the HF radar and non-HF radar velocities for the first time. This new method allows for the first direct measurements of electron densities in the exact locations where the cross section for SuperDARN scatter maximizes. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.