• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.223-230
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• 2013

Sudden enhancements of daytime NmF2 appeared in Anyang ionosonde data during summer seasons in 2006-2007. In order to investigate the causes of this unusual enhancement, we compared Anyang NmF2's with the total electron contents (GPS TECs) observed at Daejeon, and also with ionosonde data at at mid-latitude stations. First, we found no similar increase in Daejeon GPS TEC when the sudden enhancements of Anyang NmF2 occurred. Second, we investigated NmF2's observed at other ionosonde stations that use the same ionosonde model and auto-scaling program as the Anyang ionosonde. We found similar enhancements of NmF2 at these ionosonde stations. Moreover, the analysis of ionograms from Athens and Rome showed that there were sporadic-E layers with high electron density during the enhancements in NmF2. The auto-scaling program (ARTIST 4.5) used seems to recognize sporadic-E layer echoes as a F2 layer trace, resulting in the erroneous critical frequency of F2 layer (foF2). Other versions of the ARTIST scaling program also seem to produce similar erroneous results. Therefore we conclude that the sudden enhancements of NmF2 in Anyang data were due to the misrecognition of sporadic-E echoes as a F-layer by the auto-scaling program. We also noticed that although the scaling program flagged confidence level (C-level) of an ionogram as uncertain when a sporadic-E layer occurs, it still automatically computed erroneous foF2's. Therefore one should check the confidence level before using long term ionosonde data that were produced by an auto-scaling program.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.237-244
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• 2006

We produced the electron density distribution in the ionosphere over South Korea using the data from nine permanent GPS (Global Positioning System) stations which have been operated by KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute). The dual-frequency GPS receiver data was used to precisely estimate the electron density in the ionosphere and we obtained the precise electron density profile based on two-dimensional TEC (Total Electron Contents). We applied ART (Algebraic Reconstruction Technique), which is one of the most commonly used algorithms to develop the tomography model. This paper presented the electron density distribution over South Korea with time. We compared with the electron density profiles derived from the GPS tomography reconstruction, Ionosonde measurement data obtained by observations, and the IRI-2001 values. As a result, the electron density profile by GPS reconstruction was in excellent agreement with the electron density profile obtained by Ionosonde measurement data.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.24.3-24.3
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• 2008

The signals transmitted from satellites of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) interact with the plasma of the ionosphere. To study the impact of the ionospheric plasma on GNSS applications a comprehensive knowledge of the ionosphere is required. Especially the correct measurement of the ionosphere such as the peak height of the F2 layer peak electron density (hmF2) is important for the GNSS ionospheric model. Anyang ionosonde station ($37.39^{\circ}N$, $126.95^{\circ}E$) has been operating from October 2000 and the accumulated data for 8 years may allow us to obtain climatological characteristics of middle latitude ionospheric F region for GNSS application. We analyzed the variations of the hmF2 and NmF2 over Anyang station for different conditions of solar activity, geomagnetic activity, season, and local time, and we compared our results with the IRI model.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.38.2-38.2
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• 2009

The ionosphere displays variations on a wide variety of time-scales, ranging from few hours to days and up to solar cycles and even more. In this paper, we examine the ionospheric F2-layer variability in mid latitude by analyzing the foF2 and hmF2 from the Anyang ionosonde. Especially, we investigate how ionospheric semi-annual and seasonal anomalies vary with local time and solar activity. In addition to the characterization of the ionospheric semi-annual an seasonal anomalies, our study extends to the investigation of the relationship between ionospheric variability and geomagnetic activity. Finally we also discuss the coupling between ionospheric F2-layer variability and thermospheric neutral composition.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.36-36
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• 2004

Ionospheric data from DGS-256 ionosonde operated by Radio Research Laboratory in Anyang archived during 1991-2002 was extracted and analyzed firstly in Korea. Daily, monthly and annual variations of the 12-year F2 layer critical frequency(foF2) are derived to investigate the statistical ionospheric characteristics during one complete solar cycle. Positive correlation between the mean values of 24-hourly monthly median foF2 and the monthly smoothed sunspot number(SSN) for the same period is found. (omitted)

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.143-149
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• 2018

The ionosphere has been monitored by ionosondes for over five decades since the 1960s in Korea. An ionosonde typically produces an ionogram that displays radio echoes in the frequency-range plane. The trace of echoes in the plane can be read either manually or automatically to derive useful ionospheric parameters such as foF2 (peak frequency of the F2 layer) and hmF2 (peak height of the F2 layer). Monitoring of the ionosphere should be routinely performed in a given time cadence, and thus, automatic scaling of an ionogram is generally executed to obtain ionospheric parameters. However, an auto-scaling program can generate undesirable results that significantly misrepresent the ionosphere. In order to verify the degree of misrepresentation by an auto-scaling program, we performed manual scaling of all 35,136 ionograms measured at Jeju ($33.43^{\circ}N$, $126.30^{\circ}E$) throughout 2012. We compared our manually scaled parameters (foF2 and hmF2) with auto-scaled parameters that were obtained via the ARTIST5002 program. We classified five cases in terms of the erroneous scaling performed by the program. The results of the comparison indicate that the average differences with respect to foF2 and hmF2 between the two methods approximately correspond to 0.03 MHz and 4.1 km, respectively with corresponding standard deviations of 0.12 MHz and 9.58 km. Overall, 36 % of the auto-scaled results differ from the manually scaled results by the first decimal number. Therefore, future studies should be aware of the quality of auto-scaled parameters obtained via ARTIST5002. Hence, the results of the study recommend the use of manually scaled parameters (if available) for any serious applications.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.38.1-38.1
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• 2009

In this paper we present the first results of summer-time F region irregularities during low solar condition observed using the Gadanki MST radar. Echoes were observed on all 20 nights of radar observations and were mostly confined to the post-midnight hours. Echo morphology is very different from the equinoxial post-sunset plume-like features reported earlier from Gadanki. Echo SNRs are lower by 25 dB than their equinoxial post-sunset counterpart, and are quite comparable to the equinoxial irregularities in the post-midnight hours, which are essentially the decaying post-sunset irregularities. The Doppler velocities, which lie in the range of $\pm$ 100 m s-1, show upward/northward motion of the irregularities during the initial phase in contrast to the observed predominant downward/southward velocities associated with the decaying equinoxial post-midnight F region irregularities. Spectral widths of the summer echoes, which are well below 50 m s-1 and are very similar to those of the decaying equinoxial irregularities, represent the presence of weak plasma turbulence. Simultaneous observations made using a collocated ionosonde show no ionogram trace during 2200-0530 LT except for a few occasions. Weak frequency type spread F observed during midnight hours occurred without prior occurrence of range spread F. Concurrent ionosonde observations made from magnetic equatorial location Trivandrum also show very similar result and thus no height rise of the F layer during the midnight hours could be monitored. The preliminary analysis suggests that the post-midnight irregularities reported here are mostly freshly generated ones. The observations are discussed in the light of other observational results reported earlier and the current under standing on the post-midnight occurrence F region irregularities in summer.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.297-308
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• 2007

The AOPOD (Atmosphere Occultation and Precision Orbit Determination) system, the secondary payload of KOMPSAT (KOrea Multi-Purpose SATellite)-5 scheduled to be launched in 2010, shall provide GPS radio occultation data. In this paper, we simulated the GPS radio occultation characteristic of KOMPSAT-5 and retrieved electron density profiles using KROPS (KASI Radio Occultation Processing Software). The electron density retrieved from CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload) GPS radio occultation data on June 20, 2004 was compared with IRI (International Reference Ionosphere) - 2001, PLP (Planar Langmuir Probe), and ionosonde measurements. When the result was compared with ionosonde measurements, the discrepancies were 5 km on the $F_2$ peak height ($hmF_2$) and $3{\times}10^{10}el/m^3$ on the electron density of the $F_2$ peak height ($NmF_2$). By comparing with the Laugmuir Probe measurements of CHAMP satellite (PLP), both agrees with $1.6{\times}10^{11}el/m^3$ at the height of 365.6 km.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.297-304
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• 2015

In this study, we documented the midlatitude F2-layer response to five strong geomagnetic storms with minimum Dst < -150 nT that occurred in solar minimum years using hourly values of the F2-layer critical frequency (foF2) from four ionosondes located in different hemispheres. The results were very limited, but they illustrated some peculiarities in the behavior of the F2-layer storm. During equinox, the characteristic ionospheric disturbance patterns over the Japanese station Wakkanai in the Northern Hemisphere and the Australian station Mundaring in the Southern Hemisphere were consistent with the well-known scenario by $Pr{\ddot{o}}lss$ (1993); however, during a December solstice magnetic storm, both stations did not observe any noticeable positive ionospheric disturbances. Over the "near-pole" European ionosonde, clear positive ionospheric storms were not observed during the events, but the "far-from-pole" Southern Hemisphere station Port Stanley showed prominent enhancements in F2-layer peak electron density in all magnetic storms except one. No event produced noticeable nighttime enhancements in foF2 over all four ionosondes.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.319-327
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• 2010

We examine the ionospheric F2-layer electron density variation by solar activity in middle latitude by using foF2 observed at the Kokubunji ionosonde station in Japan for the period from 1997 to 2008. The semi-annual variation of foF2 shows obviously in high solar activity (2000-2002) than low solar activity (2006-2008). It seems that variation of geomagnetic activity by solar activity influences on the semi-annual variation of the ionospheric F2-layer electron density. According to the Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis of foF2 and Ap index, interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bs (IMF Bz <0) component, solar wind speed, solar wind number density and flow pressure which influence the geomagnetic activity, we examine how the geomagnetic activity affects the ionospheric F2-layer electron density variation. We find that the semi-annual variation of daily foF2, Ap index and IMF Bs appear clearly during the high solar activity. It suggests that the semi-annual variation of geomagnetic activity, caused by Russell-McPherron effect, contributes greatly to the ionospheric F2-layer semi-annual electron density variation, except dynamical effects in the thermosphere.