Ionospheric drifts determined from radio-star scintillation observations

Abstract

Spaced-receiver observations of radio-star scintillation were made at the Royal Society Base, Halley Bay, during the I.G.Y. A technique is described whereby ionospheric velocities can be deduced from the motion of the diffraction pattern on the ground. These velocities were approximately towards the west in the first part of the night, and towards the east for the rest of the night and most of the next day. The reversals in direction of motion occurred at 0030 and 1630 L.M.T. Drift speeds were of the order of 400 m/s in the evening, falling to 100 m/s after easterly motions had been established. Both the time of midnight reversal and the drift speed correlate well with Evans’s (1959) measurements of motions of auroral forms.