Manually scaled parameters of the sporadic E layer (Es) for Průhonice and Sopron Digisonde stations, for August and September 2019

Description

August and September 2019 were a special period from a geomagnetic perspective - during these two months, geomagnetic activity was extremely low, and it was teherefore a sustained “quiet” period in geomagnetic terms (Mackovjak et al. 2026, see Related links). This provided an excellent opportunity to study the effects of the neutral atmosphere on the ionosphere. To this end, the sporadic E layer (Es) was manually scaled for the two-month period of Europe's two nearest Digisonde stations: Sopron and Průhonice (SO148 [47.63N, 16.72E] and PQ052 [50.00N, 14.60E]). Scaling was performed in accordance with URSI requirements, but was not limited by them. Each individual sporadic E layer was scaled up to three layers. The scaled parameters were: - Minimum frequency of the Es layer: fminEs - Critical frequency of the Es layer: foEs (according to URSI standard) - Critical frequency of the Es layer: foEs+ (not according to the URSI standard) - Es layer height: h'Es - Blanketing frequency / minimum frequency of the F layer: fbEs/fminF - Critical frequency of the Es layer in the extraordinary component: fxEs - Es layer height in the extraordinary component: hxEs Certain phenomena are difficult to distinguish from the sporadic E layer - for example, the Intermediate Descending (IDL) and E2 layers. The treatment of these is described in "readme.docx." The scaling is part of a study based on multiple datasets (Koucká Knížová et al. 2026. Advances in Space Research [submitted] - please cite this article when using the data).

Steps to reproduce

Ionogram's manual scaling is notoriously hard to reproduce, as many steps depend on the interpretation of the scaler (Csilla Szárnya in this case). 15 minutes time resoution dataset was scaled manually in SAOExplorer for 2 months and 2 stations. Multiple structures (up to 3) were scaled, not only the "strongest" Es-layer. Scaled parametes: fminEs, foEs, foEs+ (see readme.docx), h'Es, fbEs/fminF (see readme.docx), fxEs, hxEs, type_Es Flags were used in the scaling of the Es-layers - see "flags and qualifing letters.txt". F region was not scaled but for further analysis certain behaviors were flagged, and in some cases qualfying letters were also added - see "flags and qualifing letters.txt". Regarding the handling of certain, similiar phenomena (E2-layer, IDL) see the "readme.docx". Tha scaling was made at 4 dB MPA.

Institutions

• HUN-REN Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science

  Győr-Moson-Sopron, Sopron

Categories

Funders

• HUN-REN Mobility Program

  Grant ID: KMP-2024/44
• Czech Science Foundation

  Grant ID: 25-19509L
• HUN-REN Mobility Program

  Grant ID: KMP-2025-II/8
• STARTING

  Grant ID: 150984
• QUID-REGIS

  Grant ID: 4000143632/24/I-EB
• HUN-REN Mobility Program

  Grant ID: KMP-2023/77
• Gazdaságfejlesztési és Innovációs Operatív Program

  Grant ID: GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00003

Related Links

Licence