Deduction of Ionospheric Electron Densities and Collision Frequencies from Differential Absorption and Faraday Rotation Measurements in the Quasi-Transverse Region

Abstract

Rocket radio propagation technique is known to be a very useful and widely used method for obtaining the characteristics of the lower ionosphere. Though this technique is extensively used at high latitudes, with some modifications this can be used in the vicinity of the magnetic equator where the so-called quasi-transverse approximation is valid. In this paper starting from the Appleton-Hartree equation for the complex index of refraction for a plane electromagnetic wave propagating in an ionized medium, equations connecting the electron densities and electron collision frequencies of the lower ionosphere with the differential absorption and differential phase measurements between the ordinary and extraordinary waves are derived for the quasi-transverse approximation region.