East Siberian Center for the Earth's Ionosphere Research (SDC ESCEIR)

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Incoherent scatter ionosphere diagnostics subdivision

Incoherent scatter method

The incoherent scatter method gives an opportunity to weasure and diagnose, in a most comprehensive fasion, ionospheric plasma parameters using ground-based instruments. This method uses powerful USW or SHF radars to provide information about the ionospheric vertical structure and dynamics. The IS method provides information about the height distribution of such ionospheric parameters as electron density N_e, electron T_e and ion T_i temperatures, ion composition, drift velocity V_d, and others. Current studies of the ionospheric structure and ionospheric processes are based on an extensive data set which has been obtained by IS radars since the beginning of the 60s. Although the IS method is one of the most expensive in ionospheric research (along with rocket and satellite experiments), scientific communities of industrial countries meet these requirements because of the high importance of geophysical results obtained.