Ionospheric composition measurement by EISCAT using a global fit procedure

• Published in: Annales Geophysicae
• Main Authors: Cabrit, B., Kofman, W.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: EISCAT
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-996-1496-2; https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/14/1496/1996/

The aim of this paper is to show the gain of the global fit procedure compared to the classical gate-by-gate analysis in the simultaneous determination of the temperatures and composition profiles in the lower F region. A method for the evaluation of the transition altitude and the width of the transition region between molecular and atomic ions is described in the case of the EISCAT CP1 experiment; it is validated using a simulated experiment. It is shown that alternating-code gates have to be processed together with the long-pulse gates. Our new method is applied on six days of actual data. The results obtained during quiet periods are compared with independent estimations.