Guided radio-wave propagation in the equatorial ionosphere according to the topside sounding onboard Interkosmos-19

In addition to normal vertical-incident ionogram traces, strongly remote (up to 2000 km) traces of HF-radio-signal reflections observed on topside-sounder ionograms of the Interkosmos-19 satellite obtained in the equatorial ionosphere are presented. Such traces are connected with waveguides (ducts). These waveguides are field-aligned irregularities of the ionospheric plasma with electron density depletions of a few percent and cross-field dimension of a few to several kilometers. Ray tracing confirms this supposition and allows an estimate of typical waveguide parameters: diameter ≤10-15 km and amplitude |ΔN/N|≥10%, where N is the electron density. The waveguide traces usually start at the cutoff frequencies of the main traces. However, sometimes they begin at much lower frequencies which indicates the satellite was transitioning through an equatorial plasma bubble during the recording of the ionogram. The X-mode of ducted echoes is more distinct then the O-mode. Only one ducted trace is usually observed on the Interkosmos-19 ionograms; a second conjugate trace is rarely recorded. The same is true for combination modes which is a combination of an oblique-incidence and guided propagation. Waveguides are observed at all heights of Interkosmos-19 (500-1000 km) inside the equatorial anomaly region (from −40° to +40° Dip). Waveguides are usually associated with other irregularities of various sizes in the equatorial ionosphere, some of which cause additional traces and spread F on the topside-sounding ionograms. Ducted-echo characteristics observed with Interkosmos-19 are different from those observed earlier with the Alouette and ISIS satellites. This difference is discussed. It is shown that the ionospheric plasma irregularities responsible for the waveguides are observed much more often during nighttime than during daytime.