The accuracy of data from ionosondes for the estimation of hmF2 and the identification of global change in the ionosphere

A long temporal series of simulated ionograms was generated with a superimposed secular variation of −14 km/century on the hmF2 parameter. These ionograms were interpreted by the automatic scaling program Autoscala. By applying four different empirical formulas, four artificial series of hmF2 were generated and then processed with the same methods used by other authors for real data sets. Data analysis of the simulated ionograms revealed the artificially imposed long-term trend. These results lead to the conclusion, that regardless of the empirical formula used, the accuracy of hmF2 from ionosonde measurements would be adequate to observe a long-term trend of −14 km/century.