A simplified procedure for direct determination of real height from virtual height data

As part of an effort to determine electron density profiles in the auroral region of the ionosphere, a method was developed for directly calculating real height from ionosonde data obtained at high latitudes. The method has been modified and simplified by representing the entire dispersion curve by a single power-law curve with only one parameter. The resulting real height-virtual height relation can now be solved in a simple way for the real height. To test the accuracy of the method, virtual heights were computed for two parabolic models of the ionosphere, and the corresponding real height values were then obtained by the present method. The results obtained showed that the calculated values of real height were in very good agreement with the exact values of real height. To indicate the improvement obtainable with the introduction of additional parameters, a two-parameter function, which gives a somewhat more accurate representation of the dispersion curve than does the one-parameter function, was obtained for one case. However, the amount of computational labor required is considerably greater than that required for the present method. In view of its simplicity and accuracy, it is felt that the one-parameter method is a useful analytic tool for determining real height from ionosonde data.