Trends in the F2 region of the Ionosphere over Jicamarca

Abstract:

Around 30 years ago, some studies postulated that due to the increase in the concentration of certain greenhouse gases, there would be cooling and shrinking of the F region of the ionosphere (Roble and Dickinson, 1989). In the present work, we build time-series of foF2 and hmF2 from 2001 to 2017 using the data produced by the Digisonde Portable Sounder (DPS) Ionosonde. These time-series were compared to corresponding values from incoherent scatter radar measurements and simulated data from the IRI 2016 model. The discrepancies were correlated to solar activity and other time-series to understand their time variation.

The analytical expressions for the uncertainties associated with trend detection will be evaluated similarly to Weatherhead (1998) using Monte Carlo simulations. Also, we will reproduce some of the calculations found in the literature.with data produced from Jicamarca Radio Observatory (JRO). Finally, the procedure applied to determine trends in the F2 region will be presented as well as its associated uncertainties. These results can be extended to detect trends with data from similar stations around the world.