Equatorial irregularity belt and its movement during a magnetic storm

Abstract

GEOSTATIONARY satellites are able to monitor amplitude, phase, plane of polarisation (Faraday rotation) and group retardation of radio waves passing through the ionosphere with improved temporal resolution, although some of these parameters were earlier measured using orbiting satellites. An extensive experiment has been conducted on Faraday rotation measurements at a chain of stations covering a latitude region from the magnetic equator to 45°N dip (30°N geog.) in the Indian sub-continent using 140 MHz radio beacons received from ATS-6 satellite1. We report here the first evidence of an irregularity belt and its movement during a magnetic storm.