IONOSPHERIC SLAB THICKNESS OVER HIGH LATITUDE ANTARCTICA DURING THE HIGH
SOLAR ACTIVITY PERIOD 2005
Abstract
The variability of ionospheric slab thickness at high latitudes during
the high solar activity period 2005, we have selected a high latitude
station Casey (66.3 S, 110.6 E) in the southern polar region. The
results show that the diurnal variability of slab thickness shows that
the night time values are higher than the day time values. A significant
difference is observed between the day time and night time values during
equinoxial months. The diurnal variability at Casey during the high
solar activity period is also characterized by a pre sunrise peak in
some months which does not occur around the same time as well as is not
pronounced during the other months of year. The monthly variability of
slab thickness at high latitude follows the semi-annual type of
variability with two peaks during the month of March and September. The
value of slab thickness is highest during the equinox while least in the
summer season. We also notice that the night time values of slab
thickness are higher than the day time during all the seasons. The pre
sunrise peak is much pronounced during the summer and equinox seasons.
The monthly variability of slab thickness follows a very good
association with X-ray flux (1-8Å) and EUV flux (26-34nm) and very weak
association with the F10.7cm. The correlation coefficients of slab
thickness with F 10.7 cm, X-ray Flux (1-8Å) and EUV Flux (26-34nm) are
0.28, 0.58 and 0.60 respectively.