A catalog of ionospheric F region irregularity behavior based on Ogo 6 retarding potential analyzer data

Review of in situ data obtained with the aid of the retarding potential analyzer on board Ogo 6 which reveal the nature of ionospheric irregularities in the total ion concentration above 400 km. Except for the high-latitude regions, the ionosphere is usually observed to be very smooth in the daytime, but considerable structure is observed at night, particularly near the equator and at Atlantic longitudes. Although most of the irregularities observed appear to be stochastic in nature, many nearly monochromatic waveforms are observed near the equator. The topics discussed include the midlatitude scintillation boundary, large-amplitude equatorial irregularities, the fluctuation spectrum of typical F-region irregularities, the lower edge of the equatorial F region, sinusoidal waveforms, ground glass irregularities, breaking wave irregularities, and regions of smooth and irregular ionization inside the polar cap.