Abstract
A PUZZLING feature of the reported association1 between travelling disturbances in the F region and the occurrence of sporadic E is that travelling disturbances move with a velocity of about 10 km./min. (ref. 2) whereas sporadic E patches have only about half this velocity3. However, the travelling disturbance velocity was measured using widely spaced stations (∼ 1,000 km.) whereas that of the sporadic E patches was found using relatively close stations (∼ 30 km.). Therefore whereas it is the group velocity of the travelling disturbances which has been measured, the sporadic E patches may be associated with a particular phase of the isoionic contours in the travelling disturbance and may thus appear to move with the phase velocity of the travelling disturbances.
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HEISLER, L., WHITEHEAD, J. Group and Phase Velocities of a Travelling Disturbance in the F Region of the Ionosphere. Nature 191, 157 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/191157a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/191157a0
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