Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 5, 53–64, 2016 www.geosci-instrum-method-data-syst.net/5/53/2016/ doi:10.5194/gi-5-53-2016 © Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Comparison between manual scaling and Autoscala automatic scaling applied to Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory ionograms Carl-Fredrik Enell1, Alexander Kozlovsky2, Tauno Turunen2,*, Thomas Ulich2, Sirkku Välitalo2, Carlo Scotto3, and Michael Pezzopane3 1EISCAT Scientific Association, Kiruna, Sweden 2Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, University of Oulu, Sodankylä, Finland 3Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy *retired Correspondence to: Carl-Fredrik Enell (
[email protected]) Received: 16 November 2015 – Published in Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst. Discuss.: 21 December 2015 Revised: 14 March 2016 – Accepted: 14 March 2016 – Published: 23 March 2016 Abstract. This paper presents a comparison between stan- 1 Introduction dard ionospheric parameters manually and automatically scaled from ionograms recorded at the high-latitude So- dankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO, ionosonde SO166, Ionosondes for studying the ionosphere were invented in the 64.1◦ geomagnetic latitude), located in the vicinity of the au- late 1920s, and their worldwide implementation started in the roral oval. The study is based on 2610 ionograms recorded 1940s as military shortwave communication became impor- during the period June–December 2013. The automatic scal- tant. An ionosonde is a radio echo instrument transmitting ra- ing was made by means of the Autoscala software. A few dio waves of alternating frequency, receiving reflections from typical examples are shown to outline the method, and statis- the ionosphere, and measuring the travel times of the waves tics are presented regarding the differences between manu- at different frequencies.