Ionospheric plasma by VHF waves

The amplitude scintillations of very high frequency electromagnetic wave transmitted from geo-stationary satellite at 244.168 MHz have been recorded at Varanasi (geom. lat. 14′ 55′N) during 1991 to 1999. The data are analyzed to determine the statistical features of overhead ionospheric plasma irregularities which are mostly of small duration <30 minutes and are predominant during pre-midnight period. The increase of solar activity generally increases the depth of scintillation. The auto-correlation functions and power spectra of scintillations predict that the scale length of these irregularities varies from 200–500 m having velocity of movement between 75 m/sec to 200 m/sec. These results agree well with the results obtained by other workers.