ИСТИНА

In this work we report on the results of the ionospheric heating experiments, which were carried out at the Sura facility (Radiophysical Research Institute, N. Novgorod, Russia) during several heating campaigns in 2009 and 2010. We present experimental evidences for the influence of the electron density perturbations, induced by HF-heating in the midlatitude ionosphere, on the GNSS radio signals. Variations in the total electron content (TEC), proportional to the reduced phases of navigational signals, were studied. Examples of the identification of the heating-induced variations in TEC, including determination of the amplitudes and temporal characteristics are presented. We also present and discuss examples of the amplitude scintillations of the beacon signals from low orbital (LO) navigational satellites (Parus/TRANSIT) and corresponding TEC perturbations caused by heating as well as tomographic crossections of the heated area.