JOURNAL OF RESEARCH oi the National Bureau of Standards-D.

Radio Propagation

Vol. 66D, No.4, July-August 1962

Representation of Diurnal and Geographic Variations

of Ionospheric Data by Numerical Methods*
William B. Jones and Roger M. Gallet
Contrbution from CentraI Radio Propaqation LaboratoIY, Nationai Bureau of Standards, Boulder, Colo.

(Received February 15, 1962)

A solutioIl is given to the problem of representing the complex properties of ionospheric
characteristics on a worldwide scale, including their diurnal variation, by numerical analysis
of ionospheric data as they are obtained from a network of sounding stations, without prior
hand operations. The problem is complicated hy two basic difficulties: (1) the data are
affected by Iloise (mndom fiuctuation) and (2) tho stations are irregularly positioned in the
two space dimensions. The second difficulty is overcome by a generaI method for COl1struct
ing functions orthogonal relative to the distribution of the stations. Special filtering proc
es~es are employcd for the optimum separation of noise from real physical variatiolls. The
cnd product of the analysis i, a tablc of numerical coefficients defining a function r (X, 6, t)
of three variables. latitude (X), longitude (O) and time (t), which call be used to compute the
ionospheric characteristic at any desired location or instant of time. Thc method applies
to any ionospheric charactcrstic; however, as a means of illustration we use in the present
paper only the charactcristic, lllonthly median of the F2-layer criticai frequency (foF 2 ).

l. Introduction complicated by two basic difficulties: (1) the data

1t is w{'Il known that the ionosphere experi..
Clll'('S diUlllal and geographic varintions, as well ns
long t('rlll val'ialiolls connected with sel1sons and tite
11 year solaI' cyele. Although llHtny of thcsc vluin
tions are systemutic and predictable with a consid
l't"ilble degl'ee of accumcy, for the F-lll.yer thcoretica,l
Illodels do llOt yet givc good representntion of many
oUhe deto,ils. Therefol'p, worldwidc J'{'pl'esentations
or F-layPl' rhameteristics are best made using meas
Ul'CIllt'nts obtained from a network of sounding
,ta,tions.
lonospheric maps have been made nnd still l1re
Iwing produced by persons having considerable
knowledge of ionospheric data and expericnce in
dmwillg" maps. 1\fany graphic techniques are em
ployed for smootbing raw data and for eliminating
inconsistencil's. However, such procedures are l'da
tively slow ami tedious ami, to some extent, are not
rl'peatable. The accuracy, as well as rcpeatability,
lLrt' dependent upon the skill, knowledge, and expc
ril'nee or the people calTying out tlte subjeetive steps
or the processo Moreover, as a meallS or simplifying
hand opemtions, unrealistie ll.ssumptions have been
lIltlde, suell as the "lollgiLude zone systelll," in whieh
no longitudinal v!l.l'iation is taken into account or
reprcscnted within the defined longitude zones.
S('vl'ml years ago, the authors attacked the prob~
kw or rcpresenting the cOlllplex properties of iono
spheric characteristics on iL worldwidc scale, including
[ileir diurnal vll.riation, by numerical analysis of iono
spheric data as they are measured at the stations,
without pl'ior hand operations.! The problem is
A sequel paper on "Methods for applying numerlcal maps 01 ionospheric
cbmcteristics" ",iii appear in an e41rly issue of this journal.
l The need for mapping methods based OIl numeric'l methods and the use or
bigh-speed computers ha. been felt for several year, lCerR, 1959].
are affected by noise-randolll fiuctuations produced
from a llUlllbpl' oI sources (eh. 4)-nnd (2) the iono
spheric stations (fig. l) are irregull1rly positioned on
the earth. The noise would produec a VPl"y rougb
and physieally ullacceptabio map if tho originaI data
were represented exactly without timo and space
smoothing. Thus a eertain amount of smoothing is
necessary, but too much smoothing 'would give a mnp
which does not respect the truo physical val'atioll IlS
wdl as possible. The irregulal' rlistribufion oj sfcttion.'?
presents problellls both in dnta..fitting (eh. 2) and in
preserving thc stability and physicai soundness of
the representation in arellS where few if f1llY stations
are availnbIe (eh. 5). Also the [aet that lhe set of
avaibble stntions vll.ries from montli to month com
plicates thc (lat!~fittillg processes and thc rOlllparison
of numerical reprcsentations for different mOl1 ths.
In the past, peoplc experienced in druwing maps lHtve
overcome tbese difficulties more or less intuitiveIv
using empirical knowledge of the ionosphere and good
sense. 1t is not easy to give these qualitics to a com
puting marhine.
Tbc solution 2 to thc problern consists of well
defined mathellltical operations-described tnd
illustrated in the present papcr--which have been
prograllled for use on severnllarge-sell.le digitaI com
puters.:l Input to tIte eomputer program consists
of the mcasurcments of an ionospheric characteristic
from ali uvailablc stations COI' a given month. The
diurnal varintion is reprcscnted by Fourier analysis of
thc 24 hourly measurcments from cach nvailable
, For a briel summary the reader can refcr te [Jones and Gallct, 1000J.
Thc computer program. has been developed complctely (Cf hoth thc IBM 704
and 7090 computers and in part (or thc aDa 1004.

419

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GEOGRAPHlC LONGITUDE
FIGURE 1. Map of ionospheric stations for December 1957.

station (sec. 3.1). Then the worldwide geographic its variations are the most difficult to represent. In
variation of each Fourier coefficient is expanded in a ehs. 2 and 6, we outline briefly the mathematicul
series of functions analogous to surface spherical methods employecl in this ullulysis.
harmonics (sec. 3.3). The optimum separation .of
noise is obtained by truncation of orthonormal serlCS 2. GeneraI Data Fitting Method
(ch. 4). At the end of the analysis the diurnal and
geographic variations of the characteristic are repre As was mentioned in the introduction, the geo
sented by a relatively small. table of. coefficien~s graphic variation of eac~ F?urier coefficient (obt~ine~
defining a function of three vunubles: lat1tude, longl from the diurnal analvsIs) 1S represented by senes 01
tude and time of day. Such a function is referred
to a; a "numerical map" (ch. 7).
functions analogous io
surfaee spherical harmollirs,
The approach generally used in global analyses of
The methods used here are generaI enough to be geophysical data has been to fi~st draw. contonr Il1fipS
applied to any ionospheric characteristic. In fact, by hand and then to analyze 111 sphencal harmoulC';
they have already been snccessfull.. used to represent the vulues read from the maps at the interseetions 01' ,l
such characteristics as: the criticaI frequency (foF2 ) , regular 'rid. However, such methods incorporate
the 3000 km maximum usable frequency {ador
(F2-M3000) , the maximum electron densi~,y (N
max) the height of N-max, ancl the qum-ter tlncIrness
of a' layer. With only slight rnodification the
methods can also include variations with height
many ofthe undesirable features <!f the lutIl.dopem
tions used currently to produce lOnosphenc maps
(ch. 1).
We have attacked this problem from the opposite
direction by first analyzing the data directly as they

above the surface of the earth. For the sake of are obtained from the stations. Then contour
illustration \ve restrict ourselves here to the charac maps are computedjrom the analyses when desired.'
teristicjoF 2'.monthly meclian, sinc~ this chara~teristic
is the most unportant one for radIO propagatIOn, and Examples of 5110h contour maps e.re shown in figures 11a, llb, 12, and 13.

420
 'Ihe method used is mathematically well defined,
entirely repeatable, well adapted to automatic com (2)
puting and, in a sense, more objective than the
band methods previously mentioned. As a result of has a minimum value with respect to all real coeffi
this new approach, we have had to face some addi cients Dk.6 It is easily shown that necessary il.nd
tional complications (eh. 5). In the expansion of sufficient conditions l'or E K to be minimized are
the geographic variation it is natural to use
orthogonul 5 functions, snce an optimum cutoff of EK=O
the series has to be made (eh. 4). Tbe classical k=O, l, ... , K. (3)
Dk '
spherical harmonic functions [Byerly, 1893, pp.
144-218] could not be used, however, since they are These give the well known normal equations
not orthogonal relative to the positions of stations.
'Ihus we have had to construct functions-analogous
Lo spherical harmonics (sec. 3.3) -which are orthogonal m=O, l, ..., K (4)
with respect to the irregularly spaced coordinates of
thc stations. The problem is even more complicated
by the fact that the set of available stations varies where we adopt the notation
from month to month, making it necessary to con
struct new orthogonal functions for the analysis of
each month's data.
For this pur1?ose we have employed the very and
generaI data-fittmg method described briefly in this
chapter. Of course, the method also applies to the (5)
Fourier analysis of the equally spaced measurements
of the diurnal variation. In the following discussion, and we williater use
tbe points Xi (where the measurements are made)
can be any set N

1,2, . . ., N
(y,y) = z:
;=1
1I"i

irregularly positioned in an M dimensionaI space.
The coordinate functions Gk(x), which are fitted to
the data by the method of least squares, can be any
linearly independent functions of .L11 variables (e.g.,
elementary transcendental functions, Chebychev
polynomials, or spherical harmonics).
2.1. Least Squares Method
1et Yl, Y2, . " YN denote llleasurelllents of an
ionospheric characteristic taken at the points Xl,
X-;l, , XN. Suppose that a class oj junctions
Ya(x) is given and a criterion for evaluating how
well each of these functioIls fits the values Yt. (We
will take Ya(x) as linear SUlllS of coordinate functiolls
Gk(x).) Then the problelll of data-fitting is to
determine that function Y(x) from the given elass
whkh "best" fits the Yi relative to the given criterion.
We haye chosen the least squares rriterion sin ce it is
well-adapted to the analysis of data affected by
noise and it is far easier to compute than other
methods sueh as the minilllax [Stiefel, 1959]. The
question or choosing tbe proper classes of functions
Ya(x) is discussed in chapter 3.
We assume given a set of linearly independent
coordinate functions, Go (x) , GI(x) , . . ., GK(x), with
K<N, and it is requircd by the least squares
criterion to find that funetion
K
Y K(X) = z:
k=O
DtGk(x)
for wbich the sum of sq uares of residuals
"orthogonal" is used here in the sense or Il discrete distribution
pp. 33-37].
For solving the normal equations (and for a number
of other reasons to be discussed) we have made
cxtensive use of orthogonal functions.
2.2. Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalization
A set of functions ~(X), Al (X), " AK(x) iB
said to be orthogonal ,...'1tb respect to the points
XI, X2, ., XN, if
when krEm . (6)
Thus we Bee that if the coordinate functions Gk(x)
were orthogonal, the systelll or normal eq (4) would
be uncoupled and its solution would be simply
k=O, l, ... , K. (7)
On the other hand, we can apply the Gram
Schmidt orthogonalization process [D avis il.nd
Rabinowitz, 1954]7 to form the system of functiollB
(8)
k=1,2, ... ,K,
(l)
6 For simp!icity we have wrltten D. with only one ~ubscrtpt k. However, we
musI. rememher that tbe terms in (I) are generally not independent and tberefore
ali 01 thc coefficients depend on tbe value or K.
7 Our procedure differs Irom tbat 01 Davis and Rabinowitz [19541 in that we
llave reversed tbc order 01 orthogonalization and normalization in order to reduce
thc accumulative rounding error. (Bee sec. 2.3 and also ch. 6.)

421

satlsfying (0), where the coefficients akp are given by of the orthogonal functions Ak(X) we use only the set
of points Xi and the functions Gk(x). Consequently
when several different sets oI values Yi are measured
(9) at the same set of points Xi and are to be fited by
sums of the same functions Gk(X) , only one orthogonal
Then the least squares solution YK(x) can be written system is required to uncouple aH or the resulting
in the form systems of normal equations. Thus in the repre
sentation of geographic variations of Fourier coeffi
(lO) cients, the same set of orthogonal functions can be
used for aH Fourier coefficients for a given month.
where This is an important [actor in the economization of
computer time, since-as will be shown in chapter
k=O,l, .. . ,K. (11) 4-there are 17 Fourier cO.fficients to be represented
in the analysis of f oF 2
The orthogonal series (lO) is, of course, sufficient
for many purposes, but in our applications it is 2.3. Normalization
useful to have YK(x) in the simpler forrn (l). For
this purpose we cornpute the triangular matrix A set of functions F1(x), F 2 (x), . . . , FK(x) is said
to be orthonormal with respect to the points Xl,
lO,K-2 lO,K-l lO.K X2, , XN if, in addition to tho orthogonality
conditions (6), they also satisfy
ll.K-2 ll,K-l

for k=O, 1, ... , K. (17)

(12)
When Y K(X) is expressed in the form
lK-l,O lK-l,l

lK,O
(18)
where the elements lpk are obtained by
the orthonormal coe.fjicients dk have the simplified
lOk=ak formula
lpk= lp-l,k+lp-l,K- (p-l)aK- (p-l),k l~p~K (13)
k=O, 1, ... , K (19)
O~k~K-p .and
l~k~K. (20)
starting with the top row and going from left to One main advantage of this normalization is that the
right. Then we have for the desired coefficients significanco of eacb term dkFk (x) in (18)-dotormined
by the reduction it makes on the sum of squares of
(14) residuals (20)-is seen in the relative size or d~.
Another advantage is obtained from tbe simplified
A number of advantages are gained from the use of interpretation of these functions as unit (orthogonal)
orthogonal functions. As was proviously shown the vectors in an N dimensionaI vector spaco (eh. 6).
Ak(X) uncouple the system oI normal equations so Using the relation J
that terms in the series (lO) are independent. As a \
consequence we obtain automaticaHy the least
squares solution Yk(x) for aH degrees from zero (21)
through K, and therefore can test the physical

l
signifirance of each term to determine where the
series should be truncated (ch. 4). Moreover, the and (8), the generation of the orthonormal funetions
computation or E K is greatly facilitated since by Fk (x) becomes
substituting (lO) into (2) and applying (6) and (11),
We obtain
(15) where
O~p~k-l
Hence Ek is computed recursively for each degree by
and
E o= (y,y) -a5 (Ao,A o) (16) 1
du = "I7'=O=~ (23)
...)(Ak,Ak )
for l~k~K.
Then from (19), (22), and (11), the coefficients iu
It should a.lso be mentioned that in the construction the solution (18) become

422
 (24)
The applicution of the Gram-Schmidt orthogonoJ
ization proeess to least squarcs pl'oblcms has been
treated in a paper by Davis and Ri1hino,vitz [1954].
For completefi(~ss we included here aB outline Or
their development with one modificatioll~the order
or orthogonalization Il,nd Ilormalizatioll is reversed.
Tbe I1dVantlge of this modificution is thl1t accumulu
tve l'ounding error can be considentbly reduced.
Whereas we compute (Ak,A k ) lS a sum of squares,
the procedure in the referenee cited above is to com.,
pute it as li difference or positive numbers
are made. As will be shown, Fourier analysis pro~
vides a simple means for such corrections. The
~~st important use of Fourier analysis, howcver,
IS m the separation of "nose" (randol1l error) from
the "real" diurnal vuriation of the data (eh. 4).
"We give here the essentil11 fonnulas employedj
for more comprehensive treatment, the readpr can
refer to numerous texts on Fourier llnalysis. Let
x denote the zone time hour angle (degrpps) defined by
(25)
where Z'I' is given in hours. Thus, for example
x=Oo at noon (Z'I'). vVe let Yl, Yz, .... , Y'24 dpnote

t
the homly measurements eorresponding to the hours

i=1,2, ... ,24, (26)

which can be so slllull as to rcsult in total 10ss of
significant digits. As cun be seen l'rom (23), errors r~speetively, and we choose 1, cos jx and sin jx
in (Ak,A k ) 1m ve Il strong accumulative effect on the 0=1, 2, . . . , H, amI 2H+l~24) as eoordimlte
construction of the functions Fk(x). functions Gklx). Jt s welI known that these functions
We have al so Cound, however, that a very serious [tre orthogonal with respect to the points (26).
ttdditionul rounding errar 8 accumull1tes in the Gmm Therefore from (7) the least squares solution hns
Schmidt orthogonalizl1tion process when the coordi the form
nate functions Gk(x) are far 1rom being orthogonal. li
That such rounding el'rors can have l significant (x) =ao+ ~ [aj cos jX+{3j sin jx], (27)
effect on the least squal'es solution is shown in chapter j=l
6 by a numerical example with errors occurring by where
as much HS 30 percent. It is w(111mown that similar
types of errors oecur when solving the normal eq (4)
by other methods. 9 Thus the danger of accumulative
rounding error is not so Illuch a chamet.eristic of the
particular method we have used, but is an inherent (28)
difficulty in alI large-scale least squares problems.
.'lIso ineluded in chapter 6 are an cxplanation or thc l~j~H.
process of accumult1tion or the error, a qm1Iltitative 1 24 .
method for estillluting hs effect, and a rcurthogonal ~ Yi sm JXi
;=1
ization process which keeps the rounding error undcI'
controi no matter how large the system. Equation (27) CI1Il al so be written in the convenient
For the diurnal representation or the data, we form
use Fourier seri es which are particular orthonormal II
serics l'or equally-spaced data points. For the geo Y2H+l(X) =ao+ ~ Cj cos (jx-cf>j) (29)
graphic variation wc employ un orthonormal series j=l

~onstructed frOlli the procedures dl'scribed above.

where the ampWude c, and phase cf>j are givpn by
3. Choice of Functions
3.1. DiurnaI Variation

r The most natural method for representing the

diurnal varia tion is Fourier unalysis, since iono
spheric chaml'teristies are periodic functions of time.
:\Ioreover, the trigonometric funetions associated
with Fourier analysis are automatically orthogonal
with respcct to the equally-spaced points or measure
Ccrrections ta Local Mean Time

In order to intercompare data from different

ment; henee the computational problems of least,
'3quares fitting are grea tly simplified. Since the
observations are mado at each hour in the zone
time (ZT) or each station, they cannot be intercom
pared for different stations unti! time corrections
i Thc proteso oi accumulation of rounding error is similar lo that described by
I,anczos [1956, pp, 123-130J.
'Bee tor example [Lanczos, 1956, pp. ll!H22; Kunz, 1957; Forsythe, 1957, p. ;77
Forsythe and Roseubloom, 1956, PP. 20-21, sud reterencc" contalned thercin].
423
stations it is necessary to correct for the sma11
difference between the actuallocal mean time (LMT)
!1t each station and the time at Lhe referencc longi.
tudo OR of the zone. Such corrections ean be made
very simply in (29) by a shift of the phase where
(31)
o is the longitude (degrees cast or Greenwich) of the
sta,tion. Therefore the representation oi the diurnal
variation takes the form
 H One explanation of the superiority or the variable
U 2H+l'(t) =ao+ E [ai cos jt+b j sin jt]
j=l
where the Fourier coefficients corrected to LMT are
given by
ai::='ci cos 1/1:1 bJ=cj sin 1/1;,
and t denotes the local mean hom angle,
t=15 (LMT)-180o.
3.2. Moin Lotitudinol Trend
The Fourier coefficients are corrected to LMT
(sec. 3.1) so tllat ther main geographic variation
becomes latitudinal and is therefore greatly simpli
fied. lO Among the first problems to be solved for
representing this variation was tllat of selecting a
suitable set of coordinate functions G-t,{x) for the least
squares fit. Polynomials seemed to be the most nat
ural type of function, but the question arose as to
what would be the best independent variable for the
polynomials. The simplest variable tried was the
geographic latilude X. However, when a suffieiently
high degree was taken, the polynomials in Xbeeame
unstable (Le., wildly fiuctuating) in regions sueh as
near the poles where little or no data were available
(32) S~ll X is thc following. The fiuillg of polynomials in
SllI X to data located at a set of latitudes Xi is equi va
lent to fitting polynomials in a variable x to the same
data loca,ted at the corrcspondingly shifted set of
points ~i=sin Xi' Tl~e shifting of ~he data resulting
from thlS transformatlOn has the effect of pulling the
(33) data symmetrically away from the equator toward
the poles. Thus the data hecome more uniformly
distrihu ted in tbc intel'val l ~ x~ l, and tbc
sharpness of the variation near thc cquator is reduced,
To illustrate this spreading effect the same data
s~own. in figures 2 and 3 hav~ been plotted against
sm X m figure 4, together wlth the polynomial of
degree lO in x=sin X.
A second explanation of the improved behavior of
the polynomials in x=sin Xcan be given in terms of
the corresponding orthonormal functions. Choosing
powers of the independent variable as coordinate
functions, we generate (sees. 2.3 and 2.4) one ortho
normal system Fil) (X) eorresponding to the station
latitudes XI anei a different system JtTl (sin X) cor
responding to the shifted set of points x=sin t'i.
The resulting least squares representations tl1ke the
forms
(34)

(figs. 2 and 3). Much more stable representations

were obtained by using polynomials in sin X. MOI'e
over, it was found that the equatorial variation
eould be represented in more detail by these funetions
than by the polynomials in X of the same degrees respectively. A comparison of the difl'orent ortho
(figs, 2 and 3). ' normal functions (for degrees 8 to lO) is shown in
lO An atlas of graphs oC the geographic variatons ol thc Fourier coefficients lor
figure 5. To simplify thc comparison an additional
f 01<', media n lor fonr seasonal months has becn prcpured and will SDon appcal' as normnlization was made so that all'of the oTuphs
an ",Ilg Technical Note [Iones, 19621. Th" atlas illustrates the very systelll have Il eommon value nt tho right end:point. lt can
atic Ul wdl-defined varatlO1Bpf thesc eoefficienL5.

14 16

~
<.J
5 12
,j
I- IO
z l
w Z
U W
Li: U
LL iL
W "
w
8 o(.)
o:: 6 IN POLYNOMIAL IN Il:
w SIN w
ir 1<' I
e ~ ''''"-?OLYNOMIAL IN X l.... POLYNOMIAL IN SIN),

O~~~L-L-L-~L-L-~~~~~~~~~
60' 30' O' 30' 60' 90' 90' 60' 30' O' 30' 50' 90'
NORTH ,OUTH HORTH
=LATITUDE )"=LATITUDE
FiGURE. 2. . Repre.~~ntaton of main latitudinal variaUon of FIGURE, 3. . Repre8~ntation 01 main latitudinal variation of
Founer (trme senes) coe.fficnts ao lor foF z monthly median Founer (trme sene.q) coe,tfcwnts ao for f oF 2 monthly median
by least squares pulynomials of degree 10. by least squares polynomials 01 degree 18.
Deccmber 1957 95 stations. Deeember 1957 96 stations,

424

 be seen that at high degree (8~ k~ lO) the poly

nomials in X have vcry large values near the right
16 end point compared with their values near the
center. Thus to represent thc strong geographic
14
variation near the cquator the polynomials Fi/ l (X)
~
<.> of high degree have to be multiplied by largc eoef
~ ficicnts diI), which rcsults in the blowing up effect
o 12 near thc poles (figs. 2 and :3). In contrast, for the
o
I polynomials Ffc2 l (sin ) t.he maximum amplitude
Z
!!:! IO of oscillation is more unil'orm throughout the int.erval,
I g
..

..

l1J

o
hence the grcatcr stability of n~ (sin ) ncnr the
poi es. In addition we see that near the center ol
u the interval the distances between successive maxma
o:: and minima are less for the Fi2l (sin X) than for the

I
~
:::l
Fk1l (). Thus we cnn understand the bctter rep
fZ resentation of equatorial variatioll by Yk~ (sin X).
To conclude this discussion we note that the
behnvior of the polynomials Fil) (X) l'es embI es that
of the classical Legendre polynomials [Byerly, 1893,
pp. 184-185]. On the other hl1ud, thc amplitude
O~-L--~--L-~ __ ~ __ L-~ __- L_ _ _ _~ distribution of the Fi21 (sin ) more nearly approx
-I -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 I imates the exactly uniform distribution of the
SOUTH
SIN).
NORTH classical Ohebyche/J l)()lynomials [Jones, .:\1illcr, Conn,
().=LATITUDE)
and Pankhurst, 1946, pp. 194-195]. It is well known
FIGURE 4. Repre8entaiion of man latiiudinal vanation oJ
that orthogonal scries of Legendre polynomials telld
Pourier (Ume 8enes) coefficienls 8Q for f oF 2 monthly median to blow up near the end points [Lanczos, 1938, pp.
by least squares polynomial (degree 10) in sin . 144-145], whereas series or Chebychev polynomils
December 1957 96 stations. lllinilllize the maximum ('l'l'or, and therefore are as
POLYNOMIALS IN ). POLYNOMIALS IN SIN ).

1.0 1.0
b(Il

z
iii 0.8

tiii
z 0.6 I \
I
"I ;"',
m'":>c I I
<Il 0.4 1.1.. 0.4 i
I
I
\:
F
ci
:i
~ 0.2
II)
...J

z 0.2
,
I I
:1
;I
~ ~
o :I
~ O~~~~,~~~~ ..,.. . z
.J
~ ~
,i: '; I
~ -0.2 -0.2 :I
Cl
oJ:
...J

z

I:
1
l
o I:
li:O -04 8I
-0.4
l':...:
l
Cl
I:l -0.6
l"'- o::
o -0.6
I
\ I
I
- - DEGREE 8
:J Cl

\ I
- - - - DEGREE 9 LLI
\.1 - - DEGREE 8
~ -0.8
o
..... " ..... DEGREE IO N
::::i -0.8

- - - - DEGREE 9
z :lE ............ DEGREE IO

o::
-1.0 oz -IO

90' 60' 30' 30" 90" 00' 60' 'XI

SOUTH NORTH SOUTH IIORTH
>"LATITUDE ).'LATITUDE
FIGliRE 5. Orthogonal polynomials defined by ionospheric station latitudcs.

December, 1957--96 stations.

425
 stable at the end points as they are at the center. discuss here the choice of functions for representing
Thus by analog,v one would expect the behavior these second order mixcd latitudinul and 10ngitudinal
demollstrated in figures 2 and 3. variations.
A similnr stutI,\' was also made with polynomials in The usual method of representing global variations
thc Vllriable sin [90 0 sin ], which is the natural Or geoph~vsienl phenomena is by spherical hurmonic
extension or thc spl'cmling process dcscrilwd a13ove. HTlHlysis [B~'erly, lh93, pp. 144~218]. Howevcr, the
In this case, tbe representation was improved even classical surf'ilce spherical harmollies-sntisfying La
more around the equator, but significullt geographic
varia tion in the temperate latitudes was squeezed
into thc poles and so lost. Therefore polynomials in
sin were chosen for reprcsenting thc muill lntitudi
nal tn'nd. The determination of the "I)('st degree"
for t}wse polynomials is discussed in chnptcrs 4 and 5.

3.3. Mixed Latitudinal and Longitudinal Variations

Place's equntion-are not orthogonal with respect
to the positions (i,()i) of the ionospheric statioTls.
Therefore for convenience, and with no 10ss of
f"C'nerality, we choose as our coordinate functions the
simplest set Gk(,() (see table 1) of which the surface
spherical harmonics are linear com binations. A
particular set of the functions GI.; c;ln be speeified
hy assigning the values qn, ql' t1Ild q? whieh are, re

I
spcctively, the high est powers of sin for terms
The existence of systematic longitudinal varia involving: (l) no 10ngitudinal variation, (2) first I
,
ton 11 s illustrated by the graph in figure 6 of Fourier order longitudinal vuriation, and (3) sC'('ond order
(time serics) coefficients a1-first harmonie. cosine longitudinal variation. Equivalentl.v, we could Itlso
part-for foF z lllonthly median, plotted nplinst spcciry the values k o, k l , ancI k 2 ,=K taken by the
latitude . Aiso shm"n in the figure is the rep index k at the end of each of thc three groups or t}lP
resentation 01' the main latitudinal tremi by Gk(,()). These values are related to the q-vnlues
means of a polynomial or degree lO in sin . By by the equations
means or special plotting symbols used to signify
approximate station longitudes (see legend), we see kr=kr-l+2(qr+1) for r=l, 2. (35)
that the coefficients are not nmdomly dispersed
about the main latitudinal treml, but-in eert,ain From table l we see that the first group of functions
regions, particularly around the equator-are sys (powers of sin ) is the same set ehosen (sec. :~.2)
tematically arranged according to longilude (). 'Ve for the Illain latitudillal trend. We note tlm I the
Il That tbc longitudinal variation, illustrate!! in figure 6, i~ consistrllt for ditror zonal harmonies are linear eombinations or tllese
ent seasolls and for periods of high and low solar activity is dcmonstmted by the
atlas of graphs of Fourier coefficients for f,}:', monthly mcJiun reft'rred lo al Ihe functions, and the first ami seeond order sectorial
beginning of sectlon 3.2. and tesseral harmonics are lillCllr combinntions of
the first and secolld order terms in longitude (see
table l) used for the mixed latitudinal alld longi
tudirml variation. As a consequellce, n tcast squares
rcpresentation in the form or a linear combinatioll
or the G,(,8) has Illany properties of a spllPrieal
harmonic analysis. For example. it is periodic in
10ngitude ancl eonstant at the poles, and the first
and seeond order tcrms in longitude are ,vcighted
according to latitude hy tlle functions ('os und
~
u cos 2 , respectively. In faet, t1 series in the G,(.O)
~ I is identical-but expressed in a different f'orlll~to
6' that whieh would be obtained from splwt'icul hal'
f-
Z
UJ
monie analysis.
i3
iL
u.
UJ
TABLE 1. Geographic funr'tions G k (,/1)
8 O
o::
UJ +
Mixed latitu<linal auri longitu<!inal varlation
o:: +

5u. -I LONGITUDINAL CODE First order in lOllgitude Second ordrr in longitude

+

Il
" 345' E - 45'E
a 4WE-I05E k a,(>.,O) k a,(>..O)
-1 v I05"E -165E
A 165E-225E
O 225'E-285'E O l k,+l cos
+ 2f1:5E -345E l sin }, ko+2 Co:;: )I.
-3
2 sin' ko+3 sin cos
ko+4 sin Cos

4
IO' 60' 30' O' 30' 60' 90'
SOUTH NORTH
;LATITUDE

FIGURE Representation oj main latiludinal variatior/ oj

6.
Fourier (lime 8cries) coefficients al for foF 2 monthly median The geographie variation of a Fourier (time ~eries)
by least sqlwrcs polynomial (degree 10) in sin . coefficient is therefore represented by a functlOn or
December 1951 113 stations. the form
426

 4.1. Separation of Noise From the Diurnal Variation

(36)
,,!lere the Fk(}..JJ) are orthonormal functions de
fin ed with respect to the posiLioIlS of the ionospheric
statiolls (taking as coordinate functions the Gk (X,8)
in table l), and the coefficients d" and Dk are ob
tained by the method or least squares (ch.2). The
determilw,tion of the "best" representation with these
functiolls is discussed in chapters 4 and 5.
4. Optimum Separation of Noise From Real
Physical Variation
We employ It type of mathematical filter 12 which
rejccts that part of thc "signaI" (ionospheric data)
producpd lllainly by noise f2(X) and accepts the part
represellting Hlostly true physicai variation fl(X).
Our main tool is the Fourier analysis of thc smupled
v!11ues Yi (sec. 3.1) w11ich decomposes the diurnal
varild.ion into eleven harmonics
Cj cos (jx-,/;})=aj cosjx+b, sinjx (39)
and thereby gives a discrete power spectrum c,. It 1S
shown that some of these harmonics represent mostly

r
It was previously lllcntiolled that ionospheric il (X) , whereas the others arp prodllced mainly by i2(X).
data are affected by noise (mndom fiuduation) TIte proper sepamtion or these harmonics and
j)roduced l'rolll a nUIll ber 01' SOUl'(ps. The noise resulting truncation of the Fourier scries give the
s due in part to limitations or equiplllent at various optimum smoothing (or filtering) as welI as the
stations and to errors of scaling and rounding. desired diurnal representation. For deterrnining
A brge part or tho noise is the result of statistical t he proper sepamtion of harrnonics 13 we ml1ke use of
fluctuations in the sample medians, tllo sample size certaill properties of thc Fourier spectrum which
bping at Illost 31 and frequently much lesso These characterize the two eomponent functions of i(x).
fluduatiolls are, to some degroe, caused by intrinsic As a by-product wc also obtain a quantitative esti
variation or the physical phenomena being measured. mate of tho noise 1]", whieh el1n be compared with
The Boiso is evidenced by such OCCUlTences as results from an indepPllJ en t method.
unusual roughness or unrealistic fiaUening of the
diurnal plots during certain hours. The presenco a. Spectrum for aReaI Ionospheric Characteristic flx)
or noise is also suggested by ralldom incollsistencies
or data at groups of neighboring stations as observed Tt is weH k.nowll that n, smooth, continuous funetion
from data-comparisons on a worldwido basis. In ti (:r) or period 27r can bo expanded in a FollI'ier
the present chapter, however, we give more objective series~o f runctions 1, cos jx and sin .jx (j = 1, 2,
evidence of the noise by moans or statistical and 3, ... )-and that the coefficients, given by integraI
mathematical data-analYses. Included are methods formulas analogolls to (28), approach zero as j
for quantitative estimation of the noise amI for its inerel1ses, Itt a rate deponding upon the smoothness
optimum separation from real physical vtriation. or il(X). It can be shown/' for example, that if
We slwll therefore consider ionospheric data as ii'l(X) is piecewise cOlltnuous in (-'lr,'Ir) then the
sampled values Yifr0H1 a functioni(x) which is the sum coefficients approach zero at leltst as fast as j~\
of 1,wo components: (1) the real physical charaeter whereas il f"l(X) is piecewisc eontinuous the rate is
st(' il (X), lllld (2) a rnndom noise componcnt j~2. In generaI the size of a in the j-a lnw increases
f2 (x). Thus we consider each value Yi as a SUlll or decrf'ases with tho smoothness of fl(X), so that in
a senso the smoothnpss of Il funetion is chal'ftct,erizf'd
(37) by the value of a.
wbere These sarne laws I1pply (approximntely) to the
(38) coefficients a j amI bj obt!tined from FollI'ier analysis
of a s11lllple, yPl, y~ll, . . . , yW, of hourly values
The values' of the noise yiZI are Ilssumed t.o be, of iI(x). Thus the squared amplitude c;=a}+b1
independently, norlllltlly distributed with melln decre!tses at lettst as fast as j-Za. \Vhf'll c~ is plotted
zero and standard deviation 1]", Il quantity taken against j in a log..log scale, the curvp dpfiue<! by

I
to be the measure oi the 71oise. smoothing the points on the graph wiU have l slope
Generally the noise is small compared to the main less tlHW or equal to -2a. \Ve reCer to this value
physical variation, but its effect must be careful1y as the slope 01 the Fourier spectrum. It is safe to
studied sillce we wish to represcnt the physicnl assume that the real diurnal variation of an iono
characteristic with as much detail as possible. spheric characteristic lws at least n piecewise con
The noise would produce a very rough and physicaHy tinuous first derivative. Thus the slopc of its spec
unacceptable representation if the originaI data trum should be -2 or lesso
were fitted exactly without time ltnd space smooth
ing. Thus a certain amount of smoothing is neces b. Spectrum for a Random Noise Component!2(x)
sary, but too much smoothing would produce a
representation which does not respect weH enough Let y;2), y~2), . , yJ~l denote a sample of valucs of
the true physicl1.1 variation of the data. OllI' prob the raIHlom noise component f2(x)--each value hav
lem is therefore to represent as accurately as "This type or fil!.er i8 analogous to" "lowpaRs ele.trical filter-!.e., a filter
designed 1.0 pass only low frequencies while elirniu"ting ali frequ~ncies above a
possible the component il (x), given onlv the sampled ccrtain point [Holloway, 1958]. Sucll a filt~ring process is frequently referred 1.0
values YI of f(x). \Ve trel1t first the 'separation of as,.,0smootbing. H

Tile c,,"ntral idea employed i8 suggestcd by Lancz08 [1956, PP. 331-344].

noise from the diurnal variation. H Bee [Jaekson, 1957, pp. 1-22].

427

 , l'

ing an independent normal distribution with mean (f2

zero and val'iance ( f 2 -and consider a Fourier nnalysis E(C])-6 (40)

of these values. The statistical distributions or thc
Fourier componcnts (ah bh Ch and 1/Ij) are obtttlwd
as a result of tho asymptotic solution jor the random
walk [Chapman and Bartels, 1940, pp. 572-582].
Thus it follows from a theorem of Markoff that the
coefficients aj and bj have independent normal dis
tributions with mean zero and variance (f2/12. From
this it is shown that the phase 1/Ij is unijormly dis
tributod in 180;2;1/Ij;2; 180 and that thc implitude
Cj bas a Rayle1~{/h distribution with mei1Il (f-Jn/24 , so
that thc squared illlplitude C7 has the cxpccted value
VICTORIA
(50.So N, 263.5 E )
Since these results are independent of the ImrIllonic
j, it follows that C] oscillates ibout a constant value
(f2/6, thc noise level, and that the Fomicr spectrum
for random noise has a slope oj zero.
c. Spectrum for Ionospheric Data
Since the noisc is sIllaU compared to tbo main
ampli Ludc of thc diurnal varhttion, wc would rXlw(;t
from tho thcory outlined above-that the spcctrum
for act.unl data would decay rapidly for tbc first
YELLOWKNIFE DIKSON ISLAND
(62.4' N, 2456'E) (73.5' N. 80.4' E )

IO IO ~------------~~--~ IO

-
2 3 4 5 6 8 Il 234568 Il 2 3 56811
j =HARMONIC NUMBER j HARMONIC NUM8ER j =HARMONIC NUM8ER

FOUR IER SPECTRA

18 16

:i1! 14 14

'-'
~ 12

~
@
:;
~
~
z
o
:;
N
LI..
.;?

ZONE TlME ZONE TIME ZONE TIME

REPRESENTATION OF THE DIURNAL VARIATION USING 8 HARMONICS

FIGFRE 7. Fourier analys of the diurnal variation of foF, rnonthly rnedians from three typical stations for December,
1967.

428
 harmollics and would then level off aI'ound a constant
yalue u2 /6. The point at which the leveling off takes
pla,ce separates the hal1ll0nics l'epresenting mostly
true physical variation from those produced mainly
by noisc. Thus we determine the optirnum cutoff for
the Fourier series. It is inevitable that a few har
monics wiU be in a "twilight zone" where the ampli.
tude oC tl1<\ real physic!tl variation is the same as that
of the noisc. However, it is not oC vital importance IO
wherc the cutoff is made in this region, except that
the series should not be extended too far.
To illustrate thc method we consider the monthlv
medians of JOF 2 from threc typical stations (fig. 7).
These c:.:amples illustrate the rclation between

I smoothness of data and slope of the spectrum. For

Victoria, with thc smoothest data, the slope of the
spectrum (for thc lower order harmonics) appears to
be -4; for Yellowknife it is around -3; and for
Dikson Island it is approximately -2, in beautiful
agreement with the theory. In each case the sppctra
show a tendency to level ofT around harmonie 7,
indicating the effpct of noise on the higher harmonics
and the position or the twiIight zone for the optimum
cutoff.
The theory has also been applied to determine tlIe
average optimum cutoff, using the mean speetrum for
alI sintions for the given month (fig. /0;). As was
expected the mean spectrum is much smoother than
the spectra for the individuaI stations, so that the
siope fmd optimum eutoff are more cIearly defined.
There is a definite change in the character of the
speetrum at harmonic 8. It is dear that harmonie 7
OPTIMUM CUTOFF
is above the noise level and so should be retained,
but harmonic 8-being in the twilight zone--could
either be retained or noto We have terminated the I :t STANDARD DEVIAflON OF Cf
sel'es after thc 8th harrnonic. The effect of this
smoothing process is illustrated for the three stations
in figure 7 by the solid lines representing the diurnai
variation. It has been found that fol' other months
and other characteristics the mean spectrum is
gcn('mlly as smooth as the one shown in figure 8, HARMONIC NUMBER

I
but the twilight zone is somctimes more extended.
FIGlJRE 8. Average Fourier spectrumfor f oF 2 monthly medianI!.
A number of other stmlies have been madc to
Deeember 1957 113 statio1l!l
determine the average oplimum cutoff, in addilioJl

to the work on Fourier spectra. Frolll the theory

d. Estimation of the Noise (!

of anal.vsis or random noise, tlle phase V-'j for noise

The theory also provides n means for computing
hal'molles is uniformly distributecI; thus alI values
the noise u. Taking the mean squared amplitude
of the phasc are equul1y likt'ly to oeeUI". By eom
for the noise harmonics
paring the phase angles from a11 stations for a given

harmonie (by means or polar plots of amplitude

l 11
and phase), we hl1ve found svstematic vuriations
-3 L:::
}=9
cj
with geographic position for the lower hHl'monies

and apparent1y random (uniform) distributions

as an estimate of E(cD, we use (40) to obtain G".
for higher harmonics, in good agreement with
Values of the noi se are given in table 2 for the three
tile previous results. Similar investigations have
sets of data illustrated in figure 7. In a similar
been made to determine the distributiolls or the
manner wc compute the average noise in JOF2 medians
othel' eomponents, ah bi> and Cj. Although reason
for December 1957
ably good agl'ecment with thc previous studics wns

Cound, the results for these eases were not so well

defined. This was to be expected, howevpr, sinee

-
u="\,,6
te: [1"3 2J
11
~ c j
1/2
=0.25 Mc/s, (41)
tlH' parametel's (h'fining the normal and Rayleigh

distributions of these componcnts are subject to

where '0 denotes the mean squared amplitude of
geographic vnl'iation.
the jth harmonic from 113 stations. Calculations
429
It
or the average noise in f oF2 medians made over a
period of several years have been found t.o be dosely
cOIIC'bted witl! solaI' activity. The details or thpse
studies, however, will be given in a subsequent
paper.
TABLE 2. Noise in foF. med1'ans for December 1957
Station Noise u
'Icjs
0.18
.28
.58
The same estimates of noise have been made by
an entirely independent TnetItod. .:VIaking use oI
thc distributions of dnily measurelllents, we have
computcd the standard deviations of the sample
medians. TIte good agreement or these independent
results gives added strength not only to tIte (~sti
mates of noise, but also to the determim1tion or the
optimum smoothing.
Each of the Fourer coefficients is equallv affected
by noisc, but \-ve lHwe ShOWll thnt for the lower
harmonics (j ~ 8) the physical variation is thc
domintnt, pttrt, whereas for higheT harmonics mostly
noise is presenL. By truncuting the Fourer series
we have pliminated about 30 percellt or the noise
the part C'ontaIlPd in the truncated terms-at no
10ss or real physietll variation. A large pltrt of the
remaining 70 percent of the noiso is filtered in a
similar manner by analysis or tIte geographic varia
Hon of the Fourier coeffieicnts. This problern is
treated in the following st'etion.
4.2. Separation of Noise From Geographic
Variation
The noise. is sepurated from the real geographic
yariation or Fourier coefficients by a filtering process 15
similar to that used in the preceding soction. Having
c:xpinded the geogmphic variution in a series (36) of
ort.honormal fUlletions F k C,8) as in scction 3.3 we
obtain the smoothing (or filtering) bv truncating tIte
series. In this case, however, we <io not have the
elegant theory associated with Fourier analvsis for
det(,l'lnining thc optimum eutoff. . the following limitation. It was assumed t hat the
TIH' lIH'thod E'mployed is bascd on the resluals
betwecll tlte originaI Fourier coeffieients being fitted
and the eorresponding vt!ues or thc representution
functiou Y K \,(1) giveu by (36). Sinee orthonormal
funetions were used in the development of l''"K( 8)
we can inspeet the residuals l'cmaining after et~el~
te l'm d k F k C,(1) is tl,dded to tlte series. Tbc residuals
approach zero as the nUlIIber K + l or terms in the
series is inereased, aud they would actuullv altain
this limit (exeept for rounding error) when'K+ l is
equa1 to the number of stations. However, wc
know that tho Fourier coeffieients are affected bv
noise; hence zero residuals are not desired.
Tlw criterion adopted for dotermining th(' optimum
cutoff is to lIIinilni"c tIte st1ndard deviation of the
lS. the discussion on Hsmoothing of obs{irvatonal data bv the nlethod oi
squares" tU .S. Dept. of Commare", NBS, AMS 9, 1952, PP. 16-18].
resid llls. We take as an unbiased estimate o] the
variance o] the residuals
(42)
wh('re Ek is the SUlli or squnres of residuals (20), N
is tho number ol' stations, amI (N-k-l) is the
number of degrees of freedom remaining after sub
tmction of one d('gree for pll,ch term in the series
Y k (,I1) [Kendall, 1951, pp. 5961]. From (42) it is
possible for the estimate of the variance e: (or of the
standard devio,tion e,,) of th(' residuals to inCl'elSe 11S
k increascs, since thc diminishing of E" nmy lweome
very slow after a certain degrec. For Silllplicity we
shall refer to e" HS th(' standard demation (if the
residuals. In the analyses under pres(,lIt considem
tion, the values e" usually decrease quite mpidly at
first, then taper ofr and oease to diminish appreeably
i1ftl'l'iL certan point. This point defim's tlH' d('sirf'd
optimml1 eutoff.
In order to determine this eutoff objectively we
makc use of Il, statistiml t('st l'or thc signifi('Hnce of
eaeIt coefficieut d k (in (36)) based on the "Stud(,nt's"
t distribution [Fisher, 1922]. Under tll(' usunl
assumption that thc observed values Yi have inde
Jwnd('nt llorlllnl distributions abollt a lIIe!Il l'l'p'('ssion
sud,tee with eommon variance (T2, il rollo\\"s that
the quantity
where o" is the expected va1ue or d k , has a "Student's"
t distribution with (N-k-1) degrees or freedom.
Therefore we test the null hypothesis Ho (i.e., (h=O)
using a 5 pen'pnt l'ejeetion Cl'it('rion
I~I >tO.05.
In most of our applications thc value oI (N-k-l)
has been large enougll so that t O05 is approximately 2.
Although the tpst described aboH' is probably the
best possible for the present problelll, we note ilere
distributions of alI the observed vlu('s Yi have a
eOInmon VlriaIlcc (T2. It is known, howev('r, thal (Ti
varips sigllifit'Hlltly with geogmphie locntion, so that
the tlteoryappli('s only approxinmtely to our problem.
As a l'esult thc representations are somewhat oV<'r
smoot!ted in certain regions and undersmoothed in
olhers. Sinee we prorer il sligh tly unders1l1oothed
reprcsentation (in order to represent the phvsieal
details as weIl as possible) we have chosen a 5 p~rcent
rejection a,s opposed to a l percent.
As an illustrntion we consider the determination
or the OptilllUIll eutofr of the main l1titudinal \('l'l11S
" (tnble 1) for representing the Fourier coefficient
shown in figure 6. The last term fouwl to be signifi
cant was dlO and we havc therefore termnnted thc
sel'ies at this point. A grnph of ek through dqp:ee 15
is shown iII figure 9 nd sOlIle of thC' vlllues e" und di;
430

 are given in table 3. In a silllibr manner we deter ql = 12, and q~=6 (sec. 3.3). Frorn our test we filld
mille the optimum cutoffs for the first and sccond the optimum cutoffs specified by ql =7 and qo=5.
order terms in longitudc (Lable l). In figure lO is In addition to statistical tests we have also been
shmyn the graph 01' el; corresponding to thc sct of guidcd by certa In physical propcrties known lo exist
coordinate functions Gk(, 8) spccified by qo= lO, in the ionosphere and by SOIl1P knowkdge of the
II1orphology or our mathelllnticall'unctions. For ex
ampIe, for a polynoIllial or drgrrc k in sin the dis
tance between two adjacent rnaxiIlla will have to be
1.8 at least (360jk) dcgrees. Therefore, in OIdpr to
reprrsent the sharp dip in critic,tl frrquellcies known
to exist near the magnetic equator (figs. 2 and 3),
1.8
wc know a priori that very high degree polynomials
are needed.
~ 1.4
~ TABLE 3. Least squal es jitting oJ spherical harmonic functions
~
Gk(X,II) to Fourier (lime series) coefficienl~ al for f oF 2 monthly
"
I/)
rnAdians
J 1.2
"c
::> December 1957 113 stations.
in
UJ STANDARD DEVIATlOII
o: ORTHONORMAL COEFFICIENTS FOR
LO OF RESIDUALS COEFFICIENTS FUNCTIONS Gk (A,81
"
o

z
k ek dk D,
o
o O.1791255~E 01 O.28253230E 02
~
;;: 0.8
l O.148T8412E 01 0.10660 .. S3E 02 :~::~~~;~ :~
g0.21119S11E
..J 2 0.14296S2"E 01 -o ... S103221E 01 02
UJ Z
c

z o
zo ;:: " 3
s
0.12992993E
0.9"U2991E
01
00
-0.6388911"E 01
-0.939963"1 E 01
-0.1833022,E
-0.10238298E
02
03
o: ;"i 2 :'! 0.16460B36E 00 -0.S1'3S,"1E 01 0.1S1t44211E 02
o 0.13123422E 00 -0.222316..1E 01 0.2"343033E 03
"
c 0.6 OPTIMUM cuTOFF
:IO;:: Ir

" ">
z 7 0.13989S19E 00 -0.36166392E-oO -0.9h28048E 02
qo = IO ..J 8 0.14338301E 00 -0.91018918E-Ol -0.26629260E 03
"
l-
I/)

10
0.14431083E
0.11160986"'E
00
00
0.63343991E 00
0.2321964,E 01
o .39049190E
0.10210413E
02
03

11 0.11333002E 00 0.S0814919E 00 0.80021116E 00

0.4 12 0.11428S08E 00 -o.6103H32E 00 -0.688S9121E 00
13 0.11188294E 00 0.899861S8E-02 0.341S8S01E-00
Ir 14 0.11130649E 00 0.11229120E 00 -0.lS318S19E-00
o
z o
z
;:: '" '"
o
o =>
Ir I
10
16
0.120S69S4E
0.S1861921E
00
00
0.2431S891E-oO
0.42689060E 01
-0.11Z1a609E 02
-0.42419381E 01
0.2 " "ii'
..J
o i3
z
17
18
0.S81S6129E
O. ,8294996E
00
00
0.99311S23E-ol
-0.432282S2E-00
-0.421S1112E 01
0.98S14158E-Ol
'" g
I-
"Dz ~ Ir
19
20
0.S1096188E
0.S131S111E
00
00
-0.121S0213E 01
0.31006010E-oO
0.30209412E 02
0.21029311E 02
=> ..J ii: <!:
I 21 0.S6632S43E 00 0.101800S8E 01 0.S3866991E 01
;:: "z 22 0.S6914243E 00 -O. 18124'16E-00 0.298831S1E-00

pEGREE k
15
"o!::D=>
..J
23
20
0.S6SS5211E
0.S4421645E
00
00
-o.828S'40SE 00
-o .15484624E o l
-0.2292110~E 02
-0.16010904E 02

FIGURE 9. Standard deviation of residuals ek for each degree

'":IO-x '"oz
..J
Ir",
"'o
o=>
2S
20
0.S4640091E 00
0.S108811SE 00
0.30164920E-00
0.18182181E 01
-o .8181S202E
0.S3Z12419E
00
00
[15 !:: 27 0.4813414SE-00 0.15021802E 01 0.901'S04lE 00
from the analysis by orthogonal polynomials in sin X (X= o'" 28 0.48894281E-00 -o .32661115E-00 -0.1539,824E 00
latitudel of Fourier (lime series) coefficienls al for foF, 1;~ 29 0.46814l04E-00 0.13582551E 01 0.1883,SSlE 01
u..J
30 0.46133326E-00 0.88S82236E 00 0.19063634E 01
monthly mcdians. IX z

December 1957 113 stations.

5. Stability af the Geagraphic

) u Representatian
t ~ 1.6
~
~

" I~
To obtain a "best" representation of the gr.ographic
varintion, onc must consider IIIore than the optimum
I/)
J
sepamtion of noisc (filtering)-i.e., more thall just
"
:> 1.2

Q
CI)
M1XED LATITUDINAL ANO LONGITUOINAL VARIATIQN the residuals at tbe stations where data are given.
UJ
o: 1.0
The heavy grouping of stations in sOllle regions such
"
o
HS Europe (Iig. 1) and thc absence of sLations in other
z 08

o
J'cgions, particularly in the oceans and near the poles,
~ tends to produce a sort of "mathematical instability"
;;: 06

UJ
c
OPTIMuM CUTOFF
in thf' representation function-that is, unrealistic
D
o: Q IO behavior in the areas where no data are available.
O.~
<!

This behavior is somewhat analogous to the large

;:!
I/) 0.2
fluctuations which arise in Lagrange (polynomial)
LAT~~'NAL~o\o---- interpolation of clustered valucs with sIllall variation
0.0
U
VARIATI
2 4 6 8 IO 12
[Lanczos, 1956, pp. 346-358].
50
DEGREE k
As we pointcd out in chaptcr 2, thc usual approach
FIGURE lO. Standard deviation of residuals ek for each degree
in the global analysis of grophysical data has bcen to
from the analysis by the geographic functions G k (X, Il) of first dmw contouI' nmps by hand (using thc actual
Fourier (time series) coefficients al for f oF 2 monthly medians. dala, empirical knowledgc and experience) and then
December 1957 113 stations. to analyze in spherical harmonics thc values read

431
from the maps at the intersections of a regular grido
Thus the (synthetic) values used in the analysis are
uniformly spaced and the mesh or the grid citn be
made sufficicntly small to prevent instabilities in the
representation function. This method has the dis
advantage of introducing error (noise) both in draw
ing and in reading the maps. Moreover, the hand
work involved is relatively slow and cumbersome.
Wc have eliminated these two difficulties by first
analyzing the data directly as they are obtained at
thc ionospheric stations. However, as a result we
have had to face still another problem, that of
mathematical instability described above.
For a region where therc are no available stations,
the representation function gives a two-dimensional
interpolation determined by the data from alI
stations, both near the region and far away. Thus
the best representation that could be expected is a
smooth continuation of the variations from sUITound
ing stations. Strong departures from such smooth
continuations are probably artificial and physically
meaningless.
Examples 16 of instability can be seen in the contour
map (fig. Ila) computed from an analysis using the
coordinate functions G k(X, O) (table 1) specified by
qq=lO, ql=7, q2=5-these were the optimum
cutofis (sec. 4.2) from the viewpoint of separation of
noise. Included in the map are the residuais
between the originaI Fouricr coefficients and the
corresponding values of Y38(X, O). Although the
fluctuations in this map are not large, there is a
definite appearance or instability in the souihern
hemi8phere, particularly near the pole. By further
truncating the orthonormal series Y3S (X, O) so as to
correspond to the set of Gk(X, O) specified by qo= lO,
(l! =6 and q2=2, very little damage is caused in terms
of increased residuals. However, as can be verified
from the map in figure 11b, considerable advantage
is gained in terms or increased stability near the
south pole. Table 3 gives the values or ek and the
cocfficients d k and Dk corresponding to these functions.
Thus it is sometimes necessary to make the cutofi
slightly ahove thc optimum level (determined by
noise) in order to preservo the stability and physical
soundnoss of the representation function. Tho
amount of increase required in the residuals dcpends
upon tho world wide coverage of ionospheric stations.
6. Reorthogonallzation and the Accumula
tion of Error
6.1. Accumulatian af Errar in the Gram-Schmidt
Orthaganalizatian Pracess
As was pointed out in chapter 2, the normal
equations
m=O, 1, . . ,K (43)
16 Other examples in one dimension are illustrated in the behavior near the
poles oi the polynomials in (figs. 2 and 3.)
432
(analogous to (4 are uncoupled by the condition of
orthogonality (6) imposed on the Ak(x). Thus all
terms on the left side of (43) vanish except those or
the form am(Am,A m ), so that the coefficients ak are
given by (11). Although (11) is algebraically exact,
it will be shown that the ooefficients thus obtained
could be strongly affected by accumulative errors or
rounding. We let a~ denote the theoretl:cally exact
solution to (43) and write for the error in ak (as
computed from (11
K
&Lk=a~-ak=-::E a~AmA: (44)
m=O
mr'1r.
where
A (A~,Ak)
(45)
mA: (Ak,A k)'
As an approximation to oak we compute
K
f1ak=-::E amAmk' (46)
1lI~O
mr'k
Thus if some of the numbers A mk , m,=k, differ sig
nificantly from zero (i.e., have nonzero digits among
those retained hy the computer), it is likely that large
values of !:lak ",ilI occur. When we look elosely at
the orthogonalization process (sec. 2.2), it is not too
surprising to find that some of the Amk are signifi
cantly difierent from zero, particularly if the coordi
nate functions Gk(x) are not approximately ortho
gonal. This can he seen as follows.
- The functions Ak(X) are constructed successively
according to (8) Imd (9). In fact, multiplying (8) by
Am(x), m<k, and summing over the Xi gives
Then imposing the orthogonality condition (6) on the
left member ahove, we have
(48)
and (9) follows by neglecting the terms -ak~pm,
(p,-6.m) which are (theoretically) zero. From (48)
we ohtain as an estimate of the relative error in akm
(49)
making use of (9) l (21), (23), and (45). ~-\t this point
it is convenient to consider the functions Gk(X) ,
Ak(x), and Fk(x) as N dimensionaI vectors whose
components are the functional values at the points
Xl, X2, , XN' Then a number such as (Gk,Fp)
can be interpreted as the component of the vector
Gk in the direction of F p For the present we shall
consider a typical term on the far right side or (49);

 B. LONGITUDE

40'

t.b",,+-+-r'+-+-+--j 30'
-=::::--t:""'+-~<.!f--hl-+--:JL-+--I 20'

"-::1>-""'-+=-1->-001 IO' r
'="

~~~~~~~+-~~'~~~~~~~~~~~~~PT~--~J7~~~~~+-~~ ~
C
~~--rl~rc~~~~~~~~~~~b-~==~~~~~~~~~~t-~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~-~ IO' ~

Il ~"~:---j,,-'I ~O'

--=""""'--=--f'-=i 60' g
...
:c
~~~~l;=t==~~-~-+--+-~~~1--+--+-~~--+-~-4~~-.--~-+~70
b

FIGURE 11. Maps oJ Fourier (lime smes) coeJficient al (Mc/a) and residuals Jrom analyses made with geographic junctio7ls
G k 0\, (J) jor f oF 2 medians.
December 1957 113 stations.

433
thus we can assume, without los8 oC generulity, that
the Gk are normalized in the sense oi (17). Suppose
now that GI: has a large component in the dircction of
F p (say (Gk,Fp) %) but a very small component in
thc direction of F m , so that (Gk,FTT.) is oi the same
order of magnitude as (Fp,Fp). 'l'hen the resulting
error in a"m could be as lmge as 50 percent.
I t is dear from the preceding discussion how
significant errors can be introduced, the most import
ant factor being the direction o[ each GI; relative to
the preceding F p , p<k. Although such an error
may be small, its effect accumulates rapidly since
each subscquent AI;(:r) is constructed in terms of all
preceding Am(x) , m< k. 'l'hus a small initial error
in one Ak(X) can have disastrous effects on the later
steps of the processo
As an illustration we consider the geographic
rcpresentation of thc Fourier coefficient, used in
section 4.2, expandcd in terms of the coordinate
functions Gk (,8) specified by qo=lO, ql (12=2
(see table 1). 'l'he least square8 coefficients ak
computcd from (11) and the estimates of the relative
error (tla<!ak) from (46) are given in table 4. As
c an be seen the precision of the al; for k>
7 is very
doubtfuL It is shown in thc following section that
ag is off by 5 percent, and other coefficients by
considerably morc, thus illustrating the usefulness
of error estimates.
6.2. Grarn-Schrnidt Reorthogonalization
In section 6.1 we flTri\Ted at tbc following three
important results: (l) large errors can be produced
by the process of Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization,
(2) eq (46) gives an effective method for estimating
such err01"8, and (3) once started, an error has a
strong accumula Live effect, but its main source
initially is elosely related to the "directions" of the
coordinate functions Gk(x). If thc Gk(x) are nearly
linearly dependent, the error woulrl develop quickly,
whcreas iI they are approxirnately orthogonal, the
source of error wouId be greatly reduced. Upon
this fnet we justiCy a Gram-Schmidt l'eortJwgorwhza
tion 17 process, following the same lines as section
2.2, but taking as coordinate functions the Ak(X)
instead oI the Gk(x). For, a1though the Ak(X) may
not be sufficiently orthogonal Ior our purpose, they
would in generaI be considerably more so than the
originaI coordinate functions. 'l'hus the initial
source oC the error woulcl be recluced. 'l'he reortho
gonalization process can, of course, be repeated as
many times IlS necessary to kccp tlte error uncler
controi. Berore giving a numericai example, we
outline briefly the steps involved in the proccss.
Following the procedure oi" scction 2.2, we [orrn a
new set of orthogoIl!11 functions
" 'l'lw notion or reorthogonalilation was suggested by thc Numerical Allalysis
Sccton (IL01) oC thc :-';ational Bureau oC Stalldards.

TABLE 4. Elimination-01 accumulative rounding error by reorthogonalizalion prOCCS8 used lo

fit spherical harrnon"ic funclions of lalitude and longilude lo Pourier (lime series) coefficients
a, for f oF 2 monlhly media/IS
Decernhel" 1957 113 stations.

ORTHOGONAL COEFFICIENTS DEVI ATION OF ESTIMATES OF ACCUMULATIVE

k IN PERCENT ROUNDING ERROR FROM:

FIRST SECONO FIRST SE CONO

ORTHOGONALIZAllON ORTHOGONALIZATION ORTHOGONAUZATION ORTHOGONALIZATION
~Ok .c. .c.b k
k k bk bk k tik
o 2.6578404E 00 2.6!i78404E 00 O. 2.9041629E-06 O.
l 1.5929625E 00 l. 5929624E 00 -0.0000063 2.6005150E-06 O.
2 -1.4231348E 00 -1.4231393E 00 0.00032 1.9663900E-05 5.2353136E-08
3 -3.8013159E 00 -3.8013174E 00 0.000040 -4.8294410E-06 3.9199992E-08
4 -1.1098262E 01 -1.1098265E 01 0.000027 7.0032999E-05 O.
5 -1.4189972E 01 -1.4190128E 01 0.0011 -l. 1172427E-04 8.4008608E-09
6 -1.0993559E 01 -1.0990924E 01 -0.024 5.3348242E-03 1.0846157E-08
1 -3.5136985E 00 -3.5109766E 00 -0.078 -2.8899443E-02 -2.5464985E-07
8 -1.7760643E 00 -1.8176263E 00 5.4 1.1386564E 00 6.2695740E-01
9 2.3313985E 01 2.>232524E 01 -0.35 1.2002318E-02 4.1049105E-08
lO 1.7978380E 02 1.8443359E 02 2.5 1.6151702E-02 O.
Il 1.0436464E-01 h 1301300E-Ol 1.7 3.0752875E-02 O.
12 -1.2964101E-Ol -1.2419979E-Ol -4.4 -3.1891573E-02 7.4985841E-09
13 3.1378034E-03 3.4149244E-03 8.1 3.2888361E-Ol 7.6702861E-07
14 3.5222762E-Ol 3.3267845E-Ol -5.9 -3.2017405E-02 1.1197871E-07
15 2.7970650E-01 2.4467795E-01 -14. -3.0103257E-02 -2.0554128E-07
16 3.6830783E 00 3.6748188E 00 -0.22 -5.6580728E-03 O.
17 2.3149930E-Ol 1.7717535E-01 -30. -1.3896600E-Ol 3.9814584E-07
18 -7.6929165E-Ol -7.4671454E-Ol -3.0 -5.5304769E-02 -1.4966725E-07
19 _l, .8753538E 00 -4.7861179E 00 -1.9 -3.4774151E-02 3.7360954E-0~
20 1.1794396E 00 1.0771 025E 00 -9.5 -1.6933961E-Ol -1.3834487E-07
21 7.3562072E 00 7.2621238E 00 -1.3 -3.2170044E-03 -3.2830421E-08
22 -1.5848168E 00 -1.3387020E 00 -18. -9.4834993E-02 -7.7917363E-08
23 -1.2521099E 01 -1.2175401E 01 -2.8 4.4063169E-03 4.8954975E-08
24 -Z.3682257E 01 -2.3369081E 01 -1.3 -3.2909461E-02 -1.0202309E-08
25 8.9367033E-02 9.1821058E-02 2.7 -6.0492957E-03 -6.0856796E-08
26 5.9681830E-Ol 5.9769819E-01 0.15 1.3858429E-03 O
27 1.0897222E 00 1.1006036E 00 0.99 1.1943727E-02 O.
28 -2.7559001E-Ol -2.7433266E-Ol -0.46 6.7750021E-03 -2.7158921 -08
29
30
2.2791040E 00
1.9115768E 00
2.2946516E 00
1.9063635E 00
0.68
-0.27
6.1824901E-03
1.0157171E-04
l 2.5975466 -08
4.6899223 -08

434

.~L'~~~__.~____________________________________________________________________________~
 Bo(x) =Ao(x)
where
Then the least squares solution can be written in
tbe form
where
(y,Bk )
(B",Bk )
To obtain YK(x) in the simpler form (l), we computo
fil'st the coefficients a; for expressing (52) in terrns of
the A,,(x). This is done by means of (13) 11Ild (14)
with ak, akp, and Dk replaced by b", b"p, and a;,
respectively. Then the desired coefficients Dk are
obtaIled using (13) and (14) with aie replaced bva;.
The normalization of the solution is made by means
of a similar modification of section 2.3.
For illustration we continue with the sarne example
I given at tho end of section 6.1. The coefficients bk
and estimates of tbe relative error (tlbk/b k) from one
l, reorthogonalization are given in table 4. From
these results it is seen tlmt the largest value of the
relative erro l' is of the order of 10- 7 Thus a great
improvement has been gained. lJsing the coeffi
cients bk we bave computed the reh.tive deviation or
tbe ak in percent, [rom which it can be seen that
a17 diffel's by as ll1uch as 30 porcent. Moreover,
the brellkdown of the first orthogonalization at k=8
is clearly shown.
7. Summary of Analysis and Numerical
Maps
We SUlDmurize here the steps used in the nnalysis
described in tbe preceding sections (see table 5).
T ABLE 5.
Fouricr
analysis
Mostly
real
physical
variation
I,
Dlurnal repre""ntation
(50) Thf' analysis begins with the actual observations as
thoy ure tabulated t the stations, each in its own
zone timo. The diurnal representation is obtained
from Fourier analysis of tbe 24 hOUl'l~" values (for
each stntion), the conections to LMT being pro
duced by an appropriate shiFt of the phase, detf'r
(51) mincd by the station locations. The OptllllUll
scparation of the noise from thc real physicnl variu
tion of the data is madc by truncating thc high
frequency harmonics (low-pass filterillg). Thus 101'
the charactcristic f oF 2 , only 8 harmollics are nocdcd.
(52) Thc geographic variatioll of each of thc 17 Foul'ior
coeffieicnts
(54)
(53)
is represented by an orthonormal sel'ies, unalogous
to sphericul harmonic unu1ysis. Sincc the functions
in thcse series llIust be orthogonal relative to the
coordinates (Xi, fJi) of the stations, they cannot be
known a priori; hence they rnust be constructed.
Gram-Scbmidt orthogoI1<llization nnd reorthogonuli
zation are used for this purpose. Tho smoothing
(fi1tering) in the geographic dimensions is then pCl'
formed by truncating tbe orthonormal series for
ea.ch of the 17 Fourier coefficien ts.
The end product of tlw analysis is a table or numer
ica1 cocfficients D.k dcfining a funetion l'(X,fJ,t) of
the form
H
l'(X,fJ,t) =ao(,fJ)+ 2:: [aj(,fJ) cos
j=l
,it+b tC,fJ) sin jt} (55)
where <'aeh of the funetions aj(X,fJ) and bj(,fJ)-rep
resenting thc geographic variations of the FOllrier
eoefficients--is a seri es of the form
(56)
(see table l). The index 8 denotes whieh Fourier
eoefficicnt is rcpresented in the order shown in (54).
Summary diagram of the analysis
()rtllOn,orma! {'-Dnstruct,ion
Gk-C'hoief' of coon.lin"1t<' funC'tions
Ak'- First orthogonal1zation
Pk~-RC'cond orthogonali7.ation
Fk-Normuli7.atioJ
Geogrphic 8.l1ly.ls 01 Fonrier (time series)
cocf1dl'nts
~Nit's trunca.ted fOr)
separation of Ilois('
(lntcrmca,te !'('sults)
or Or!g-)
Geographic mpresentution
435

 TABI.E 6. Coefficients D,k defining the function r (;1',8, t,) for monthly median f UF'2 (Mc/s), Decernber 1957
I-main JatitudiIml variatioIl. Mixcd latitudinal vuriDtion: II-fust order in longitude, III-sacand order in Jongitude. Notation: ]'or each cntry the number given by the first eight digit~ and sign is mul
tiplied by the power of 10 defincd by tbc last two diglts

TIME VARIATION

Hormonic O I 2 3 4

~ O 1 2 3 l, 5 6 1 8
O !.09!4267E al 7.1372089E-OI 7.283.9~2E-OI -9.2623643E-OI 8.1422963E-OI -1.1848102E-Ol -3.1885388E-OI 2.968H41E-01 -2. 5333249E-01
1 -7.89~3766E-Ol 4.8821~10E-Ol 2.6530059E 00 -1.5247263E 00 8.09U360l-01 -9.4284316E-Ol -1.7684491E 00 -4.3241333E-()l -~.7663186E-01
2 2.9886163E 00 1.6714562E 01 2.1189511E 01 6.5370734E-OI -3.3546S72E 00 -2.3955230E-Ol -I,4676821E 00 -1.4250625E 00 -4.1630~91E-OI
3 1.5785812E al 1.7292880E 00 -1.8330226E 01 3.4795284E 00 -4.3119376E ')0 6.4229818E 00 !.0~86009E al 9.2466606E 00 2.8930649E-02
lo -7.308l383E 01 -1.0531759E 02 -1.0238298E 02 2 .160i8~5E 00 8.6228165E CO -6.891474IE-OI 1.0163215E al 100430091E 01 6.131752~E 00
I 5 -4.6525828E 01 -4.1977129E 00 7.5444276E 01 2.0150497E 00 1.6324815E 01 -30464169~E 01 -2.6678432E 01 -3.740461SE 01 -5.6494755E-Ol
6 !.9878676E 02 2.5~49198E 02 2.4343033E 02 -4.3352216E 00 -~.4578"~8E 00 -7.5223076E 00 -2.2052303E 01 -3.n42693E al -2.019H37E 01
z 7 4.9101l51E 01 8.4645829E 00 -9.8828049E 01 -2.6254765E 00 -1.7152290E 01 6.0494795E 01 301563195E 01 5.07543llE 01 4.2224289E 00
O 8 -2.1057517E 02 -2.6631189E 02 -2.6629260E 02 1.1159160E 01 -1.8912893E-Ol 2.3693942E 01 2.5115734E 01 5.3091602E 01 2.1815168E 01
~ 9
IO
-1.1550868E
1.b640091E
01
01
-6.6710028E
100001l13E
00
02
3.9049190E
1.0210414E
01
02
-1.4319514E 00
-S.8129838E 00
5.0414002E 00
-5.9311831E-Ol
-3.1529641E 01
-1.5101959E 01
-io3718612E 01
-1.1413124E 01
-2.21b0749E 01
-2.30544llE 01
-3.1592644E 00
-1.3278131E 01
ii
~ 11
12
-5.29610947E-01
2.6902534[-01
2.4364168E-03
9.4759300E-02
8.0027 715E -o l
-6.885912IE-Ol
6.0721534E-Ol
1.310591o86E-01
-1.2101l91E-01
1.1502589E-Ol
-1.040382IE-OI
-5.0371087E-02
1.6257809E-OI
30 1251521E-Ol
-1.06103796E-01 6.2551100E-02
-1.81002439E-02 6.3306112E-02
..J 11 2. U49603E-02 -3.953848I 00 3.4758501E-OI 3.0601999E 00 -1.281l614E-01 -4,8954588E-02 9.11712102E-01 -4.7842801E-Ol
et -1.8609319E-02
Ilo 3.1711371E 00 1.7516081E 00 -l. 5318H9E-Ol 1.296'1>863E 00 1.3990802E-Ol -8.4662998E-OI 2.2158654E-Ol -2.2917208E-02 -1.0258091E-OI
~ 15 1.6633119E (l'l -305908690E 00 -1.1218609E 01 -5.7828038E 00 -5.0241930E-Ol 1.0223299E-Ol -1.4589699E 00
::t: io 10110558E 00 -5.0288115E-OI
ti. 16 -5.3166566E 00 -5.6ll5S13E 00 -4.2479382E 00 -7.8961211E 00 1.1927313[-02 2.7583UIE 00 -1.71011o663E 00 7.5675662E-Ol -8.2908363E-Ol
et 17 -1.91916 nE-OI 1.6253561E 01 -4.2751713E 00 -1.0306968E 01 'I>.1552535E-OI 1.0501295E-Ol -4.5479047E 00 8.5073202E-OI -2.4932280E-Ol
cr II le -2.H350SIoE 00 -6.0404139E 00 9.85110758E-02 -6.3966695E 00 -1.Io"09493E 00 303823205E 00 -1.9706686E 00 1.9711550E-02 -b.9674328E-03
<-' 19 Z.1291312E-OI 8.3133165E 00 3.0209412E 01 1.2918815E 01 2.0064190E 00 -1.4150301E 00 1.66b6640E 00 -1.5010523E 00 8.8937262E-Ol
....<-'
O
20 Io.13762104E 00 2.08581S1E 01 2.1029316E 01 1.83951ooE 01 ...... 31103J8E 00 -1.2203441oE 01 2.310003B9E 00 -1.0840088E 00 1.260662SE 00
....
c.:t
H
22
-1.31060412E 01
30 7958689E 00
5.3866998E 00
2.9883151E-Ol
1.1701701E 00
6.37G9797E GO
-8.9934126E-02
9.0028155E-Ol
-1.3007681E 00
-3.2101806E 00
4.4833956E 00
1.9325332E 00
CD 23 -6.2811868E 00 -2.2921706E 01 -8.3322061E 00 -2.3156345E-Ol 1.1989445E 00 6.02798GOE-Ol
24 -1.6428649E 01 -1.6010904E 01 -1.l .. 03061E 01 4.9586104E 00 1.1153906E 01 -6.5103689E-Ol
25 4.6818604E-Ol -8.1875202E-OI -1.89213108E-02 2.8565115E-Ol 8.5442873E-02 -3.1833852E-02
26 -1.4529204E-OI 5.32121079E-01 1.56910889E-01 -100888240e-01 1.77110674E-03 10410 13551E-G2
21 -9.60268~9E-02 9.01550..lE-01 2.10230455E-QI -5.1621379E-02
m 28 -2.7Q41523E-OI -1.5395824E-Ql Io.0790lo19E-01 8.3877255E-02
29 -1.Io39094IE 00 1.8835552E 00
30 1.3630296E 00 109063635E GO

Hormonic !5 6 7 8

.~ 9 IO 11 12 13 Ilo 15 16

z
O o 105531158E-01 2.3192567E-OI -6.4~60618E-G2 6.1802934E-02 1-7.2905,"OE-02 -6. 1891910E-Q2 7.4823447E-02 -1.3109944E-03
j:: l 3. n 90015E-Ol ...... 9630663E-OI h 76 75107E-Ol 3.1683339E-OI
et 1."'I>61850E-Gl 2.4323151E-OI 1.0825114E-Ol -100503997E-01
2 I.C122732E-01 -6.41081218E-01 1.4638798E 00 -5.1818543E-Ol 1-3.1733911E-OI -3.0163109E-Ol 5.3879264E-Ol -9.2140743E-03
ii -2.7126487E-OI 1.9842262E 010
~
I
..
3
5
-2.00110091E 00
3.Q534070E-01
-9.5196921E-Ol
-3.1520131E 01
-108491821E GO
-1.0122759E 01
h9806334E 00
1.1859941E-OI
6.0368895E 00
-2.76101163E 00
104023915E 00
30 58510293E 00
7.4862415E 00
-2.1925556E 010
4.5672736E 00
7.0639567E-OI
1.10051245E GO
-3.1251251oE-01
-1.6983739E 00
..J 7.1719395E 00 2.5793256E 00 1.91271 05E 00
6 6.2490299E 00 1.6G074COE-0 l 2.9222164E 01 -1.9459016E 01 -8.468l50lE 00 -1.1661591E 01 3.48626103E 00 7.5111"4E !lO
tl 7 -2.5598317E 00 ".3334295E 101 -304801114E 00 3.)8519BE 00 -10051U23E 01 -1.0894292E 01 3.9185429E 00 -2.638291~E 00

fet 8
9
-8.5661732E 00
2.1710776E 00
Io.7626390E 00
-10940151ZE 01
-3.4945636E 01
9.0533099E-Ql
2.3111368E 01
-1.0651850E 00
7.8529029E 00
Io.6U7167E 00
101465121E 01
5.1017995E 00
S.0508122E 00
1.9346376E 00
-100165U9E 01
1.1577847E 00
cr lO Io.07649105E 00 -3.6110235E 00 1.4435610E 01 -9.1508738E 00 -2.4935791E 00 -10.0293859E 00 2.Io99U34E 00 4.31l86109E GO
8 11 5.2536049E-03 4. 544115~E-03 2.7549960E-02 4.8208075E-02 9.6815999E-04 -8. 5190815E-Q3 5. 1576599E-03 -8.1442986E-04
~ 12 -5.)775538E-02
7.1804160E-02
-3.1418646E-02
5.2992250E-02
6.6945602E-02
2.22641030E-02
2.Z418048E-02 -2.8802571E-02
1.7819777E-03
1.09C4388E-C2 2.(39)688E-02 1.2157885E-OZ
13 2.1159531 E-02 3.3S031018E-03 ... 6019688E-03 -2.2194990E-02
II 14 6. 1635942E-02 -3.0900826E-02 -8.3197396E-02 5.47102161 E-02 3.216498QE-CZ -1.8425215E-03 4.8023952E-OZ 1.Q659245E-C3 !
lS -l. 1925521E-Q2 -5.17~ 1125E-02 -5.0150350E-OZ -10120590bE-02
16 1.0552388E-Ol 4.91683S1E-02 -1.1215911E-01 -6.370'>289E-02
 The function r(,e,t) therefore represents the con The authors give special aeknowledgment to the
tinuous time variations of an ionospheric charac valuable assistanec of Mrs. G. Anne Hcssing and
tcristic on a worldwide basis and can be used to com Miss Martha Hinds in tbe development and large
pute its vruue at any desired loeation and instant of scale application of computer prograrns and to
timI'. Such a function is referred to as a numerical Mrs. J. Kaye Myers for her contributions-partieu
map. The coefficients defining the numerical map of larly in the preparation of ionospherc data on
f oF2 median for December 1957 are given in table B. punched cards-essential for thc suecess 01' the proj
-:\Iany useful applieatons are made from numerical ect. Tlw uuthors also acknowledge thc hclpful
maps. For example, a variety of worldwide contour assistance givcn to thcm by thc operators in thc
maps and olber graphical representations of iono Computing Laboratorics of thc National Bunau of
spheric characteristics can be computed and plotted Standards (in Boulder, Colo., and in '\Vashington,
automatically by machine. As an illustration, D.C.), MI'. Walter B. Chadwick (Prediclion Services)
figures 12 and 13 show the variation of ioF2 median and the Ionosphere '\Vorld Data Center for supplying
for fixed instants of universal time (UT) and LMT, the raw ionosphcric data elllploycd, and the many

I
rt'spectivply. In addition, a gl'eat denI can be and other perSOIlS at the CentraI Radio Propagution
has heNl learned about the regularities of the iono Laboratory-too numerous to mention-who have
sphcre from numerical representations. The most rendered useful contributions to this work. Finally,
important immediate application, however, is the the i1,uthors cxprcss ther sincere appreeatioll to Dr.
predidion of long-term changes in ionospheric con Ralph J. Slutz who, as Chief of the Radio Propaga
ditions. Such predictions have ruready been pro tion Physics Division and latt'l' as consultant for thc
dueed using the methods described here. A further Upper Atmosphere and Space Physies DiviEion, gave
diseussion of these results and other applieations of strong support and unceasing eneoumgement during
nunwrieal mapping will be given in later papers. the entire coursc of the work.

180" 210' 240" 270" ]iX)" 330"

/J=LONGITUDE
O" 3, " 60' 90"
....
120' 150 180 .90
~ \ , i -... ~6'-

-----
-6
/ ......
~
I \ I 1#~ ~ :::::
:---:.: ~ ~~ ~ r-s
SO'

70

~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ "~~
r--- f-..-- I; I~ /8" 7" ~ ~
z
o
60' ::u

J~ ~ %22;V
~ ~ [\'\ K~ ~ ~ i
"""'., ~~9,
) -i
::t

I--'
V
,4 -
/ ~ ~~ 1/( '\.-
V lJ
\ l\;~ ~ t;::- t---- t--- 1 --- 50

ra
40
r-- ~
~ t::-::
V
~V ~S 8 "~

--
"3-
~ / 1 ~ t::;: t=::::: 30
r-
~h\ 1\
I

(
V-
il 1/ (//V ~)
'- k- ~ 3::~ ~ ~
12

~~ l,\8,~, t'-- ~ 'IJ r~ VI

[:\,'1'.. , ( ___ D r-
,. ~ bS 13
20'
>"
IO' r "
1\\~ f:S: ~ f--....-' VI 1/ / \, / L V~
1~ V
V
l.---
f\ 1\ \ [j' '13"
l>
--i
-......, O"
--i
I) ) I ) ~ \"1\ / / I V
1\ / V V '- 1\\,.- l'--t----V C

--
/ ,/ o
J ) II
IO !TI

~V L.---' f-B " r- \

.....-.- ~~"-"""
12
t::.- 12 13~

- -- - -- --
V" .,-"
...- 20
I "", ..---
~ V ...... 10 ~
V--
7- ~ / ~,o V L
I
9_.........
8..".... ./
30
/
/ /'~ " I /' / (
~
( ~
l"- ~
40'
ij ) I
f
\1
V
\
- ""\
\ ) L
)

) ~.
\.. ./'

\
I

"
"- r--
---......' e-
rg-
,o'

---
/'
------ ~

,---
.-'"
e)i
7- V ___ 6
.'-..... ~ V'

-- r-
70

--
-..o.- 1-"-

\ ~ 6 r- i !
5

~
.-- H6~ r--.. .-+ "- r---
80

90
FIGURE 12. Maps 01 monthly median f oF 2 (Mc/s) in universal lime from the lunclion r (X, /J, t).
December 1957 UT=12h.

437
 =LONGITUDE

r
O" 30" 60" 90' 120' 150" 180' !IO' 240' 270' 330' 36
J_
b ->~9 ' f-<. .
W - . <+-- "-r-<' 1---r--8 -
7
~.:=
80'

---
IO --i9
Il f:---.--= 70'
~ t::::
10-:_
3 .....
I~;;' t:::=+--: l--- z

- -
o
60' ::o
'] <1.. t--f 1:
-I
J:
....
-
j'
50'
1~
'-,

H ,.I -
14'
I--

- .13<
13 I-
~ I-""
'\ \ -- r- 40'
!
7 II
L I- 30'
'- -",Y
8
13
~ t-
/ I 20'
I f-13
/ 'V
>"
l\.. i
1---"12 I IO' r"
"'~
V """'-
V V
!

J li' ' l>

1
---'" l
-l
"', l',, ... 1 ........
!
V
I \VI'
V l.....- i--""" "
1'"\
O' -l
C

""- - v
Il
- IO_r--........... ,
;13/
~2

( ( /4 1/ .-.,.
\
"""'\
_ / ",,/ ./Y...,,..l,,,,, /
~ )
~
20'
O
I O' fTI

I--- ...,.. 9 ,,, "," i'-.. 15

"
~r8-Dl,~ 0 ~ ~r::: -:::v / 1---- 30'
l/
\
/
/ ( ' \ ~, ~ ~;:- ~ v. V 40'

"''"""r- -
_II
~
'-o..... i- i-" lu' 50'
I
j )1 \
'"
CI)
i- 9 .....
,--- /
r-.:- I-
60' ~-I

-- +t=
>e I---<~ ,~ e J:
7
I
70'
1<

FF r 1
f- v
f--

90'
FIGURE 1:3. 1'vfaps of monthly median foF, (Mc/s) in loeal mean ti me from the fllnclion r (X, 0, t).
Decembcr 1957 L:!'.1T=12h.

8. References (The Mathematical Association of America, Carus Mathe

matical Monograph, No.6, Buffalo, N.Y., 1941).
Byerly, W. E., Fourier series and sphericaI, cylindricaI, and Jones, W. B., Atlas of Fourier coefficienfs of diurnal yaria
ellipsoidaI harmonics (Cinn and Company, Boston, 1893). tion of fo:F2, NBS Tech. Note 142 (PBI61643) (Apri!
Chapman, S. and J. Bartels, Geomagnetism, voL II (Oxford 1962) .
at the Clarendon Press, HI40). Jones, W. B. and R. M. Gallet, Ionospheric mapping by
C.C.I.R. Report No. 162 and Study Programme No. 149, numerica! methofls, J. of the International TelecomIllllui
Docnments of the Plenary Assembly, Los Angeles (1959) cation Union, No. 12 (Dec. 1960).
(Published by the International TelecoIllIllunication Union, Jones, W. W., J. C. P. Miller, J. F. C. Conn, and R. C.
Geneva). Pankhurst, Tables of Chebychev polynomials, 62 (Roy.
Davis, P. and P. Rabinowitz, A multiple purpose orthonor Soc. Edin. l'roc., 187-203, 1946).
malzing code and its uses, J. Assoc. for Computing Machin Kendall, M. G., The advanced theory of statistics, voI.
ery 1, 183-191 (Oct. 1954). II (Hafner Publishing Co., New York, N.Y., 1951).
Kunz, K. S., Numerica! analysis (~1cGmw-Hill Book Co.,
Fisher, R. A., The goodness of fit of regression formulae Inc., New York, N.Y., 1957).
and the distribution of regression coefficicnt~, J. of the Lanczos, C., Trigonometric interpolation of empirical and
Roya! Statistica! Society voI. LXXXV, pt. IV, 597-612 analytic functions, J. Math. Phys., 17, 123-199 (1938).
(1922). Lanczos, C., Applicd analysis (Prentice Hall, Inc., Engle,,"ood
Forsythe, G. E., Generation and use of orthogona! polynomials Cliffs, N.J., 1956).
for data-fitting with a dilPtal computer, J. 1:;oc. Indust. Stiefel, E. L., On numerical methods of Tchebycheff approxi
Appl. Math. 5, No.2, 74-88 (June 1957). mation, from On numerical approximation, edited by
Forsythe, G. E. and P. C. Rosenbloom, Surveys in applied R. E. Langer, 217-232 (University of Wisconsin Press,
mathematics V, Numerical ana!ysis and partial differentia! 1959) .
equations (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y., Szeg6, G., Orthogonal polynomials (American Mathematical
1958) . Society, Colloquium Pllblications, voI. 23, New York,
Holloway, J. L., Jr., Smoothing and filtering of time series
H. E. Lan~berg and r
and space fields, from Advances in geophysics, edited by
Van. Mieghem, 4, (Academic
Press, Inc., New York, N.Y., 19(8).
N.Y.1959).
U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NationaI Bureau of Standards.
A.M.S. 9, Tables of Chebychev polynomial~ 8.(x) aud
Gn(x) (U.S. Cov't Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C.,

Jackson, D., Fourier serics and orthogonal polynomials 1952).
(Paper 66D4-205)
438