Application of Autoscala to ionograms recorded by the VIPIR ionosonde Original Research Article

In November 2008, the ionosonde station at Boulder, Colorado, USA (40.0°N; 105.3°W) became the host of a new ionosonde (VIPIR, Vertical Incidence Pulsed Ionospheric Radar) developed and built by Scion Associates. The VIPIR is a fully digital frequency agile radar that operates between 0.3 and 26 MHz. It features 8 digital receivers and a digital transmit exciter. Extremely high performance analog receive electronics and a 4 kW solid state amplifier provide interface to the real world. This work describes the application of Autoscala to the ionograms recorded by this ionosonde. First results, in terms of ionograms and autoscaled characteristics, are presented and discussed.