Variance Analysis of Incoherent Integration Applied to Simulated Equatorial Electrojet Irregularities Radar Power Spectra

The spectral analysis of the received echoes from equatorial electrojet irregularities may show the signatures of two different plasma irregularities: Type 1 and Type 2. Each Type is related to a distinct process of plasma instabilities. Each irregularity presents itself as one gaussian-like shape in the frequency domain and the characteristics of the curve may be extracted using nonlinear curve fitting methods. Some techniques are applied to the irregularities spectra before the curve fitting so that the variance between the data and the fitting is minimum. One of these techniques is called incoherent integration and consists of averaging subsequent spectra. We simulated equatorial electrojet radar power spectra of Type 1 irregularities to elucidate the effects. The advantages and disadvantages of applying such technique are analyzed in terms of the variance between the radar spectra and the fitted curve.