Ionospheric Physics and Radio Propagation over Europe: reports on national activities and cooperations

Riassunto

[Testo disponibile solo in inglese]
Over the last decade, we have learned a lot about ionospheric physics and radio propagation over Europe. It is a complex topic where overall picture is assembled from intense research by many individual institutions in Europe, by their joint work within the COST (Co-operation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research) Actions 238 on ‘Prediction and Retrospective Ionospheric Modelling over Europe’ and 251 on ‘Improved Quality of Service in Ionospheric Telecommunication Systems Planning and Operation’ and by lively discussions of these results at European scientific meetings. At the beginning of the follow-on COST271 Action on ‘Effects of the Upper Atmosphere on Terrestrial and Earth-Space Communications’ a first priority was to prepare a state-of-the-art documents of the current results available in the work areas of the Action in each participation country with an indication of their significance. This special issue of the Quaderni di Geofisica is a direct result of all these activities. The following papers represent some further advances of European ionospheric community understanding of the upper atmospheric effects on modern radio communications systems. The Guest Editors wish to thank authors for their contributions and to express their gratitude to the publisher of Quaderni di Geofisica for granting the opportunity to have a widely available single issue providing a composite record of ionospheric propagation studies within Europe . The Guest Editors have also greatly appreciated the contribution of Mrs. Francesca Di Stefano and Mrs. Silvia Pau in the preparation of the editorial work.