On small-scale plasma inhomogeneities of the traveling ionospheric disturbances

We report on the results of the first special experiment on radio sounding of the midlatitude ionosphere by signals from in-orbit satellites at a frequency of 150 MHz under quiet geophysical conditions. Along with the conventional correlation processing, fractal processing of the received signals was also performed. Using the fractal approach, we obtained first data on the sources and generation mechanisms of small-scale plasma inhomogeneities of the traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) in the upper ionosphere. It is noted that the phenomenon of nonlinear " breaking" of the acoustic-gravity waves entering the ionosphere from the underlying atmosphere plays the crucial role in the formation of plasma inhomogeneities of the TIDs.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]