A Method for Automatic Inversion of Oblique Ionograms

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

General Comments:

Overall, the manuscript is very well written, very interesting, and reports a new methodology developed for the automatic inversion of oblique ionograms.

The manuscript needs minor revisions (see Detailed Comments below).

 

Detailed Comments:

L10: “was” should read “is”

L24 and L48: “for space weather” should read “for space weather specifications”

L33: “play” should read “plays”

L38: “ionosondesto” should read “ionosondes to”

The text states (L186) that the time period investigated is April 8-16, 2013.  But Figures 6-8 show oblique ionogram constructed for days outside the above-mentioned time period.  The authors should check the dates.

L227: “enough larger” should read “large enough”

L230: “laeyr” should read “layer”

L235: “au” should read “an”

L255: “Contrast” should read “Contrary”

Author Response

Overall, the manuscript is very well written, very interesting, and reports a new methodology developed for the automatic inversion of oblique ionograms.

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. We have modified the manuscript accordingly, and detailed corrections are listed below point by point. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

 

The manuscript needs minor revisions (see Detailed Comments below).

Detailed Comments:

L10: “was” should read “is”

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in Line 10. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

 

L24 and L48: “for space weather” should read “for space weather specifications”

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in Line 25 and Line 48. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

 

L33: “play” should read “plays”

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in Line 33. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

 

L38: “ionosondesto” should read “ionosondes to”

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in Line 38. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

 

The text states (L186) that the time period investigated is April 8-16, 2013.  But Figures 6-8 show oblique ionogram constructed for days outside the above-mentioned time period. The authors should check the dates.

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. Oblique ionograms in Figures 6-8 on April 2-3, 2013 are used to test the performance of the method. Oblique ionograms recorded during April 8-16, 2013 are used to carry out statistical analysis of autoscaled parameters. These sentences are rearranged to avoid the confusion in the revised manuscript. Please see the manuscript with changes marked.

 

L227: “enough larger” should read “large enough”

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in Line 227. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

 

L230: “laeyr” should read “layer”

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in Line 230. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

 

L235: “au” should read “an”

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in Line 235. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

 

L255: “Contrast” should read “Contrary”

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in Line 255. Please see manuscript with changes marked.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper reports a method for automatic inversion of oblique ionograms. This method could be useful. However, the accuracy of the parameters obtained by this method is not described quantitatively. This reviewer recommends the authors to describe the accuracy of this method quantitatively in the abstract and conclusions. The description of "accurate enough" is not adequate. 

Minor comments:
- Figure 2:
 -- Describe a unit of vertical axis. It may be "km". 
 -- What is shown in the bottom in Figure 2?
 -- "Most Observed Frequency" may be "Maximum frequency of the observed trace" or something similar. 

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. We have modified the manuscript accordingly, and detailed corrections are listed below point by point. The revised manuscript was checked by my colleague with English-speaking well. Please see manuscript with changes marked. We hope that the English language and style of the manuscript might meet the requirement of the publication.

 

This paper reports a method for automatic inversion of oblique ionograms. This method could be useful. However, the accuracy of the parameters obtained by this method is not described quantitatively. This reviewer recommends the authors to describe the accuracy of this method quantitatively in the abstract and conclusions. The description of "accurate enough" is not adequate. 

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The accuracy values of autoscaled parameters have been specified in the abstract and conclusion in the revised manuscript. Please see the abstract and conclusions section.

Minor comments:

- Figure 2:

 -- Describe a unit of vertical axis. It may be "km". 

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. Yes, it is “km”. A unit of vertical axis was added in Figure 2. Please see Figure 2 in the revised manuscript. 

 -- What is shown in the bottom in Figure 2?

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. Some descriptions were added in the caption of Figure 2. Please see Figure 2 in the revised manuscript.

 

 -- "Most Observed Frequency" may be "Maximum frequency of the observed trace" or something similar. 

Rsp: Thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions on our manuscript. The phrase was modified in the whole manuscript. Please see the manuscript with changes marked.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx