Assessment of midlatitude SF detection

Nighttime midlatitude ionospheric dynamics have been widely studied across various regions, revealing the intricate behaviour of ionospheric irregularities. Among these, midlatitude Spread F (SF) encompasses a range of diffuse plasma structures that can persist from several minutes to hours during the night. Past observational studies have outlined important morphological characteristics of midlatitude SF, highlighting its dependence on solar activity, seasonal and diurnal patterns, and the background ionospheric conditions that trigger its formation. Although many researchers have contributed to understanding the variability and climatology of SF events, concerns remain regarding the consistency and accuracy of the detection methods employed. With the growing availability of ionograms, automated techniques have become increasingly popular for identifying SF events. These methods often rely on ionospheric parameters such as QF (range spreading) and FF (frequency spreading), which are used as indicators of SF presence. While these indices are valuable for nowcasting purposes, their reliability—particularly when derived from autoscaled data—has come into question. This study aims to assess the accuracy and validity of QF and FF as indicators of midlatitude SF by comparing automated results against manually verified SF events observed at Nicosia, Cyprus, located in the low midlatitude region. Through this comparison, we evaluate the effectiveness of these automated parameters and explore their potential as dependable tools for real-time detection of SF activity.