CAREER: Amateur Radio as a Tool for Studying Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances and Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling

Space weather refers to the varying conditions of the Earth’s upper atmosphere and surrounding space environment. Influenced by the sun from above and atmospheric perturbations from below, space weather can significantly impact important modern technological systems, including navigation and communication. By combining data from amateur ham radio network and advanced computer modeling, the present study seeks to fill observational gaps and increase current understanding of the processes that control such disruptions in space weather and at the same time strengthen the synergy between research and citizen science involving amateur radio enthusiasts.

This CAREER proposal has the overall research goals to (1) improve the understanding of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) by using amateur radio data to fill observational gaps in Total Electron Content (TEC) from existing data sources, and (2) adapt coupled models SD-WACCM-X (Specified Dynamics - Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere extension) and SAMI3 (Sami3 is A Model of the Ionosphere) to improve predictive capabilities of TID events. The overall education goals are to (1) strengthen the synergy between research and outreach, through citizen science involving amateur radio, and (2) promote interdisciplinary research at The University of Scranton.

This CAREER proposal addresses frontier questions in the field of atmosphere-ionosphere coupling while simultaneously developing the techniques necessary to derive scientific utility from amateur radio communications data. The proposed research will make the following contributions to ionospheric physics: (1) new abilities to test the multistep vertical coupling paradigm of atmospheric gravity waves /TIDs theorized in the latest physics-based models; (2) identification of the amount of TIDs observed by high-frequency communications systems that are and are not associated with geomagnetic activity; (3) establishment of a TID longitudinal dependence on the 2D stratospheric polar vortex configuration; (4) determination of the ability of data from amateur radio to fill TID observational gaps and be scientifically useful; and (5) determination of the extent that the use of advanced, physics-based whole atmospheric models in conjunction with observations can improve our capacity to study the science of TIDs.

This space physics research project will greatly enhance the research portfolio of The University of Scranton, a primarily undergraduate teaching university. This program will continue the University’s mission of serving undergraduates by having them play a pivotal role in research tasks. The project will enable significant international outreach by integrating this research into the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) program, allowing for wide dissemination of results as well as participation in this research by interested (and often highly qualified) volunteers.

Finally, this research directly studies the impacts of disturbances on operational, worldwide medium-frequency and high-frequency communications systems. This will be of interest to amateur radio, emergency services, airline, maritime, and defense users.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.