The contribution to IHY from the COST296 Action MIERS: Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio Sy

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The contribution to IHY from the COST296 Action
MIERS Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio
Systems Lucilla Alfonsi(1) Giorgiana De
Franceschi(1), David Altadill(2), Pal Bencze(3),
Alain Bourdillon(4), Ljiljana R. Cander(5),
Benito de la Morena(6), Lefteris Economou(7),
Miguel Herraiz(8), Kirsti Kauristie(9), Jan
Lastovicka(10), Silvia Pau(1), Gracia
Rodriguez(8), Richard Stamper(5), Iwona
Stanislawska(11) (1)Istituto Nazionale di
Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Rome, Italy (2)
Observatorio del Ebro (3) Geodetic and
Geophysical Institute - Hungarian Academy of
Sciences (4) Institut dElectronic et de
Telecommunications de Rennes (5) Rutherford
Appleton Laboratory, Council for the Central
Laboratory of the Research Councils (6) Instituto
Nacional de Tecnica Aerospacial (7) Intercollege
Limassol Campus (8) Universidad Complutense
Madrid (9) Finnish Meteorological Institute (10)
Institute of Atmospheric Physics (11) Space
Research Center
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The COST296/IHY CIP
CIP 49 Programme title COST296/IHY Lead
Proposer Giorgiana De Franceschi Other
proposers COST296/IHY Coordination Team Members
IHY, ICESTAR, IPY Research topic Radio wave
propagation in the ionosphere - observations and
models. (http//ionos.ingv.it/IHY/resources/invita
tion.pdf)

• Description of Programme
• Development and maintenance of COST296/IHY Web
  site to exchange general information, expertise,
  know-how, links to the data archive and databases
  produced by this Action among the IHY community.
• Coordination of multi-instruments observation
  campaigns in synergy with the IY community. The
  data archive created during the observation
  periods and/or severe heliogeophysical conditions
  will also form a baseline collection against
  which later forecasting efforts may be compared.
• Stimulate joint investigations on interconnection
  between low, middle and high latitude ionosphere
  and plasmasphere as disturbances of the plasma
  distribution at low-latitude can also affect the
  mid and high latitude ionosphere in some large
  storm events.

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The COST296/IHY web site structure is hosted at
INGV and it is reachable also through the menu of
the COST296 official site. http//ionos.ingv.it/I
HY/ihy_index.html
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CAWSES campaigns http//www.bu.edu/cawses
The third campaign will take place this summer
(from June 1 to August 15) and will address the
tidal structures during solstice conditions.
Observations from radar, lidar, optical
photometers, etc. are all important (in fact any
parameter from which information on atmospheric
tides can be determined). COST296 joins the
CAWSES initiative with the European digisondes
observation campaign (in Drift mode) aimed at
measuring the ionospheric E layer height
variations by taking advantage of the Precision
Group Height Measurement technique (PGHM). The
Coordinator is David Altadill (daltadill_at_OBSEBRE.E
S, David_AltadillFelip_at_uml.edu)
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Precision Group Height Measurement technique
(PGHM) The PGHM technique determines virtual
heights h(f) with an accuracy of 0.5 km. This
accuracy provides the opportunity to assess the
dynamic coupling between the neutral atmosphere
and the ionosphere by analyzing the hE
variations caused by atmospheric tides.
The PGHM campaign is supported by the University
of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Atmospheric
Research (UMLCAR) which has provided the PGHM
operating program. All PGHM data will be
centrally archived in Drift Database at UMLCAR.
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Example of Daily Variation
Expected "daily pattern a local minimum near
local noon (17 UT approx.) and maximum values
close to sunrise (11 UT approx.) and sunset (22
UT approx.) times, as observed. The E-layer start
to develop close to sunrise and disappear close
to sunset. The first (after sunrise) and last
time (before sunset) we get echoes reflected
close to the E-layer peak (high height). As
E-layer develops, the pulses reflect from the
"base" of the E-layer, close to the lower edge
(low height).
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Expected Campaign Results
Day-to-day variability of the daily pattern. The
red lines show approximately how is changing the
lowest edge of the E-layer, showing the vertical
movement of the E-layer from one day to the
other.
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Expected Campaign Results
The blue arrows indicate the Interdiurnal
variation significant discrepancies from the
"daily pattern". Several mechanisms may account
for the day-to-day variability and for the
interdiurnal variations changes of winds,
temperature, composition, ... , in which waves
and tides play a role.
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• Next steps
• Collecting and analysing the data of the PGHM
  Technique campaign.
• Publish the results on our web pages
• Update our web site
• Forthcoming COST296 Meeting
• IRI/COST 296 WORKSHOP
• 10-14 July 2007, Prague, Czech Republic
• http//www.ufa.cas.cz/html/conferences/IRICOST2007