@proceedings {1009, title = {A Citizen-Science Path to TEC: Using GNSS Measurements to Track the Ionosphere}, year = {2026}, month = {03/2026}, publisher = {HamSCI}, address = {Newington, CT}, abstract = {

Total Electron Content (TEC) is a key ionospheric parameter that affects HF propagation and introduces delay in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals. This poster provides an overview of what a GNSS receiver measures and how those measurements can be used to estimate TEC. The primary GNSS observables, including code (pseudorange) and carrier phase, are introduced, and dual-frequency measurements are used to isolate the ionospheric contribution through dispersive delay. The standard steps for computing slant TEC and relating it to vertical TEC are outlined using simple mapping assumptions. The poster also discusses how low-cost, off-the-shelf dual-frequency GNSS receivers, commonly marketed for Real Time Kinematic (RTK) applications, can support TEC estimation when raw observables are available, and how a distributed network of such receivers aligns with the HamSCI citizen-science model for expanding ionospheric monitoring coverage. Example systems based on the EclipseNB network developed at the University of New Brunswick are presented, including a brief note on deployments for operation in Antarctica, along with progress toward a public guide to help others replicate these stations.

}, author = {Jeremy McLynch and Hyomin Kim and Anton Kashcheyev and Joshua Turi} } @proceedings {820, title = {Citizen Science: Development of a Low-Cost Magnetometer System for a Coordinated Space Weather Monitoring}, year = {2024}, month = {03/2024}, publisher = {HamSCI}, address = {Cleveland, OH}, abstract = {

As part of Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) project, a low-cost, commercial off-the-shelf magnetometer has been developed to provide quantitative and qualitative measurements of the geospace environment from the ground for both scientific and operational purposes at a cost that will allow for crowd-sourced data contributions. The PSWS magnetometers employ a magneto-inductive sensor technology to record three-axis magnetic field variations with a field resolution of ~3 nT at a 1 Hz sample rate. Crowd-sourced data from the PSWS systems will be collected into a central archive for the purpose of public access and analyzation along with space weather research. Ultimately, data from the PSWS network will combine the magnetometer measurements with high frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) radio observations to monitor large scale current systems and ionospheric disturbances and events due to drivers from space and the atmosphere alike. A densely-spaced magnetometer array, once established, will demonstrate their space weather monitoring capability to an unprecedented spatial extent. Magnetic field data obtained by the magnetometers installed at various locations in the US are presented and compared with the existing magnetometers nearby, demonstrating that the performance is entirely satisfactory for scientific investigations.

}, author = {Joseph Visone and Hyomin Kim and David Witten and Julius Madey and Nathaniel A. Frissell and John Gibbons and William D. Engelke and Anderson Liddle and Nicholas Muscolino and Zhaoshu Cao} }