@conference {586, title = {Amateur Radio Communications as a Novel Sensor of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (Invited)}, booktitle = {American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting}, year = {2021}, month = {12}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, organization = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {New Orleans, LA}, abstract = {

Amateur (ham) radio high frequency (HF) communications are routinely observed by automated receiving systems on a quasi-global scale. As these signals are modulated by the ionosphere, it is possible to use these observations to remotely sense ionospheric dynamics and the coupled geospace environment. In this presentation, we demonstrate the use of these data to observe Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (LSTIDs), which are quasi-periodic variations in F region electron density with horizontal wavelengths \> 1000 km and periods between 30 to 180 min. On 3 November 2017, LSTID signatures were detected simultaneously over the continental United States in observations made by global HF amateur radio observing networks and the Blackstone (BKS) SuperDARN radar. The amateur radio LSTIDs were observed on the 7 and 14 MHz amateur radio bands as changes in average propagation path length with time, while the LSTIDs were observed by SuperDARN as oscillations of average scatter range. LSTID period lengthened from T ~ 1.5 hr at 12 UT to T ~ 2.25 hr by 21 UT. The amateur radio and BKS SuperDARN radar observations corresponded with Global Navigation Satellite System differential Total Electron Content (GNSS dTEC) measurements. dTEC was used to estimate LSTID parameters: horizontal wavelength 1136 km, phase velocity 1280 km/hr, period 53 min, and propagation azimuth 167{\textdegree}. The LSTID signatures were observed throughout the day following ~400 to 800 nT surges in the Auroral Electrojet (AE) index. As a contrast, 16 May 2017 was identified as a period with significant amateur radio coverage but no LSTID signatures in spite of similar geomagnetic conditions and AE activity as the 3 November event. We hypothesize that atmospheric gravity wave (AGW) sources triggered by auroral electrojet intensifications and associated Joule heating are the source of the LSTIDs, and discuss possible reasons why LSTIDs were observed in November but not May.

}, url = {https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/822746}, author = {Frissell, Nathaniel A. and Sanchez, Diego F. and Perry, Gareth W. and Kaeppler, Steven R. and Joshi, Dev Raj and Engelke, William and Thomas, Evan G. and Coster, Anthea J. and Erickson, Philip J. and Ruohoniemi, J. Michael and Baker, Joseph B. H.} } @proceedings {575, title = {Climatology of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Observed by HamSCI Amateur Radio with Connections to Geospace and Neutral Atmospheric Sources}, year = {2021}, month = {09/2021}, publisher = {ARRL-TAPR}, address = {Virtual}, url = {https://youtu.be/MHkz7jNynOg?t=23773}, author = {Sanchez, Diego F. and Frissell, Nathaniel A. and Perry, Gareth W. and Engelke, William D. and Coster, Anthea J. and Erickson, Philip J. and Ruohoniemi, J. Michael and Baker, Joseph B. H. and Harvey, Lynn and Luetzelschwab, R. Carl} } @conference {582, title = {Climatology of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Observed by HamSCI Amateur Radio with Connections to Geospace and Neutral Atmospheric Sources}, booktitle = {American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting}, year = {2021}, month = {12}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, organization = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {New Orleans, LA}, abstract = {

Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs) are propagating variations in ionospheric electron densities that affect radio communications and can help with understanding energy transport throughout the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere-neutral atmosphere system. Large scale TIDs (LSTIDs) have periods T ≈30-180 min, horizontal phase velocities vH≈ 100- 250 m/s, and horizontal wavelengths H\>1000 km and are believed to be generated either by geomagnetic activity or lower atmospheric sources. TIDs create concavities in the ionospheric electron density profile that move horizontally with the TID and cause skip-distance focusing effects for high frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) radio signals propagating through the ionosphere. The signature of this phenomena is manifest as quasi-periodic variations in contact ranges in HF amateur radio communication reports recorded by automated monitoring systems such as the Weak Signal Propagation Reporting Network (WSPRNet) and the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN). In this study, members of the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) present a climatology of LSTID activity using RBN and WSPRNet observations on the 1.8, 3.5, 7, 14, 21, and 28 MHz amateur radio bands from 2017. Results will be organized as a function observation frequency, longitudinal sector (North America and Europe), season, and geomagnetic activity level. Connections to geospace are explored via SYM-H and Auroral Electrojet indexes, while neutral atmospheric sources are explored using NASA{\textquoteright}s Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 (MERRA-2).

}, url = {https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1000724}, author = {Sanchez, Diego F. and Frissell, Nathaniel A. and Perry, Gareth and Harvey, Lynn and Engelke, William D. and Coster, Anthea J. and Erickson, Philip J. and Ruohoniemi, J. Michael and Baker, Joseph B. H.} } @proceedings {559, title = {HamSCI: Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation}, year = {2021}, month = {09/2021}, publisher = {International Space Weather Action Team (ISWAT)}, address = {Virtual}, author = {Frissell, Nathaniel A. and Sanchez, Diego and Perry, Gareth W. and Kaeppler, Stephen R. and Joshi, Dev Raj and Engelke, William D. and Thomas, Evan G. and Coster, Anthea J. and Erickson, Philip J. and Ruohoniemi, J. Michael and Baker, Joseph B. H. and Gerzoff, Robert} } @conference {585, title = {Observations of Mid-latitude Irregularities Using the Oblique Ionosonde Sounding Mode for the HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station}, booktitle = {American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting}, year = {2021}, month = {12}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, organization = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {New Orleans, LA}, abstract = {

The spread in the echoes of high-frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) radio waves from the F-region of the ionosphere was one of the earliest indications of plasma density irregularities in the mid-latitude F region ionosphere. Although mid-latitude spread F has been widely studied, the plasma instability mechanisms that create these irregularities are still largely unknown. This phenomenon can cause radio wave scintillation effects that degrade the performance of human-made technologies such as satellite communications and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Understanding these irregularities so that they can be anticipated and mitigated are important aspects of space weather research. The occurrence climatology and variability can also be helpful in validating models of these irregularities. Here, we present signatures of mid-latitude irregularities observed in oblique ionograms received near Scranton, PA transmitted by the Relocatable Over-the-Horizon Radar (ROTHR) in Chesapeake, Virginia. These observations are collected with the GNU Chirpsounder2 software, an open source software package capable of creating ionograms from frequency modulated (FM) chirp ionosondes. This ionospheric sounding mode will be implemented in the currently under-development Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS), a ground-based multi-instrument system designed to remote-sense the ionosphere using signals of opportunity. Using the data from the oblique ionograms, we generate the Range Time Intensity (RTI) plots that show ionospheric dynamics through measured path length variations as a function of time. We also compare the RTI plots with Range-Time-Parameter (RTP) plots from the SuperDARN HF radar in Blackstone, Virginia which commonly observes direct backscatter from decameter-scale irregularities within the region of ionosphere traversed by the ROTHR signal.

}, url = {https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/875589}, author = {Joshi, Dev Raj and Frissell, Nathaniel A. and Sarwar, M. Shaaf and Sami, Simal and Ruohoniemi, J. Michael and Baker, Joseph B. H. and Coster, Anthea J. and Erickson, Philip J. and Liles, William and Vierinen, Juha and Groves, Keith} } @proceedings {555, title = {Sources of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Observed using HamSCI Amateur Radio, SuperDARN, and GNSS TEC}, year = {2021}, month = {05/2021}, publisher = {SANSA}, address = {Virtual}, url = {https://www.sansa.org.za/events-outreach/superdarn-workshop-2021/}, author = {Frissell, Nathaniel A. and Sanchez, Diego F. and Perry, Gareth W. and Joshi, Dev Raj and Engelke, William D. and Thomas, Evan G. and Coster, Anthea J. and Erickson, Philip J. and Ruohoniemi, J. Michael and Baker, Joseph B. H.} } @proceedings {574, title = {Sources of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Observed using HamSCI Amateur Radio, SuperDARN, and GNSS TEC}, year = {2021}, month = {09/2021}, publisher = {ARRL-TAPR}, address = {Virtual}, url = {https://youtu.be/MHkz7jNynOg?t=22608}, author = {Frissell, Nathaniel A. and Sanchez, Diego F. and Perry, Gareth W. and Kaeppler, Stephen R. and Joshi, Dev Raj and Engelke, William D. and Thomas, Evan G. and Coster, Anthea J. and Erickson, Philip J. and Ruohoniemi, J. Michael and Baker, Joseph B. H.} }