Amateur Radio Propagation Studies

Science, research, engineering, operating

The following list presents a number of selected webpages, online services and resources which may be helpful in radio propagation studies.

Acknowledgement: The author is grateful to the HAARP project, Leicester University, NOAA, Oulu University, Cornell University and the POES program for granting permission to use the following images and resources.

Contents

The Sun & the Earth's space environment

The magnetosphere, Aurora

The ionosphere

The neutral atmosphere, meteorology, synoptics

Remote sensing, geophysical radio observatories

Scientific institutes & organisations

Magazines, journals, online services

The success of the scientific enterprise can often blind us to the astonishing fact that science works. Although most people take it for granted, it is both incredibly fortunate and incredibly mysterious that we are able to fathom the workings of nature by the use of the scientific method.

Paul Davies

Sunspot Cycle predictions

Comment: Visit this page to understand solar cycle predictions and its scientific background.

http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/predict.htm

 

Space Weather.com

Comment: Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment including a gallery of attractive images.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

 

Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Comment: Sunspot numbers, solar flux and planetary A index.

http://www.dxlc.com/solar/

 

Space Environment Center, NOAA

Comment: Excellent site providing links to many other webpages featuring real time information.

http://sec.noaa.gov/

 

Today's Space Weather

Comment: H-alpha image of the sun, 3-day solar-geophysical forecast, solar x-ray flux and other types of information.

http://sec.noaa.gov/today.html

 

ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer)

Comment: Real time solar wind data from the ACE spacecraft which orbits the L1 Lagrange point, i.e. the point of Earth-Sun gravitational equilibrium about 1.5 million km from Earth and 148.5 million km from the Sun.

http://sec.noaa.gov/ace/ACErtsw_home.html

http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/ACE/ACE_FactSheet.html

http://sec.noaa.gov/ace/MAG_SWEPAM_6h.html (solar wind data)

 

Space Weather Now

Comment: Today's sun, animated solar wind data, POES auroral oval, active regions on the sun.

http://solar.sec.noaa.gov/SWN/index.html

 

Windows of the Universe

Comment: The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) developed this "different" web site about Earth and space sciences.

Start page: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/

Space weather today: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/spaceweather/

Satellites and space weather: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/spaceweather/effects1.html

Astronauts and space radiation: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/spaceweather/effects2.html

Space storms and radio communication: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/spaceweather/effects3.html

How does space weather affect pipelines?: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/spaceweather/effects4.html

Electric power grids and space weather: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/spaceweather/effects5.html

 

Current NOAA data, courtesy of N3KL solar monitor

How do solar terrestrial phenomena affect the ionosphere and many technical systems? You may find the answers and lots of stunning information on the Space Weather CD ROM published by the University of Greifswald. HTML...

Magnetosphäre der Erde und anderer Planeten

Comment: Introduction into the physics of the magnetosphere.

http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/forschung1/magneto.html

 

Auroral Activity Report from POES

Comment: Current extent and position of the auroral oval in the northern and southern hemisphere, extrapolated from measurements taken during the most recent polar pass of the NOAA POES satellite.

Note: the POES webpage now provides a new feature, i.e. the estimated time of the next arrival of data. HTML....

http://solar.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/index.html

http://solar.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html (northern hemisphere only)

 

Hourly STD DMSP/POLAR Auroral activity report

Comment: Including estimated visibility of auroral activity from any location in the northern hemisphere, updated every 5 minutes with the latest solar wind data.

http://www.spacew.com/www/aurora.html

 

What is the Aurora doing today? Ultraviolet Imager

Comment: What would it be like to sit out in space and look down on the Earth with special UV glasses?

http://uvisun.msfc.nasa.gov/UVI/default.html (homepage)

http://uvisun.msfc.nasa.gov/UVI/current_image.html (current image)

 

Visible Imaging System/POLAR

Comment: Auroral images from the VIS Earth camera on board of the POLAR spacecraft.

http://eiger.physics.uiowa.edu/~vis/images/

http://www-pi.physics.uiowa.edu/vis/

 

Planetary K index

Comment: Estimated planetary K-index updating every 15 minutes.

http://sec.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html

 

Realtime magnetograms

Comment: Please note the actual scale when viewing the magnetograms.

Station Kiruna, Sweden: http://www.irf.se/mag

Station Lycksele, Sweden: http://www.irf.se/mag/lyxele.gif

Station Ny-Aalesund, Norway: http://geo.phys.uit.no/realtime.html

Station Tromsö, Norway: see Ny-Aalesund

Station Leknes, Norway: see Ny-Aalesund

Station Dombaas, Norway: see Ny-Aalesund

Station Wingst, Germany: http://www.bsh.de/de/Meeresdaten/Beobachtungen/Erdmagnetismus/1806.jsp

Station DK0WCY, Scheggerott, Germany: http://www.dk0wcy.de/magneto/magnet.htm

Station Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany http://obsfur.geophysik.uni-muenchen.de/mag/mag_day.htm

Station Braunschweig, Germany http://www.tu-bs.de/institute/geophysik/dienste/mrode/daten_en.html

Station Moscow, Russia http://forecast.izmiran.rssi.ru/index_.html

 

See the Ham links section of this web site to view amateur radio webpages dealing with realtime magnetograms.

In memoriam

Prof. Dr. Walter Dieminger, DL6DS

http://www.copernicus.org/Dieminger/

Atmosphären- und Ionosphärenphysik

Comment: Introduction into the physics of the atmosphere and ionosphere.

http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/forschung1

 

Space Weather Web

Comment: This website provides near real time data and forecast data of ionospheric parameters relevant to navigation and communication users.

http://ionosphere.rcru.rl.ac.uk/default.htm

 

CUTLASS ionospheric data

Comment: Real time data of the CUTLASS radars, see below.

http://www.ion.le.ac.uk/cutlass/

 

Realtime ionograms

Comment: Public access to the latest ionograms of the Digisonde network.

Tromsö, Norway: http://digisonde.phys.uit.no/cgi-bin/latest.exe?

Dourbes, Belgium: http://digisonde.oma.be/cgi-bin/latest.exe?

Rome, Italy: http://dps-roma.ingrm.it/scripts/latest.exe?

Juliusruh, Germany: http://www.ionosonde.iap-kborn.de/ionogram.htm

El Arenosillo, Spain: http://www.inta.es/iono/IonoGIF/LATEST.TMP

Millstone Hill, U.S.A.: http://digisonde.haystack.edu/scripts/latest.exe?

 

see the full 'Digisonde Station List': http://ulcar.uml.edu/slist.htm

... and 'Map Depicting Locations of the Stations': http://ulcar.uml.edu/locations.htm

 

ESRAD latest data

Comment: Quick-look data from northern Sweden updating every 15 minutes.

http://www.irf.se/mst/MSTlatest.html

 

SKiYMET - All-Sky Meteor Radar

Comment: Online data on meteor flux at Andoya Rocket Range.

http://www.ionosonde.iap-kborn.de/sky_main.htm

 

Millstone Hill real time data

Comment: Millstone Hill is one of the nine incoherent scatter radars in the world.

Azimuth scan: http://www.haystack.edu/cgi-bin/azscan.cgi

Elevation scan: http://www.haystack.edu/cgi-bin/elscan.cgi

Local F-Region: http://www.haystack.edu/cgi-bin/lfscan.cgi

 

An Introduction to Meteor Burst Communication

Comment: Some basic information on MBC compiled by K. Mahmud

http://www2.crl.go.jp/mt/b193/member/mahmud/kmahmud/mbc/mbcbrief.htm

 

Blitz-Radar, Gewitter Infos so schnell wie der Blitz...

Comment: See the actual radar plot of thunderstorms and lightning activity in central Europe.

http://www.blitz-radar.de/index.htm

 

Vaisala Lightning Explorer

Comment: The Vaisala Lightning Explorer displays recent lightning activity across the entire continental U.S.

http://www.lightningstorm.com/tux/jsp/gpg/lex1/mapdisplay_free.jsp

 

Spectacular flashes recorded above thunderstorms

Comment: Hundreds of unusual red flashes were recorded above thunderstorms reaching the lower ionosphere.

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/Quarterly/1994/V12N3/flashes.html

http://elf.gi.alaska.edu/

 

Online weather map of Europe, University of Cologne

Comment: Permanently updated and maintained by the University of Cologne.

http://www.uni-koeln.de/math-nat-fak/geomet/meteo/winfos/euisoTTPPWW.gif

 

Atmospheric sounding, University of Wyoming *** excellent ***

Comment: Vertical profiles of temperature, wind, humidity and other meteorological quantities available for many places around the world.

http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html

 

The Open Radar Initiative - Reliable Technology for Radio Science

Comment: The Open Radar Initiative is a project to develop reliable and reusable technology for radio science applications.

http://www.openradar.org

 

SuperDARN

Comment: SuperDARN is a network of high-frequency radars used to study the Earth's ionosphere.

http://superdarn.jhuapl.edu/info.html

 

CUTLASS (Co-operative UK Twin Auroral Sounding System)

Comment: Radars located in Iceland and Finland studying the high latitude ionosphere.

http://ion.le.ac.uk/cutlass/cutlass.html

 

Origins of radar-based research in Canada

Comment: D.R. Moorcroft is an expert in ionospheric physics talking about the history of radar applications.

http://www.physics.uwo.ca/...

 

STARE (Scandinavian Twin Auroral Radar Experiment)

Comment: STARE is a coherent scatter ionospheric radar system operating from two locations in central Finland and central Norway.

Introduction: http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/english/projekte/stare

http://sumppu.fmi.fi/PLASMA/RADAR/STARE/

 

SOUSY (Sounding System)

Comment: SOUSY is a mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere (MST) radar which studies the structures and the dynamics of the neutral atmosphere.

Introduction: http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/english/projekte/sousy

SOUSY Svalbard: http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/english/projekte/sousy/sousy_radar_mobile.html

 

ESRAD (Esrange MST radar)

Comment: The Esrange MST radar is an atmospheric radar located at Esrange, just outside Kiruna in northern Sweden. The radar provides information on the dynamic state of the atmosphere - winds, waves, turbulence and layering, from the troposphere up to the lower thermosphere (ca. 1 km -110 km altitude).

http://www.irf.se/mst/EsrangeMST.html

 

SESCAT (Sporadic-E scatter)

Comment: SESCAT operates on 50 MHz and is located on the island of Crete, Greece, studying coherent echoes from the mid latitude E-region.

Introduction: http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/english/projekte/sescat

http://www.physics.uoc.gr/2000/ergastiria/haldoupis/sescat99.html

 

HLMS (High Latitude Monitoring Station)

Comment: The VHF auroral radar, located at Elmendorf Air Force base near Anchorage, Alaska, measures reflections from intense patches of ionization in the E-region of the ionosphere over Fairbanks, Poker Flat, and the downrange area.

http://www.pfrr.alaska.edu/data/INDEX.HTM

 

TIGER (Tasman International Geospace Environment Radar)

Comment: The TIGER radar is one of a number of international radars designed to help further our understanding of the near-Earth space (or Geospace) environment.

http://www.tiger.latrobe.edu.au/

 

HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program)

Comment: HAARP is a scientific endeavor aimed at studying the properties and behavior of the ionosphere, with particular emphasis on being able to understand and use it to enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defense purposes.

http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/index.html

 

HEATING

Comment: The HEATING facility is used to conduct plasma physics and active geophysical research of the lower and upper ionosphere by the controlled injection of powerful HF (4-8 MHz) waves.

Introduction: http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/english/projekte/heating

http://www.eiscat.uit.no/heater.html

 

LOFAR (Low Frequency Array)

Comment: LOFAR will be a major new multi-element, interferometric, imaging radio telescope designed for the 10-240 MHz frequency range.

http://www.lofar.org

http://web.haystack.mit.edu/lofar/lofar.html

 

European Incoherent Scatter Organisation (EISCAT)

Comment: Incoherent Scatter (IS) radar is the most powerful ground based technique for the study of the Earth's ionosphere and its interactions with the upper atmosphere, the magnetosphere and the interplanetary medium (solar wind).

Introduction: http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/english/projekte/eiscat

Homepage: http://www.eiscat.com

Tromsö site: http://www.eiscat.com/tromso.html

Sodankylä site: http://www.eiscat.com/sodan.html

Kiruna site: http://www.eiscat.com/kiruna.html

Svalbard site: http://www.eiscat.com/ESR/

Present activities http://www.eiscat.uit.no/present.html

 

Acrecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

Comment: The Arecibo telescope is the largest radio telescope in the world.

http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/facilities/arecibo.shtml

 

Sondrestrom IS Radar, Greenland

Comment: The incoherent scatter transmitter station moved from Chatanika, Alaska, to Sondrestrom, Greenland.

http://cedarweb.hao.ucar.edu/instr/son.html

 

Jicamarca Radio Observatory, Peru

Comment: The Jicamarca Radio Observatory is the equatorial anchor of the Western Hemisphere chain of incoherent scatter radar (ISR) observatories extending from Lima, Peru, to Sondrestrom, Greenland.

http://jicamarca.ece.cornell.edu/

 

Space Science in EAS

Comment: The department of Earth and Atmospherics Science at Cornell University studies the Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere using high power radars such as the Arecibo and Jicamarca incoherent scatter radars and also small coherent scatter radars like the 30 MHz imaging radar interferometer.

http://landau.geo.cornell.edu/

 

Radio and Space Plasma Physics Group - University of Leicester

Comment: The Radio and Space Plasma Physics Group is at the forfront of research into the interaction of planetary environments with the solar wind.

http://ion.le.ac.uk/

 

Department of Upper Atmosphere Physics and Radiowave Propagation - Irkutsk

http://rp.iszf.irk.ru/

 

ALOMAR Observatory

Andoya Rocket Range

Comment: The ALOMAR observatory in the very far north of Europe is an international facility in atmospheric research. Andoya Rocket Range is the world's northernmost permanent launch facility for sounding rockets and scientific balloons.

http://alomar.rocketrange.no/

http://www.rocketrange.no/

 

Australian Space Weather Agency

IPS Radio and Space Services

Comment: IPS acts as the Australian Space Weather Agency, providing the Australian national radio propagation and space weather services.

http://www.ips.gov.au/

 

MIT Haystack Observatory

Comment: This observatory explores, amoung other research topics, the temporal and spatial variations in the Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere.

http://www.haystack.edu/

 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Comment: Excellent web site providing links to all subjects of NOAA's research activities.

http://www.noaa.gov/

 

University of Oulu, Space Institute

Comment: The Oulu space institute plans, directs and put in effect education, research and development in space oriented topics.

http://spaceweb.oulu.fi/space_institute.html/

 

Pokerflat Research Range

Comment: Poker Flat is home to many scientific instruments designed to study the arctic atmosphere and ionosphere.

http://www.pfrr.alaska.edu/

 

Radio Communications Research Unit (RCRU) at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Comment: The RCRU carries out research on a wide range of topics in radio wave propagation, radio communications and meteorology.

http://www.rcru.rl.ac.uk/

 

Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF)

Comment: The IRF is a governmental research institute. The primary task is to carry out basic research, education, and associated observatory activities in space physics.

http://www.irf.se/overview.html

 

Meteor Burst Communication Technology

Comment: Webpage of the Meteor Communication Corporation, USA.

http://www.meteorcomm.com/mbc-detail.htm

 

Federation of Astronomical and Geophysical Datanalysis Services (FAGS)

Comment: FAGS was formed ny the International Council of Scientific Unions in 1956 and includes today 12 permanent services.

http://www.kms.dk/fags/index.html

 

ESPERE - Enivronmental Science Published for Everybody Round the Earth

Comment: ESPERE stands for a climate information project, which makes available the current knowledge of environmental science.

http://www.espere.net/

 

Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik, University of Rostock

Comment: Note, in particular, the radar working group dealing with ground based radar experiments for investigation of the vertical structure of the atmosphere.

http://www.iap-kborn.de/index_e.htm

http://www.iap-kborn.de/radar/all_results_eng.htm

Max-Planck-Institute for Aeronomie (MPAE)

Comment: The MPAE is dedicated to the investigation of the solar system, in particular the environments of the Earth, planets, and comets, as well as the sun, its heliosphere and their interaction with the interstellar medium.

http://www.linmpi.mpg.de

 

Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE)

Comment: The MPE's main research topics are astronomical observations in spectral regions (such as Far-Infrared, X-ray and Gamma-ray) which are only accessible from space because of the absorbing effects of the Earth's atmosphere, as well as in-situ measurements in near-Earth space investigating the collisionless interaction of cosmic plasmas.

http://www.mpe-garching.mpg.de/

 

Bild der Wissenschaft online

Comment: Popular German science magazine.

http://warpsix.dva.de/sixcms/list.php?page=bdw_index_page

 

Astro News

Comment: Online service featuring lastest information in astronomy, astrophysics and space sciences.

http://www.astronews.com/

 

Spektrum der Wissenschaft

Comment: Excellent science and research magazine.

http://www.wissenschaft-online.de/spektrum/

 

Sterne und Weltraum

Comment: Online service covering all areas in astronomy and astrophysics.

http://www.wissenschaft-online.de/page/p_suw_home

 

Wissenschaft-online

Comment: Scientific online service featuring the world of scientific research and technology.

http://www.wissenschaft-online.de/

 

Nature

Comment: German webpage of the Nature magazine

http://deutsche.nature.com/

 

Space Physics Textbook (Oulu University, Finland) *** excellent ***

Solar system, magnetosphere, ionosphere, atmosphere, geomagnetic activity, Aurora, waves, instabilities, plasma theory, measurements

Comment: I love this gorgeous resource and wish to express my special regards to the Oulu University staff for providing this excellent textbook in the internet.

http://www.oulu.fi/~spaceweb/textbook/

http://www.oulu.fi/~spaceweb/textbook/content.html (contents)

http://www.oulu.fi/~spaceweb/lib/education.html

 

Geophysical Alert Services (Radio Netherlands)

Comment: This excellent page explains the meaning and purpose of geophysical alert broadcasts (by David A. Rosenthal).

http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/practical/html/broadcasts.html

 

Nature

Comment: 'The world's best science on your desktop', international webpage

http://www.nature.com/

 

Scientific American

Comment: The oldest continuously published magazine in America, providing insights about developments in science and technology for more than 150 years.

http://www.sciam.com/

 

New Scientist

Comment: Latest news, hot topics, opinions, weblinks and archives.

http://www.newscientist.com/

 

Astronomy Picture of the Day *** excellent ***

Comment: Each day a different image of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/