COST 296 action results for space weather ionospheric monitoring and modelling

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Abstract

COST 296 Action refers to the project on Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio Systems (MIERS) in the framework of European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), which is one of the longest-running European instruments supporting cooperation among scientists and researchers across Europe. The main objective of the MIERS project has been to develop an increased knowledge of the effects imposed by the ionosphere on practical radio systems, and for the development and implementation of techniques to mitigate the harmful effects of the ionosphere on such systems. This paper highlights COST 296 Action results that have been achieved during its lifetime period of February 2005–February 2009 with emphasis on space weather ionospheric monitoring and modelling.

Introduction

Ionospheric monitoring, modelling, as well as high frequency radio propagation research have been attracting both academic and practical interests for many decades because the terrestrial ionosphere forms an essential part of telecommunication and navigation systems. During the last decade, studies have been focused on real-time specification and prediction of ionospheric effects based on data obtained from an extensive network of ionospheric stations, data collected from a continuously operating global network of GPS receivers including disturbance features related to space weather, on space-borne navigational and positioning systems. A complementary objective of this research was the continuation of the extensive series of existing ionospheric measurements providing precursor information about long-term global warming changes because of their consequences to the natural environment. A comprehensive monitoring system, using ground-based, space borne, and in situ-techniques is needed for the delivery and sustainability of well-defined ionospheric operational services, which support the implementation and monitoring of environmental policies in the context of sustainable development. Although satellite systems provide a unique and globally available data source for such ionospheric operational services, their effectiveness depends critically on close integration with terrestrial systems, to exploit the comparative advantage of each (Reinisch et al., 2009). This was the rationale for the COST 296 Action MIERS for the European area.

The European ionospheric research community has long been aware that co-operative research on an international basis is essential to deal with large temporal and spatial changes in the ionosphere that influence the performance of terrestrial and Earth-space radio systems. The COST 296 Action on Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio Systems (MIERS) is the latest in the series of COST actions related to ionospheric research and radio propagation. In the earlier COST actions the emphasis was on long-term ionospheric prediction and retrospective ionospheric modelling over Europe (The COST 238 Action on Prediction and Retrospective Ionospheric Modelling over Europe - PRIME, see Bradley, 1995) and on the application of PRIME results to improve the quality of service in ionospheric telecommunication systems planning and operation (COST 251 Action on Improved quality of service in Ionospheric Telecommunication Systems planning and Operation, see Hanbaba, 1999). Both projects yielded significant results, but they also identified further areas where future development was needed. The follow-on COST 271 Action “Effects of the upper atmosphere on terrestrial and Earth-space communications” was then established to examine hour-to-hour and day-to-day variability prediction capabilities for the topside ionosphere, upgrading of the current models to include scintillation effects, the prediction of the ionospheric and plasmaspheric effects on navigational systems and the development of methods for calculating the reliability and compatibility of HF radio systems, using digital modulation techniques, and over the horizon HF backscatter radars. The COST 271 Action has successfully managed to transfer some of the results to ITU-R and other national and international organizations dealing with both modern communication and navigation systems and space weather issues. (Zolesi and Cander, 2004 and references therein).

In this paper, we first summarize the main results of the COST 296 Action on MIERS, including the support and enhancement of the existing European facilities making historical and real-time ionospheric data collections accessible to all. Then we outline the new features on methods and algorithms to mitigate the effects of ionospheric perturbations and variations on advanced terrestrial and space-based communication services, and we conclude with a discussion of new science applications related to space weather ionospheric research, monitoring, and modelling applications.

Section snippets

COST 296 Action main results

As the emphasis in ionospheric research has been shifted from long-term planning to real-time forecasting, the COST 296 Action MIERS has focused on developing an increased knowledge of the effects imposed by the ionosphere on practical radio systems, and to implementing newly developed techniques to mitigate the deleterious effects of the ionosphere on such systems (Zolesi and Cander, 2008). COST 296 results have been achieved through conducting the following investigations:

  • Near-Earth space

Space weather aspects of the COST 296 Action

Space weather aspects of the COST 296 Action address important technological problems for telecommunications, which are complementary to or were not considered in the first European COST Space Weather Action COST 724 on Developing the Scientific Basis for Monitoring, Modelling and Predicting Space Weather. Particularly important has been the collaboration between these two COST actions: COST 724 devoted to space weather and COST 296 devoted to the study of the ionosphere and its impact on

Conclusions

This paper briefly summarized the results of the COST 296 Action on space weather ionospheric monitoring and modelling aiming to communicate these results to the international ionospheric community and to advise space weather community on the outcome of the project. While specific scientific details can be found in Bourdillon et al. (2009) (papers and references therein), it has to be said that the COST 296 Action MIERS has provided a deeper understanding of the ionospheric effects on radio

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge support by European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST).

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