Interplanetary scintillation observations to study solar wind transients. A tool for space weather forecasting
Abstract
The study of solar transients and their evolution in the interplanetary medium requires the combination of different instruments. The Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS) technique is a remote sensing measurement that uses radio observations of extragalactic sources to infer solar wind properties along the line of sights. If there is a good number of radio sources around the sun detected by the radio telescope, then it is possible to infer solar wind speeds and changes in solar wind density along their lines of sight. This pixel information can help us to map the interplanetary space to infer solar wind streams and solar transients. The Mexican Array Radio Telescope (MEXART) is a plane array of 4096 dipoles dedicated to study solar wind properties applying the IPS technique. The MEXART is a transit instrument with an operation frequency of 140 MHz. The instrument is currently upgrading to digitalize its backend. This upgrade will allow us to perform daily scanning of the whole sky and to detect a few dozens of extragalactic radio sources. The MEXART is part of a global effort to combine different IPS stations located at distint longitudes under the name of Worldwide Interplanetary Scintillation Stations (WIPSS). Combining data from different WIPSS instruments in real time, potentially would allow us to track the evolution of solar wind transients in the interplanetary medium. This remote sensing of solar wind characteristics obtained from stations at different longitudes could make the IPS technique in a useful tool for space weather.
- Publication:
-
42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018cosp...42E1243G