Monitoring of interplanetary and ionospheric scintillation of an ensemble of radio sources

The results of a series of 24-hour observations of radio-source interplanetary and ionospheric scintillation performed on April 4–10, 2006, at the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory are presented. The observations were carried out with the Large Phased Array radio telescope of the Lebedev Institute of Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, at a frequency of 110 MHz. The scintillating fluxes of all radio sources that fall within a field of sky between declinations +28° and +31° were automatically recorded applying eight beams of the reception pattern operating simultaneously. All of the sources with flux densities of 0.2 Jy or higher were detected. The structure functions of the flux fluctuations were measured for time shifts 1 and 10 s, which characterize the interplanetary (1 s) and ionospheric (10 s) scintillation, respectively. The mean scintillation index m _IPP (on a characteristic time scale of 1 s) of an ensemble of radio sources located within a sky band 4° wide in declination and 1 h wide in right ascension was measured as the parameter that characterizes the interplanetary plasma. Diurnal variations of the interplanetary scintillation index were determined. The maximum m _IPP value at daytime equals 0.3, and the minimum value at nighttime equals 0.10. Weak interday variations of the mean daytime and nighttime scintillation indices were detected. The ionospheric scintillation indices m _Ion are small compared to m _IPP at daytime, but m _Ion ? m _IPP at nighttime. On the whole, both the interplanetary plasma and ionosphere were quiet during the observations.     

Results of IPS Observations in the Period Near Solar Activity Minimum

IPS observations with the Big Scanning Array of Lebedev Physical Institute (BSA LPI) radio telescope at the frequency 111 MHz have been monitored since 2006. All the sources, about several hundred daily, with a scintillating flux greater than 0.2 Jy are recorded for 24 hours in the 16 beams of the radio telescope covering a sky strip of 8^° declination width. We present some results of IPS observations for the recent period of low solar activity considering a statistical ensemble of scintillating radio sources. The dependences of the averaged over ensemble scintillation index on heliocentric distance are considerably weaker than the dependence expected for a spherically symmetric geometry. The difference is especially pronounced in the year 2008 during the very deep solar activity minimum period. These features are explained by the influence of the heliospheric current sheet that is seen as a strong concentration of turbulent solar wind plasma aligned with the solar equatorial plane. A local maximum of the scintillation index is found in the anti-solar direction. Future prospects of IPS observations using BSA LPI are briefly discussed.     

Scintillations of cosmic radio sources in the decametre waveband

The effect of fluctuations of the interplanetary plasma and the ionosphere upon the scintillation spectra of radio sources at decametre waves is considered with due regard for the finite antenna aperture, fluctuation anisotropy, and the direction of their drift in space. It has been shown that scintillation due to interplanetary plasma (IPP), can be reliably separated from the ionospheric scintillation background at decametre wavelengths.For elongations between 90° to 150°, the IPP scintillation power spectrum observed in the 12.6–25 MHz waveband is of a power law form with the index 3.1±0.6, which is in close agreement with the values known for smaller elongations. The solar wind velocity projection orthogonal to the line of sight is estimated for elongations about 110° and has been found to be 300±80 km s^–1. As in the case of smaller elongations, the velocity dispersion is significant.At night, wideband spectra of ionospheric scintillations are observed in the decametre band, with the breaking point at approximately 0.01 Hz in the 12 m band, and narrow-band spectra whose cut-off frequency is below 0.01 Hz. The power spectrum of ionospheric scintillations is of a power-law form with the index 3.4±0.5. In some cases steeper spectra are observed.     

Power spectrum of small-scale irregularities in the solar wind

Day to day observations of interplanetary scintillation on ten strongly scintillating radio sources over a period of twelve months show that the power spectrum of the small scale irregularities flattens considerably at temporal frequencies ν < 0·5 Hz. This flattening defines a scale which increases uniformly between 0·1 and 1·0 a.u. from the Sun. The implication of this result will be discussed.     

Heliolatitude and Time Variations of Solar Wind Structure from in situ Measurements and Interplanetary Scintillation Observations

The 3D structure of the solar wind and its evolution in time are needed for heliospheric modeling and interpretation of energetic neutral atoms observations. We present a model to retrieve the solar wind structure in heliolatitude and time using all available and complementary data sources. We determine the heliolatitude structure of solar wind speed on a yearly time grid over the past 1.5 solar cycles based on remote-sensing observations of interplanetary scintillations, in situ out-of-ecliptic measurements from Ulysses, and in situ in-ecliptic measurements from the OMNI 2 database. Since in situ out-of-ecliptic information on the solar wind density structure is not available apart from the Ulysses data, we derive correlation formulae between the solar wind speed and density and use the information on the solar wind speed from interplanetary scintillation observations to retrieve the 3D structure of the solar wind density. With the variations of solar wind density and speed in time and heliolatitude available, we calculate variations in solar wind flux, dynamic pressure, and charge-exchange rate in the approximation of stationary H atoms.     

The Coefficient of Asymmetry of Radio-Source Interplanetary Scintillation

It is proposed to use the coefficient of asymmetry of the distribution function of fluctuations of a scintillating source flux density as a parameter that characterizes interplanetary turbulent plasma. It is demonstrated that this parameter can be measured with a differential method and that its informative capacity is equivalent to that of the source scintillation index. A series of test observations of scintillations was performed with the Large Phased Array antenna of the Lebedev Institute of Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, simultaneously with measurements of the source scintillation indices and coefficients of asymmetry. Comparative analysis of the measured quantities showed that the coefficient of asymmetry within a numerical coefficient equals the source scintillation index, normalized to the flux density of the scintillating component. The coefficient of asymmetry makes it possible to restore scintillation indices when the radio sources are weak and it is difficult to measure their mean flux densities, and, hence, it enlarges the number of observable scintillating sources and makes the exploration of interplanetary plasma by means of the mapping of scintillation indices more efficient.__________Translated from Astronomicheskii Vestnik, Vol. 39, No. 4, 2005, pp. 375–380.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Shishov, Tyul’bashev, Artyukh, Subaev, Chashei, Chernikov.     

Note on solar plasma irregularities and plasma instabilities

Observations of interplanetary scintillation of radio sources are used to estimate the size of plasma irregularities down to a distance of about 6 R from the Sun. This is compared with the values of the ion gyro-radius estimated for a range of distance from 1 AU to about 6 R from the Sun. The results of the calculations are discussed in the context of the hypothesis of plasma instability which is invoked to interpret the observations of the scattering of radio waves in the solar corona and of interplanetary scintillations.     

Multiwavelength Study on Solar and Interplanetary Origins of the Strongest Geomagnetic Storm of Solar Cycle 23

We study the solar sources of an intense geomagnetic storm of solar cycle 23 that occurred on 20 November 2003, based on ground- and space-based multiwavelength observations. The coronal mass ejections (CMEs) responsible for the above geomagnetic storm originated from the super-active region NOAA 10501. We investigate the H?? observations of the flare events made with a 15 cm solar tower telescope at ARIES, Nainital, India. The propagation characteristics of the CMEs have been derived from the three-dimensional images of the solar wind (i.e., density and speed) obtained from the interplanetary scintillation data, supplemented with other ground- and space-based measurements. The TRACE, SXI and H?? observations revealed two successive ejections (of speeds ???350 and ???100 km?s^?1), originating from the same filament channel, which were associated with two high speed CMEs (???1223 and ???1660 km?s^?1, respectively). These two ejections generated propagating fast shock waves (i.e., fast-drifting type II radio bursts) in the corona. The interaction of these CMEs along the Sun?CEarth line has led to the severity of the storm. According to our investigation, the interplanetary medium consisted of two merging magnetic clouds (MCs) that preserved their identity during their propagation. These magnetic clouds made the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) southward for a long time, which reconnected with the geomagnetic field, resulting the super-storm (Dst _peak=?472 nT) on the Earth.     

Scintillation Measurements of the Solar Wind Velocity in Strong Scattering near the Sun

The multi-antenna scintillation method of measuring the solar-wind velocity has been very effective, particularly near the Sun and at high heliographic latitudes where direct measurements are rare or non-existent. However, scintillation observations inherently involve an LOS integration. Several methods have been used to deal with this problem, but they all require the basic assumption that contributions from different parts of the LOS add linearly. This assumption is valid for weak scintillations where the Born approximation holds, but it is not correct for strong scintillations. In this article we compare simultaneous observations of the same radio source, and therefore the same solar wind, at radio wavelengths of 32 cm and 92 cm. The 32-cm observations at the European Incoherent Scatter Radar (EISCAT) were made in weak-scattering and those at 92 cm at the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (STEL) were made in strong-scattering mode. The results showed no significant bias in velocity caused by strong scattering, confirming that the LOS inversion techniques can be extended into the strong-scattering regime.     

Radio sources flickering and local interstellar medium (LISM) structure

A possibility of obtaining information on small-scale inhomogeneities of the electron component of the local interstellar medium (LISM) was investigated using interstellar scintillations of extragalactic radio sources. We analysed Culgoora array observational variability data of 190 extragalactic radio sources, covering most of the sky, at 80 and 160 MHz. The variability at time scales from 1 month to 15 years is interpreted as refractive interstellar scintillations in fast-moving nearby (less than 150 pc) hot gas, near shock waves in the LISM. An all-sky map of scintillation indices, m, averaged over three–five sources closest to one another, shows several m maxima. Two of the three most pronounced maxima are probably connected with Loop I; the third one coincides with the soft X-ray (0.1–0.3 keV) background maximum near the South Galactic Pole. Other, less certain, m maxima probably correspond to the Orion star-formation region and to a soft X-ray maximum near the North Galactic Pole. The ‘free-of-gas’ tunnel in the direction l=240° corresponds to low values of m. The estimated time scale of interstellar scintillations on the above-mentioned LISM structures is in agreement with that of the observed radio-source variations.     

Multipoint Observations of Solar Type III Radio Bursts from STEREO and Wind

The twin STEREO and the Wind spacecraft make remote multipoint measurements of interplanetary radio sources of solar origin from widely separated vantage points. One year after launch, the angular separation between the STEREO spacecraft reached 45°, which was ideal for locating solar type III radio sources in the heliosphere by three-spacecraft triangulation measurements from STEREO and Wind. These triangulated source locations enable intrinsic properties of the radio source, such as its beaming characteristics, to be deduced. We present the first three-point measurements of the beaming characteristics for two solar type III radio bursts that were simultaneously observed by the three spacecraft in December of 2007 and in January of 2008. These analyses suggest that individual type III bursts exhibit a wide beaming pattern that is approximately beamed along the direction tangent to the Parker spiral magnetic field line at the source location.     

Ionospheric Disturbances and Their Impact on IPS Using MEXART Observations

We study the impact of ionospheric disturbances on the Earth’s environment caused by the solar events that occurred from 20 April to 31 May 2010, using observations from the Mexican Array Radio Telescope (MEXART). During this period of time, several astronomical sources presented fluctuations in their radio signals. Wavelet analysis, together with complementary information such as the vertical total electron content (vTEC) and the Dst index, were used to identify and understand when the interplanetary scintillation (IPS) could be contaminated by ionospheric disturbances (IOND). We find that radio signal perturbations were sometimes associated with IOND and/or IPS fluctuations; however, in some cases, it was not possible to clearly identify their origin. Our Fourier and wavelet analyses showed that these fluctuations had frequencies in the range ≈?0.01 Hz?–?≈?1.0 Hz (periodicities of 100 s to 1 s).     

Equatorwards Expansion of Unperturbed, High-Latitude Fast Solar Wind

We use dual-site radio observations of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) with extremely long baselines (ELB) to examine meridional flow characteristics of the ambient fast solar wind at plane-of-sky heliocentric distances of 24?–?85 solar radii (R _⊙). Our results demonstrate an equatorwards deviation of 3?–?4^° in the bulk fast solar wind flow direction over both northern and southern solar hemispheres during different times in the declining phase of Solar Cycle 23.     

A search for compact decametric radio sources in supernova remnants using the interplanetary scintillation technique

Interplanetary scintillation observations of eleven supernova remnants and the pulsar J1939+2134, around which the existence of a supernova remnant remains obscure, were carried out with the largest in the world decameter radio telescope UTR-2 at 20, 25 and 30 MHz to determine if any of them contain compact radio sources with the angular size θ<5″. The sample included the young Galactic remnants and the other powerful SNRs. The interplanetary scintillations of the compact radio source in the Crab Nebula associated with the well-known pulsar J0534+2200 and the pulsar J1939+2134 were observed. Apart from the Crab Nebula, we have not detected a compact radio source in supernova remnants with the angular size θ<5″ and the flux density more than 10 Jy. The observations do not confirm the existence of the low frequency compact source in Cassiopeia A that has remained controversial.     

Daytime ionosphere of Venus as studied with Veneras 9 and 10 dual-frequency radio occultation experiments

We present results of the dual-frequency radio sounding of the Venusian ionosphere carried out by the Venera 9 and 10 satellites in 1975. Thirteen height profiles of electron density for different solar zenith angles varying from 10 to 87° have been obtained by analyzing the refraction bending of radiorays in the sounded ionssphere. The main maximum of electron density at a height of 140–150 km depends on the solar zenith angle and is 1.4 to 5 × 10⁵ cm^?3. The lower maximum is determined definitely to be at ～130 km high. In the main and lower maxima the electron density variations with solar zenith angle are in good agreement with the Chapman layer theory. For the first time it is found that the height of the upper boundary for the daytime ionosphere (h_i) depends regularly on the solar zenith angle. At Z_⊙ < 60°, h_i does not exceed 300 km while at Z_⊙ > 60°, it increases with Z_⊙ and comes up to ～ 600 km at Z_⊙ ～ 80°.     

Flare-associated shock waves observed by interplanetary scintillation

Daily observations of a grid of scintillating sources during the period January–August 1971 indicate that enhancements in scintillation index which cannot be related to corotating structure, are related to interplanetary shock waves associated with solar flares. Only 3 enhancements in scintillation index associated with shock waves were observed during the eight months period of observations.     

Formation of a steady supersonic solar wind flow

A consistent study of the solar wind has been extended to a wide region of interplanetary space, up to distances from the Sun R ? 90 R _s . Experiments are carried out with the radio telescopes of the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory (Astrospace Center, Lebedev physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences): DKR-1000 (λ ≈ 2.7–2.9 m) and RT-22 (λ ≈ 1.35 cm), respectively. The radio-wave scattering characteristics, the scattering angle θ(R) and the scintillation index m(R), are studied. The formation of a steady supersonic solar wind is associated with a sequence of four stages whose scale in different solar wind streams changes within the range 10–23 R _s , depending on the initial stream speed. These circumstances should be taken into account when predicting the state of the near space using data on the solar wind in regions of the interplanetary medium close to the Sun.     

Observations of Low Frequency Solar Radio Bursts from the Rosse Solar-Terrestrial Observatory

The Rosse Solar-Terrestrial Observatory (RSTO; www.rosseobservatory.ie ) was established at Birr Castle, Co. Offaly, Ireland (53°05′38.9″, 7°55′12.7″) in 2010 to study solar radio bursts and the response of the Earth’s ionosphere and geomagnetic field. To date, three Compound Astronomical Low-cost Low-frequency Instrument for Spectroscopy in Transportable Observatory (CALLISTO) spectrometers have been installed, with the capability of observing in the frequency range of 10?–?870 MHz. The receivers are fed simultaneously by biconical and log-periodic antennas. Nominally, frequency spectra in the range of 10?–?400 MHz are obtained with four sweeps per second over 600 channels. Here, we describe the RSTO solar radio spectrometer set-up, and present dynamic spectra of samples of type II, III and IV radio bursts. In particular, we describe the fine-scale structure observed in type II bursts, including band splitting and rapidly varying herringbone features.     

Photoionization rates in the night-time E- and F-region ionosphere1

Quantitative estimates of ionization sources that maintain the night-time E- and F-region ionosphere are given. Starlight (stellar continuum radiation in the spectral inverval 911–1026 Å) and resonance scattering of solar Ly-β into the night sector are the most important sources in the E-region and are capable of maintaining observable electron densities of order (1–4) × 10³ cm^?3. Starlight ionization rates have substantial variations (factors of 2–4) with latitude and time of year since the brightest stars in the night sky occur in the southern Milky Way and Orion regions. In the lower F-region the major O⁺ source in the equatorial ionosphere is 910 Å radiation from the O⁺ recombination in the F2-region, whereas in the extratropical ionosphere interplanetary 584 Å radiation only exceeds resonance scattering of solar 584 and 304 Å radiation as the dominant O⁺ source during the month of December.