Earth's ionosphere reacts strongly to the intense x-ray and ultraviolet radiation released by the Sun during a solar event. Students around the world can directly monitor and track these ionospheric disturbances by using a receiver to monitor the signal strength from distant VLF transmitters, and noting changes as the waves bounce off the ionosphere. Stanford's Solar Center, in conjunction with the Electrical Engineering Department’s Very Low Frequency group and local educators, have developed inexpensive ionospheric monitors that students can install and use at their local high schools. Students "buy in" to the project by building their own antenna, a simple structure costing about $10 and taking a couple hours to assemble. Data collection and analysis is handled by a local PC. Stanford will be providing a centralized data repository and chat site where students and researchers can exchange and discuss data. Two versions of the monitor exist – one low-cost (“SID”) and one research quality (“AWESOME”). Because there are VLF transmitters scattered around the world, the monitors can be placed virtually anywhere there is access to power. Our goal is to place one AWESOME and up to five SID monitors in each of the 191 UN countries. For more information, see solar-center.stanford.edu/SID List of Partners Stanford Solar Center Deborah Scherrer Hao Thai Sharad Khanal Scott Winegarden (now at UC Irvine) Stanford Solar Observatories Group Philip Scherrer Sarah Gregory Stanford EE Department Umran Inan Morris Cohen Justin Tan Cal State University East Bay Ray Mitchell, Chief Engineer Chabot Community College Shannon Lee (now at Cal State SF) Tim Dave San Lorenzo High School William Clark, Senior Engineer Richard Styner Castro Valley High School Sean Fotrell Kenny Oslund (now at CalTech) Concept: Paul Mortfield & AAVSO Students Monitor Solar Disturbances to Earth’s Ionosphere – An Education Project for the International Heliophysical Year 2007 Deborah Scherrer Ray Mitchell Morris Cohen Umran Inan Philip Scherrer Stanford University The Sun, Earth’s Ionosphere, and VLF Radio waves 200 ’ Towers Antenna Wires One of the VLF broadcasting stations – Jim Creek, WA “NLK” 24.8KHz 1 Cycle = 7.5 Miles (12 KM) Amplitude (Peak-to-Peak) for 24.8KHz  Distance traveled over time   Radio Signal  The International Heliophysical Year (IHY) 2007 Organizing Committee and the United Nations have designated our Space Weather Monitors as supported projects of the IHY, to be placed in each of the 191 nations of the world. Atmospheric Weather Educational System for Observation and Modeling of Effects B-Field Antenna Preamp Long Cable Line Receiver Analog to Digital Computer GPS Antenna Designed to capture ELF/VLF frequencies, roughly 30 MHz-50kHz Dual use system -- Daytime: monitor solar activity Nighttime: monitor atmospheric phenomena, e.g. lightning Precision timing/phase accuracy So sensitive that nearly any signal above the ambient Earth noise floor can be detected Broadband; sample rate of 100KHz on each channel Preassembled but students build their own antenna Data appropriate for high school as well as solar and ionospheric researchers Moderate cost (~$3100 per monitor) B-Field, Magnetic Loop Orthogonal Pair 1.0 Ω, 1.0 mH Various sizes ok Cuts off at ~318 Hz Preamp impedance matched Paschal amplifier 3 cutoff modes Gain selectable Calibration circuit Weatherproof PowerOne Had15 power supply Anti-aliasing filter GPS synchronization LTC th order lowpass Elliptical filter 47 kHz cutoff 100dB attenuation at 55 kHz 50 us relative delay Motorola M12+ OnCore GPS And FPGA provide 1 pulse per second signal with 200 ns accuracy National Instruments 6034E Plugs into PCI slot PCMCIA laptop version available 200 kS/second, 16-bit 100 kHz sampling each channel Two channel: Narrowband & broadband Works with Matlab Narrowband & broadband Works with Matlab AWESOME -- The Research Quality Monitor SID – The low-cost monitor Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance monitor Pre-Amp 24.8KHz Filter Signal Strength DATAQ Computer RS-232 Coax = All frequencies Band-pass, Only 24.8KHz (Amplitude Modulation) DC voltage Level 10 bit, Analog to Digital Conversion Sample every 5 Seconds Preassembled and pretuned Students build their own, simple antennas Sample rate of 1 per 5 seconds; data handled and plotted by Excel Changeable frequency boards tuned to particular VLF transmitters around the world Easy to set up and use Suitable for use in high school and community colleges Low cost (~$150 per monitor) Based on AAVSO original concept C4.5 C5.9 C3.8 M1.3 :Product: events.txt :Created: 2003 Aug UT :Date: # Prepared by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center. # Please send comments and suggestions to # # Missing data: //// # Updated every 30 minutes. # Edited Events for 2003 Aug 02 # #Event Begin Max End Obs Q Type Loc/Frq Particulars Reg# # G12 5 XRA 1-8A B E HOL 3 FLA S17E71 SF HOL 3 FLA S18E70 SF HOL 3 FLA S18E68 SF G12 5 XRA 1-8A C E Interpreting SID Data The students receive their SID data as a signal strength value and a timestamp. The data are easily read by Excel and graphed. There is a characteristic sunrise and sunset shape to the graph, which can be used to test the monitor. Solar events show up as spikes in the signal strength. Students compare their spikes to data from the GOES satellite to identify flares. Occasionally, students will detect flares that the (human) GOES data interpreter has missed. Students can also track down the solar active region which generated the disturbance. Could they learn to predict flares and their effects? With AWESOME monitors, students also pick up other signals, including gamma ray bursts, lightning storms, and other nighttime phenomena. By talking with each other and checking other data, they attempt to determine what caused their unidentified signals. C4.5 C5.9 C3.8 M1.3 Students compare their data with that from the GOES satellite Students Locate Source of Disturbance VERY LOW FREQUENCY (VLF) Radio Transmission Stations Note – VLF signals can be received all over the world, whether there is a station nearby or not. Station Station Frequency Radiated Site ID (kHz) Power (kW) U.S. Navy Cutler, ME NAA Jim Creek, WA NLK Lualualei, HI NPM LaMoure, ND NML Aquada, Puerto Rico NAU Keflavik, Iceland NRK Australia Harold E. Holt NWC Federal Republic of Germany Rhauderfehn Burlage DHO France Rosnay HWU St. Assie FTA LeBlanc HWU Iceland Keflavic TFK Italy Tavolara ICV Norway Noviken JXN Russia Arkhanghelsk UGE input Batumi UVA input Kaliningrad UGKZ input Matotchkinchar UFQE input Vladivostok UIK input Turkey Bafa TBB 26.7 United Kingdom Anthorn GQD Rugby GBR London GYA Information courtesy of Bill Hopkins, Technical Representative for Pacific-Sierra Research Corp. Selected VLF transmitters around the world Primarily U.S. Navy stations for communicating with submarines Nighttime Daytime Contacts: Morris Cohen Ray Mitchell Deborah Scherrer