Whos Involved

1
The Sun-Earth Connection How Ionospheric
Monitoring can Engage and Inspire Students in
Science and Engineering. Ray Mitchell, Deborah
Scherrer, Bill Clark, Rick Styner, Sean Fotrell,
Tim Dave, Shannon Lee, Phil Scherrer, Scott
Winegarden, Alan Roche
What is Measured?
Curriculum / Activities
http//solar-center.stanford.edu/SID

• Four Forces, electromagnetic, frequency vs.
  wavelength
• Spectroscope Lab
• Refraction of light, why is the sunset red?,
  demonstration
• Fusion and EMC2
• Blackbody radiation
• The color of stars (HR diagram)
• The life and death of stars (using hydrogen
  balloons)
• Structure of the Sun and how long for a photon
  to leave the Sun
• Importance of Sun to humans
• Sunspots
• Solar flares and mass ejections from the Sun
• Protection from the Sun. Part 1 -- Ozone
• Protection from the Sun. Part 2 -- Magnetosphere
• History sunspot frequency over years and
  monthssunspot cycle (computer lab, preferable)
• Solar activity from SID data
• Solar activity research

Solar flare affects on the Ionosphere
ABSTRACT

• Whenever the sun erupts with a flare, it is
  usually in the form of x-ray and/or extreme
  ultraviolet energy.

The Stanford Solar Center is introducing an
educator-designed project designed to reach
underserved high school and community college
students. The program consists of a Sudden
Ionospheric Disturbance (SID) instrument that
monitors, in real-time, solar-induced changes in
the Earth's ionosphere. The instrument and
supporting documentation are provided without
cost to underserved schools. Students are
required to build their own antenna (low-cost and
quick to make) and perform research with the
monitor some engineering possibilities also
exist with the monitor. Data collection is
centralized at Stanford to allow access to
research data collected by the various sites.
The goal of the project is to inspire students
from diverse backgrounds to consider a college
major in the sciences toward a career in science
or engineering. The project is supported by NSF's
Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling
(CISM) and is an approved project for the
International Heliophysical Year, 2007.
2. The flare takes approx. 8 minutes to travel to
the Earth. The energy hits the upper atmosphere
and ionizes molecules this region is called the
ionosphere.
3. The ionosphere is responsible for radio
skip, i.e. transmitted Earth-based radio
signals that are reflected back down to the
ground.
4. The received radio signal changes strength
according to the energy of the flare as it is
absorbed into the ionosphere. ? GOES satellite
data of x-ray solar flare events
The Instruments
AWESOME Monitor Atmospheric Weather Educational
System for Observation and Modeling of Effects
SOLAR SID (Sudden Ionosphere Disturbance) Monitor

• Research use
• Moderate cost (3,100 ea)
• Receives all VLF stations and covers frequencies
  30 -50 KHz simultaneously
• Hi-resolution 16-bit
• Accurate timing via GPS
• Monitors solar SIDs, lightning, GRBs,
  ionospheric phenomena, etc.
• Requires 2 antennas N/S and E/W and a location
  such as a field to set up.
• Requires a computer with processing power to keep
  up with high-speed data stream and FFT
  calculations.

• Classroom use
• Inexpensive (150 ea)
• Monitors only one VLF station
• Primary usage Solar SIDs
• Easy to set up and use.
• Antenna simple to build and low cost
• Can use an old and slow computer

Whos Involved?

What Does the Data Look like?
Current list of participating Educational
Institutions
SOLAR SID Monitor
AWESOME Monitor
High Schools San Leandro Castro Valley Deer
Valley , Antioch CA Los Gatos High
School Colleges / Universities Chabot Community
College Cal. State University, East Bay
University College, Dublin officially
designated Minority Serving Institution
Frequency (KHz)
Signal Strength
Time (s)
Time (UTC)
This graph represents 10 seconds of data taken at
Palmer Station, Antarctica. The plot shows the
frequencies vertical, time horizontal, and signal
strength (dB) in color. Horizontal lines in the
graph are the VLF stations, vertical lines could
be phenomena such as choruses, whistlers,
sweepers, or other ionoshperic disturbances.
This graph represents 24 hours on August 2, 2003
plotting the received signal strength vs. time.
We observe both Sun-Earth effects (sunrise and
sunset) as well as solar flares effect on our
ionosphere. Solar flares are only possible to
detect during the local daytime hours.
Goal For 2006 to place 100 SID Monitors 15
AWESOME Monitors For IHY 2007 to place in each of
the 191 Countries of the UN 1000 SID Monitors
(5 ea) 200 AWESOME Monitor (1 ea)
How the Monitors Work
SOLAR SID Monitor

• All radio signals come in from both antennas
• They are pre-amplified in a shielded
  weather-tight box outside near where the antenna
  is located.
• A long cable connects the preamp to the AWESOME
  Monitor located inside a building
• The AWESOME Monitor
• A GPS Antenna connects to the AWESOME monitor to
  pick up accurate microsecond time codes.
• The analog to digital converter (ADC) is a card
  that connects inside the computer. It converts
  these voltages to a series of numbers that is
  transformed into frequency, intensity, phase
  angle for each sample taken.

AWESOME Monitor
1
1
N
W

• All radio signals come in from the antenna
• They are amplified with the preamp
• The VLF station is filtered with the Frequency
  daughter board, e.g. 25.2 KHz
• The real-time signal is averaged to a voltage
  proportional to the signal strength.
• The analog to digital converter (ADC) converts
  this voltage to a number
• The computer polls the ADC every 5 seconds and
  logs the values in a file.

E/W Antenna
E
2
2
S
N/S Antenna
Current list of Partner Organizations
3
NSF (National Science Foundation) CISM (Center
for Integrated Space Weather Modeling) NASA (Natio
nal Aeronautical Space Agency) United Nations /
International Heliospherical Year 2007 Stanford
Solar Observatories Group Stanford Electrical
Engineering Department Concept AAVSO / Paul
Mortfield
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
RS-232
Computer
Computer