A Unique Collaboration Between Scientists and Educators

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A Unique Collaboration Between Scientists and
Educators
Designing Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance Monitors

• Deborah Scherrer, Ray Mitchell, William Clark,
  Richard Styner, Philip Scherrer, Umran Inan,
  Morris Cohen, Justin Tan, Shannon Lee, Sharad
  Khanal, Scott Winegarden, Hao Thai, Paul
  Mortfield
• Stanford University and Local Schools

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Quick Overview

• Motivations
• The Plan
• Objectives
• The Monitors SID and AWESOME
• Structure
• Speed Bumps
• The Team

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Motivations

• Funders
• Research experience for teachers students
• Long-term relationships between teacher interns
  scientists
• More under-represented students into science
• Quantitative results

• Educators
• Experience with how scientists think do
• Content knowledge
• Hands-on, real science, to take back to the
  classroom
• Build EXCITEMENT enthusiasm for science amongst
  students

• Scientists
• Educators support their research
• Effective experience for teachers
• Tap expertize of teacher
• Minimize overhead of training supervision

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The Plan

• Team community college high school educators
  with scientists to
• Design, develop, classroom-test VLF radio
  receivers that track changes to the Earths
  ionosphere caused by solar activity
• Provide hands-on, authentic science experience
  for teachers and students
• Gather data useful to researchers

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Details

• Based on AAVSO original concept
• 2 versions
• SID inexpensive (150)
• AWESOME research quality (3000)
• Preassembled, but students build their own
  antenna (10)
• Centralized data repository chat site

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Objectives

• Place 100 SIDs and 15 AWESOMES
• Target under-represented high schools community
  colleges
• Leverage from CISM Partners
• Teacher workshops
• University application
• Integration into teacher-training courses
• Access to web-based training
• Distribute in a Partnership model, to encourage
  scientist-teacher collaborations

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Scientific Goals

• Understand the causes effects solar activity
  has on the Earth, hopefully for prediction
  capabilities (daytime data)
• Understand the electrodynamic coupling between
  the troposphere, mesosphere, and the lower
  ionosphere driven by lightning and thunderstorm
  systems  (nighttime data)

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IHY 2007

• The United Nations and organizers of the
  International Heliophysical Year, 2007, have
  designated these Space Weather Monitors as
  official IHY instruments, to be placed in 191
  countries around the world.

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The Sun, ionosphere, and radio waves
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VLF Transmitters
24 around the world
Antenna Wires
Primarily U.S. Navy stations for communicating
with submarines
NLK 24.8 KHz Navy Radio Station, Jim Creek,
WA 1 cycle 7.5 miles (12 km)
200 Towers
VLF signals can be received all over the world,
because of the ionosphere!
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Our Monitors

• SID
• Low Cost (150)
• Single band
• 1 sample/5 seconds
• Preassembled tuned
• Students build antenna
• Available free to underserved schools

• AWESOME
• Moderate cost (3000)
• Broadband sample rate of 100kHz on each channel
• Capture ELF/VLF frequencies
• 30 Hz - 50kHz
• Dual use system
• Daytime monitor solar activity
• Nighttime monitor atmospheric phenomena
  (e.g. lightning)
• So sensitive that nearly any signal above the
  ambient Earth noise floor can be detected
• Data useable for ionospheric and solar researchers

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Detecting Solar Flares SID(s)
SID Events!
Not all events are readily explainable students
can research these
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GOES-12 Weather Satellite
Detecting X-Rays
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Connecting SID to GOES Data
C5.9
M1.3
C4.5
C3.8
Students have also found flares not cataloged by
GOES!!!
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Connecting SID events to sunspots (Active Regions)
Event Begin Max End Obs Q Type
Loc/Frq Particulars Reg ----------------
--------------------------------------------------
------------- 1960 1727 1736 1744
G12 5 XRA 1-8A C4.5 3.1E-03
0424 1990 1930 1946 1954 G12 5
XRA 1-8A C5.9 5.9E-03 0424 2000
2112 2134 2140 G12 5 XRA 1-8A
C3.8 3.1E-03 0424 2040 2341 2354
0002 G12 5 XRA 1-8A M1.3 8.5E-03
0424
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D
D Includes diversity component

Technology expertize
Integration back into science research
D
Integration back into science research
Design develop SID AWESOME
Planning
Communications
Coordination
Integration into university environment Alabama
AM
D
Partners
Production
Reporting
Distribution
Traffic Control
Distribution
Distribution
D
D
General Public Interest in awareness of Space
Weather
Teachers and classrooms high school community
college
D
D
100 SIDs
10 AWESOME
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Speed Bumps

• Administrivia
• Changes in teaching positions
• Funding
• Time
• Management
• Parts suppliers

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Our Team

• Stanford Partners
• Philip Scherrer, Solar Observatories Group
• Umran Inan, Stanford EE
• Hao Thai, Solar Observatories Group
• Deborah Scherrer, Stanford Solar Center
• Students
• Morris Cohen, Stanford EE
• Justin Tan, Stanford EE
• Shannon Lee, Chabot Community College
• Sharad Khanal, Stanford Physics
• Scott Winegarden, Mid Penninsula High School
• (now at UC Irvine)
• Mitch Patenaude, Cal State Hayward
• Sam Penrose, Cal State Hayward
• Kenny Oslund, Castro Valley High (now at CalTech)

• Educators
• Ray Mitchell, Chief Engineer Chabot Community
  College, Cal State Hayward
• William Clark, San Lorenzo High School
• Richard Styner, San Lorenzo High School
• Sean Fotrell, Castro Valley High School
• Tim Dave, Chabot Community College
• CISM Partners
• Roberta Johnson, NCAR
• Ramon Lopez, Florida Institute of Tech.
• Pat Reiff, Rice University
• Marius Schamschula, Alabama AM
• Concept Paul Mortfield

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For more informationon Space Weather Monitors
http//solar-center.stanford.edu/SID dscherrer_at_sol
ar.stanford.edu