Real time monitoring for nowcasting and forecasting ionospheric space weatherin Europe with ground digisondes

• Main Author: A. Belehaki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) 2005-06-01
• Series: Annals of Geophysics
• Subjects: ionosphere; ionospheric nowcasting; ionospheric forecasting; space weather; ionogram scaling; digisonde; ionospheric monitoring networks
• Online Access: http://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/3209

The Earth's ionosphere largely determines space weather effects on radio wave communications, navigation and
 surveillance systems. Lately there has been an increasing demand for ionospheric nowcast and accurate forecast
 services by various groups of users, including European industry. The paper reviews research activities in Europe
 based on the exploitation of real-time ground digisondes for the provision of nowcasting and forecasting
 ionospheric space weather information and useful products and services to support operational applications.
 During the last few years, important progress in databasing, modelling and forecasting ionospheric disturbances
 based on real-time data from ground digisondes was achieved in the frames of COST Action 271 «Effects of the
 Upper Atmosphere on Terrestrial and Earth-Space Communications». Further developments are expected to be
 deployed with the new COST Action 724 on «Developing the basis for monitoring, modelling and predicting
 space weather», as well as through the Space Weather Pilot Project of the European Space Agency and through
 projects funded by the European Commission programmes.