Speaker
Description
The Earth's ionosphere significantly influences low-frequency radio wave propagation, introducing distortions that challenge the precision of radio astronomical observations. The LOFAR Ionospheric Research Group (LIRG) leverages the unique capabilities of the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) to study these ionospheric effects. LIRG fosters collaboration between ionospheric scientists and radio astronomers to investigate plasma velocities, ionospheric scintillations, and Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs), modelling atmospheric impacts and analysing extreme space weather events. Single-station studies further provide localised insights into ionospheric variability. LIRG's work extends to improving LOFAR's observational strategies through dynamic scheduling based on ionospheric conditions and advancing calibration techniques, such as Direction, Time, Amplitude, and Phase Calibration (DTAC), using bright extragalactic radio sources (3C sources) to probe ionospheric variations. These efforts primarily advance ionospheric research by harnessing LOFAR's capabilities while improving its astronomical data quality. LIRG strengthens LOFAR's role as a vital tool for studying the ionosphere and a powerful radio telescope, setting the stage for next-generation low-frequency arrays such as the SKA.
