Detection of Periodic Disturbances in LOFAR Calibration Solutions
2022
Katarzyna Beser | Maaijke Mevius | Marcin Grzesiak | Hanna Rothkaehl
The Earth&rsquo:s ionosphere is a highly variable medium on a wide range of spatio-temporal scales. The responsiveness of plasma to the geomagnetic field and its changes gives rise to anisotropy, which may introduce wave-like characteristics while scanning the ionosphere with a line-of-sight towards a radio source. Previous studies of LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) calibration phase solutions report that the estimated beta parameter of a structure function calculated over 6&ndash:8 h of astronomical observation timespan has a range of values from 1.6 to 2.0, with an average of 1.89. Such difference between the observations could result from transient wave-like disturbances within the data. This study aims to present a method of signal processing of ionospheric calibration datasets that allows the extraction of a transient wave-like signal and discuss its possible origin. We use complex Morlet wavelet analysis applied to two 8 h observations corresponding to very quiet geomagnetic conditions. We find a wave-like signal in the interferometric Total Electron Content data even during periods of no geomagnetic activity. We suggest it results from the relative velocity changes between the LOFAR line-of-sight and a convection pattern in the ionospheric F layer. Establishing the relationship between quiet time ionosphere, geomagnetic field changes and LOFAR&rsquo:s calibration solutions may prove beneficial to determination of the dominant signals in the more disturbed conditions, which we leave for future study.
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