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| Paper: |
ALBUS: Modelling the Ionosphere with GNSS Interchange Data from the South African TrigNET |
| Volume: |
541, ADASS XXXIII |
| Page: |
305 |
| Authors: |
Benjamin Hugo; Tony Willis; Lebogang Lekganyane; Oleg Smirnov |
| DOI: |
10.26624/QFHA9580 |
| Abstract: |
The Earth’s ionosphere and plasmasphere are solar-ionized regions in
the upper layers of the atmosphere. The regions, driven by solar activity and storms,
act as a dispersive medium which introduces Faraday Rotation of linearly-polarized
radio light when coupled with the Earth’s strong magnetic fields. This rotation can be
tens of degrees in the linear angle of polarization below the S-band (2.0 GHz). We
explored the use of RINEX interchange data from the GNSS receivers on the South
African TrigNET network and parametric profiles of the ionosphere to measure the
amount of Faraday Rotation induced by the ionosphere. We verify our measurements
through long-term monitoring of the (stable) linearly-polarized quasar, 3C286, as well
as the limb of the Moon as part of a larger joint-calibrator study between the Very
Large Array and MeerKAT interferometers. We find a residual scatter in the predicted
RM values of about 1 rad m−2 at the Karoo site, which is consistent with scatter using
the most accurate distributed IONEX models computed from the International GNSS
Service data. This poster contribution highlights the necessity of more research in the
area of accurate ionospheric modelling, especially in southern geomagnetic latitudes
and its implications for low-frequency full polarization science in the Square Kilometer
Array and ngVLA era. |
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