Geophysicists at the "Akademik Vernadsky" station conducted a new important study during the annular solar eclipse that took place in early October over the Pacific Ocean, writes Success in UA.
About this said on the official Facebook page of the National Antarctic Science Center.
The experiment concerned the study of the ionosphere - one of the upper layers of the atmosphere, in which there are many free ions and electrons. Thanks to this, the ionosphere is able to conduct electric current and reflect high-frequency radio signals, which are used to transmit information over long distances.
Ionization of the upper layers of the atmosphere occurs mainly under the influence of ultraviolet radio radiation from the Sun. During an eclipse, it is quickly covered by the Moon: almost as much as the light we see. Therefore, "scanning" of the ionosphere during this period gives scientists new information about it that cannot be obtained under normal conditions.
To diagnose large-scale ionospheric inhomogeneities, the propagation of high-frequency signals over ultra-long distances has been studied for many years at the Akademik Vernadskyi station.
As sounding signals (that is, which interact with the ionosphere), the radiation of stations of the exact time service, which has an extremely high long-term stability of parameters, is often used. For example, CHU stations from North America.
At "Vernadsky" since 2010, sounding of the ionosphere on ultra-long radio lines using signals from stations of the exact time service has been carried out with the help of a digital receiving and measuring complex, which includes WiNRADiO WR-G313i receivers. During this year's seasonal expedition, a new modern WiNRADiO WR‑G35 DDC receiver, capable of receiving signals simultaneously on several frequencies, was installed at the station.
It was he who recorded the signals during the eclipse of the Sun. During the experiment, he received signals not only from the Canadian station CHU, but also from the radio station WWVH, located in Hawaii.
This made it possible to obtain valuable information about the state of the ionosphere directly in the eclipse zone. For example, does the propagation of radio waves appear in the reverse path, how does the height of the ionosphere layers and the number of ionized particles change under the influence of rapid changes in ionizing radiation.
Taking this into account, scientists will be able to improve models of the ionosphere. They are used to improve the quality of positioning in global navigation satellite systems, predict the conditions of ionospheric radio communication between remote regions of the world, communicate with satellites, etc.