Dartmouth Events

Abstract: We developed a technique for tracking traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) through Doppler-shifted AM radio transmissions. The experimental design consists of a ring of sensors around the 810 kHz, clear channel, AM station in Schenectady, New York. We have validated the capabilities of this technique for identifying and characterizing TIDs with three internal methods of determining the phase velocity and direction of propagation and also through comparison with other established techniques such as Global Navigation Satellite System Total Electron Content (GNSS TEC) mapping. In addition, we demonstrate the capacity for full automation of analysis and determine that the upper half of the AM band yields increased amplitudes and more consistent event detection. Since this technique has inexpensive hardware and its analysis system can be fully automated, it has the potential to become a large scale network for tracking TIDs which is distinct, but complementary to currently available techniques.