Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array

Low-frequency, wide field-of-view (FOV) radio telescopes such as the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) enable the ionosphere to be sampled at high spatial completeness. We present the results of the first power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations in MWA data, where we examined the position o...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Loi, S., Trott, Cathryn, Murphy, T., Cairns, I., Bell, M., Hurley-Walker, Natasha, Morgan, John, Lenc, E., Offringa, A., Feng, L., Hancock, P., Kaplan, D., Kudryavtseva, N., Bernardi, G., Bowman, J., Briggs, F., Cappallo, R., Corey, B., Deshpande, A., Emrich, D., Gaensler, B., Goeke, R., Greenhill, L., Hazelton, B., Johnston-Hollitt, M., Kasper, J., Kratzenberg, E., Lonsdale, C., Lynch, Mervyn, Mcwhirter, S., Mitchell, D., Morales, M., Morgan, E., Oberoi, D., Ord, S., Prabu, T., Rogers, A., Roshi, A., Shankar, N., Srivani, K., Subrahmanyan, R., Tingay, Steven, Waterson, M., Wayth, Randall, Webster, R., Whitney, A., Williams, A., Williams, C.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2015
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE140100316
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5549
_version_ 1848744827937619968
author Loi, S.
Trott, Cathryn
Murphy, T.
Cairns, I.
Bell, M.
Hurley-Walker, Natasha
Morgan, John
Lenc, E.
Offringa, A.
Feng, L.
Hancock, P.
Kaplan, D.
Kudryavtseva, N.
Bernardi, G.
Bowman, J.
Briggs, F.
Cappallo, R.
Corey, B.
Deshpande, A.
Emrich, D.
Gaensler, B.
Goeke, R.
Greenhill, L.
Hazelton, B.
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
Kasper, J.
Kratzenberg, E.
Lonsdale, C.
Lynch, Mervyn
Mcwhirter, S.
Mitchell, D.
Morales, M.
Morgan, E.
Oberoi, D.
Ord, S.
Prabu, T.
Rogers, A.
Roshi, A.
Shankar, N.
Srivani, K.
Subrahmanyan, R.
Tingay, Steven
Waterson, M.
Wayth, Randall
Webster, R.
Whitney, A.
Williams, A.
Williams, C.
author_facet Loi, S.
Trott, Cathryn
Murphy, T.
Cairns, I.
Bell, M.
Hurley-Walker, Natasha
Morgan, John
Lenc, E.
Offringa, A.
Feng, L.
Hancock, P.
Kaplan, D.
Kudryavtseva, N.
Bernardi, G.
Bowman, J.
Briggs, F.
Cappallo, R.
Corey, B.
Deshpande, A.
Emrich, D.
Gaensler, B.
Goeke, R.
Greenhill, L.
Hazelton, B.
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
Kasper, J.
Kratzenberg, E.
Lonsdale, C.
Lynch, Mervyn
Mcwhirter, S.
Mitchell, D.
Morales, M.
Morgan, E.
Oberoi, D.
Ord, S.
Prabu, T.
Rogers, A.
Roshi, A.
Shankar, N.
Srivani, K.
Subrahmanyan, R.
Tingay, Steven
Waterson, M.
Wayth, Randall
Webster, R.
Whitney, A.
Williams, A.
Williams, C.
author_sort Loi, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Low-frequency, wide field-of-view (FOV) radio telescopes such as the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) enable the ionosphere to be sampled at high spatial completeness. We present the results of the first power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations in MWA data, where we examined the position offsets of radio sources appearing in two data sets. The refractive shifts in the positions of celestial sources are proportional to spatial gradients in the electron column density transverse to the line of sight. These can be used to probe plasma structures and waves in the ionosphere. The regional (10–100 km) scales probed by the MWA, determined by the size of its FOV and the spatial density of radio sources (typically thousands in a single FOV), complement the global (100–1000 km) scales of GPS studies and local (0.01–1 km) scales of radar scattering measurements. Our data exhibit a range of complex structures and waves. Some fluctuations have the characteristics of traveling ionospheric disturbances, while others take the form of narrow, slowly drifting bands aligned along the Earth's magnetic field.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T06:07:39Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-5549
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T06:07:39Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Blackwell Publishing Ltd
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-55492022-09-01T02:31:00Z Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array Loi, S. Trott, Cathryn Murphy, T. Cairns, I. Bell, M. Hurley-Walker, Natasha Morgan, John Lenc, E. Offringa, A. Feng, L. Hancock, P. Kaplan, D. Kudryavtseva, N. Bernardi, G. Bowman, J. Briggs, F. Cappallo, R. Corey, B. Deshpande, A. Emrich, D. Gaensler, B. Goeke, R. Greenhill, L. Hazelton, B. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kasper, J. Kratzenberg, E. Lonsdale, C. Lynch, Mervyn Mcwhirter, S. Mitchell, D. Morales, M. Morgan, E. Oberoi, D. Ord, S. Prabu, T. Rogers, A. Roshi, A. Shankar, N. Srivani, K. Subrahmanyan, R. Tingay, Steven Waterson, M. Wayth, Randall Webster, R. Whitney, A. Williams, A. Williams, C. Low-frequency, wide field-of-view (FOV) radio telescopes such as the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) enable the ionosphere to be sampled at high spatial completeness. We present the results of the first power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations in MWA data, where we examined the position offsets of radio sources appearing in two data sets. The refractive shifts in the positions of celestial sources are proportional to spatial gradients in the electron column density transverse to the line of sight. These can be used to probe plasma structures and waves in the ionosphere. The regional (10–100 km) scales probed by the MWA, determined by the size of its FOV and the spatial density of radio sources (typically thousands in a single FOV), complement the global (100–1000 km) scales of GPS studies and local (0.01–1 km) scales of radar scattering measurements. Our data exhibit a range of complex structures and waves. Some fluctuations have the characteristics of traveling ionospheric disturbances, while others take the form of narrow, slowly drifting bands aligned along the Earth's magnetic field. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5549 10.1002/2015RS005711 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE140100316 Blackwell Publishing Ltd fulltext
spellingShingle Loi, S.
Trott, Cathryn
Murphy, T.
Cairns, I.
Bell, M.
Hurley-Walker, Natasha
Morgan, John
Lenc, E.
Offringa, A.
Feng, L.
Hancock, P.
Kaplan, D.
Kudryavtseva, N.
Bernardi, G.
Bowman, J.
Briggs, F.
Cappallo, R.
Corey, B.
Deshpande, A.
Emrich, D.
Gaensler, B.
Goeke, R.
Greenhill, L.
Hazelton, B.
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
Kasper, J.
Kratzenberg, E.
Lonsdale, C.
Lynch, Mervyn
Mcwhirter, S.
Mitchell, D.
Morales, M.
Morgan, E.
Oberoi, D.
Ord, S.
Prabu, T.
Rogers, A.
Roshi, A.
Shankar, N.
Srivani, K.
Subrahmanyan, R.
Tingay, Steven
Waterson, M.
Wayth, Randall
Webster, R.
Whitney, A.
Williams, A.
Williams, C.
Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array
title Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array
title_full Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array
title_fullStr Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array
title_full_unstemmed Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array
title_short Power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array
title_sort power spectrum analysis of ionospheric fluctuations with the murchison widefield array
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE140100316
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5549