Monitoring, modelling and forecasting the ionospheric activity
Responsible person: René WarnantOverall description
Nowadays, our modern society relies on many operational technological systems based on the use of radio waves: ground-to-ground and ground-to-satellite telecommunications, radars, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS or Galileo, ... Free electrons in the ionosphere perturb the propagation of radio waves. Indeed, the ionosphere is defined as 'the atmospheric layer where the free electron concentration is sufficient to affect radio wave propagation'. In practice, Space Weather phenomena are often the origin disturbed ionospheric activity conditions which can strongly affect the performances of technological systems based on radio waves. Therefore, it is indispensable to monitor, to model and to forecast the ionospheric activity and its effects on these technological systems.
Long Term Goal
To develop techniques allowing to monitor, to model and to forecast the ionospheric activity (and all Space Weather parameters which have an influence on the ionospheric activity).