GIFINT

Geomagnetic Indices Forecasting and Ionospheric Nowcasting Tools

Developer

Instituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario

Technical Group

Ionospheric Effects & Activity Forecast

SDA objective

Service for the prediction of geomagnetic indices (Dst index) and nowcasting of  FoF2.

Link to Project WebSite

http://gifint.ifsi.rm.cnr.it

SDA description

GIFINT shall develop two tools.

The first tool will provide the users state of the art forecasting, one hour ahead, of geomagnetic indices, Dst and AE, based on L1 ACE Solar Wind data. Such forecasting will be made using Artificial Neural Network techniques and several such algorithms will be used and compared. The Dst index calculation permits the forecast of large geomagnetic disturbances which have an impact on ionospheric conditions and ultimately on radio propagation.

The second tool, in a complementary way, is devoted to the nowcasting of ionospheric conditions in the middle latitudes over Europe with particular emphasis on radio propagation. The method that will be applied is based on the real-time update of the Simplified Ionospheric Regional Model (SIRM) using autoscaled ionospheric parameters from four real-time digisondes distributed uniformly in Europe, to nowcast the real time maximum electron density of the ionosphere (foF2) as a function of latitude and longitude. Emphasis will be given on the evaluation of the mapping results during periods of enhanced geomagnetic activity.

GIFINT will also perform a series of post event analysis studies, comparing case by case the performance of the two specific tools relative to the user needs and the benefits.

Users

• TELEDIFE: “Direzione generale delle telecomunicazioni , dell'informatica e delle tecnologie avanzate” is a unit of the italian Ministry of Defense, made up of sub-units from the italian Army, Air Force and Navy, which deals with advanced technology.
• “Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (Grandi Eventi Infrastrutture e Logistica) della Presidenza del Consiglio” (i.e. The italian civil protection authority, which deals with natural disasters, risks etc.).

Consortium

• Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), C.N.R., Roma, Italy
• Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Roma, Italy
• Università de l’Aquila, l’Aquila, Italy
• Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, U.K.
• National Observatory of Athens, Greece

Contact / Manager

Dr. Ermanno Amata