LISN: una red para la caracterización del estado actual y pronóstico de la ionosfera en América del Sur

Abstract

This paper describes the characteristics and illustrates the early measurements of the first distributed observatory that is being installed in the South American region to study the low-latitude ionosphere and upper atmosphere. The LISN distributed observatory will be comprised of nearly 70 GPS receivers with the capability to measure Total Electron Content (TEC), amplitude and phase scintillation and Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs). The network will include 5 ionosondes able to measure nighttime E-region densities and 5 collocated magnetometers that will be placed along the same magnetic meridian. This network of GPS receivers and ionospheric sensors span from north to south in the South American continent and west of the 55º West meridian. They will complement each other to provide new, time continuous and spatially extended observations of the background ionosphere, its motion and the embedded structures over this large dynamic region. The LISN network is being complemented with an assimilative physics-based model that will provide a nowcast of the ionospheric electron density, conductivities, ExB plasma drifts, and neutral winds. This new distributed observatory will bring the opportunity to understand the day-to-day variability and the stability of the low latitude ionosphere and to make forecasts on a regional basis. This paper describes the instrumentation, presents the first measurements and discusses the scientific benefits of the LISN network.