Facilities
Plasmasphere Ionosphere Thermosphere Integrated Research Environment and Access services: a Network of Research Facilities (PITHIA-NRF)
PITHIA-NRF is a European Commission funded Research Infrastructure. PITHIA-NRF integrates on a European scale, and opens up, to all European researchers, key national and regional research infrastructures such as EISCAT, LOFAR, Ionosondes and Digisondes, GNSS receivers, Doppler sounding systems, riometers, and VLF receivers, ensuring optimal use and joint development. Through its Trans-National Access (TNA) programme, PITHIA-NRF provides subsidized access to its nodes for researchers, engineers, system designers and operators to support research and innovation projects in the field of near-Earth space and upper atmosphere. The Ionospheric Group of NOA is one of the PITHIA-NRF nodes. For more information on the TNA Calls, click here.
Warning and Mitigation Technologies for Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances Effects (TechTIDE)
The TechTIDE system (Warning and mitigation technologies for travelling ionospheric disturbances effects) is developed with funding from the European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme. TechTIDE provides a set of data-products designed to support the identification and tracking of travelling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs). The TechTIDE methodologies are able to detect in real time activity caused by both large-scale and medium-scale TIDs and characterize background conditions and external drivers, as an additional information required by the users to assess the criticality of the ongoing disturbances in real time. TechTIDE methodologies are based on the exploitation of data collected in real time from Digisondes, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and Continuous Doppler Sounding System (CDSS) networks. The results are obtained and provided to users in real time.
European Digital Upper Atmosphere Server (DIAS)
The European Digital Upper Atmosphere Server (DIAS) is developed with funding from the European Commission eContent Programme. DIAS offers data-products that characterize the large scale ionospheric conditions in real-time. DIAS data collection is based on real-time information and historical data collections provided by most operating ionospheric stations in Europe. DIAS provides ionograms, European maps of critical ionospheric characteristics in nowcasting and forecasting mode, predictions of thermospheric characteristics based on the IRI model, 2D and 3D electron density profiles and TEC maps.
European Ionosonde Service (EIS)
The European Ionosonde Service (EIS) is an ESA-SSA federate service for ionospheric weather nowcasting and forecasting. EIS releases a set of products to characterize the bottomside and topside ionosphere over Europe. The Service is based on a set of prediction models driven by data from ground-based ionosondes and supportive data from satellites and spacecraft. The service monitors the foF2 and the electron density profile up to the height of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) at European middle and high latitudes and provides estimates for forthcoming disturbances mainly triggered by geo-effective Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).