Methods of Observing and Characterising the Ionosphere with SKA-Low

Abstract

The ionosphere and its behaviour critically affects ground-based radio instruments at low frequencies, and radio interferometry has been used as a probe of the ionosphere since the earliest days of radio astronomy. In this chapter, we aim to give an overview of the ionosphere and its salient properties in the mid-latitudes where the SKAO instruments are located. We provide a comprehensive review of its impact on the astrophysical radio signals which traverse it. We then focus on the ionosphere as a phase screen, and the many ways in which the ionospheric structure can be measured using a low-frequency interferometer such as SKA-Low. Our aim here is to provide the broadest possible spectrum of measurement approaches. We place particular emphasis on the wide range of innovative approaches that have been developed for SKA precursors and pathfinders over the last decade, however we also draw attention to other approaches, some untested, that appear in the literature. Next, we consider an innovative approach for deducing the detailed physical conditions in the ionosphere from SKA observables via iterative simulations with a sophisticated physical model from which the interferometric response can be forward-modelled. This approach has proven extremely successful for interpreting large scale observations in the complex polar region of the ionosphere, and we discuss how it can be applied to the SKA-Low. Finally, we provide a summary of the technical requirements which will ensure viability of the various techniques discussed.