August 2017 Solar Eclipse Amateur Radio Science

March 6, 2017

Groups are planning to use several HF Amateur Radio monitoring efforts to characterize the impact of this solar eclipse vs. previous eclipses. Occurring essentially at local noon, and lasting for over 2 minutes in totality near the center of the eclipse path, several notable effects will occur in the Earth’s ionosphere.

The D-region recombination will settle out quickly near totality. E-region changes are also expected to be detectable as the gradual increase and decrease of the eclipse evolve over hours. Previous eclipses have shown f0F2 to be impacted as well. Modeling is needed to determine the best frequency coverage for PiRadar as well as amateur radio stations that want to participate in other modes of operation.