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Radio Caustics and Cusps in the Earth’s Ionosphere

-- | March 20, 2016

Question: Hi! My question is about ionospheric caustics (IC). In dynamic spectra of several radio telescopes during daily solar observations there are unusual patterns. They are not identified with well-known solar radio bursts. I found that Bruny Island Radio Spectrometer (BIRS) team recognized such events as ionospheric caustics (for example, see BIRS data at 2014 January, 08 from 080100 UT to 085500 UT). There are no papers about signatures of ionospheric caustics in dynamic spectra. Where could I find any references about IC? What is the physical explanation of the events? — Artem

Answer: After some searching I found an article entitled “Radio Caustics and Cusps in the Ionosphere” that looks like it might be able to provide the background you are looking for. Hopefully this article contains the information you are looking for.

Jeff Mangum

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