Uruguay´s site gathering data

After solving different problems regarding the gathering of data we are finally being able to start working in the project. The children are very enthusiastic about it and are learning different facts about the Sun. We started by introducing the Sun and now we are working with UV rays using the detecting beads and changing variables in order to see how they react. So far, they have been able to observe that inside they are not affected by the UV rays and that outside the ray is weaker in shades. We made an observation sheet for them to complete and we will now try the beads under water, fabrics, glass and dark glasses. The children record the information after carrying out the different observations and they are becoming aware on how to protect themselves from the UV rays. Then, we will discuss the different layers in the atmosphere and how the SID works and from there we will start analizing the data and building a school board with it to see the changes throughout the days. Let you know about that soon. Cheers.

Strange drops in NAA signal strength

Earlier I wrote about about how quiet the Sun is lately. As a matter of fact, it hasn't been that peaceful in the last 50 years. Still, it is worth to have a look at the data you collect. Michael Jefferson (running the LOFAR monitor) noticed that at around 02:45 until 03:45 the signal level of the NAA transmitter in Cutler Creek drops quite a lot. It is something I had also noticed and we quickly agreed that this was not caused by out SID monitors but is actually a drop in the signal level of the transmitter. If you go to the SID data browser and single out a couple of the monitors listening to NAA only, you can see that effect. In this picture at this link, you see at the left the drop in signal. Between 10:00 and 22:00 GMT, the signal is completely absent. This is apparently the regular scheduled maintenance period.

Chatting about this, Mike remarked that this is perhaps done to allow painting jobs of the transmitting towers in 1-hours shifted under lower power levels. I personally doubt this, because going up and down the towers leaves hardly any time for the actual painting. Googling around a bit I found that Wikipedia actually mention that painting of the towers is a non-trivial job. They explain that there are actually two arrays of antennas and that one is shut off or '"grounded" when the other half is painted. BTW, the paint itself is apparently somewhat of a health hazard. They also did got a fine because of air pollution.

I was thinking about asking the site itself about the drop in signal, but I cannot find a public contact point. As a matter of fact. according to this EPA report, there are not a lot of public contact points.

Going back to the signal level drops. The Moore observatory in Kentucky is also looking at the NAA and you will find the drops there as well, although not as prominent as we see it. However, this is a pretty good example, while it is also interesting to compare their data on the date with the link above. The drop is hard to see, but the maintenance period is obvious.

So, even when there is not a lot of activity on the sun, there is still a lot to learn from the SID data! :-).

SID MEXICO-UMSNH (FIRST DATA)

Hello all,

We just started working on the SID monitor in Michoacan, Mexico. We are 4 students (Vianey, Humberto, Juan and Cesar) of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo (UMSNH) under the supervision of Dr. Ernesto Aguilar Rodriguez (UNAM/MEXART). After some testing of our the antenna, we will be ready to upload our first measurements by this week. We hope to share our experiences on the SID Monitor Project soon.

Regards,
SID MEXICO-UMSNH

There is some intriguing research about whether large earthquakes are
associated with ionospheric changes. A good overview is the article
by Friedemann Freund, "Predicting Earthquakes," in The Economist, 14
December 2005.

In the laboratory, the crushing of rock crystalline structures generates
electromagnetic fields. The theory is that similar events in the Earth
can affect the ionosphere and thus show up as precursors to large
earthquakes. This research is still controversial and, if there are
effects, they may be too subtle for the SID instruments to pick up.
However, at least one research group claims to have found unusual sunset
signatures associated with the devastating earthquake and tsunami
of December 2004. The paper is: Unusual Sunset Terminator behavior
of VLF signals at 17kHz during the Earthquake episode of Dec., 2004
(http://www.ursi.org/Proceedings/ProcGA05/pdf/EP.18(01596).pdf). They
found the sunset signature was shifted later by 9 minutes, a significant
change. One would think that, for a monitor to pick up these changes,
the epicenter of a large quake would need to fall on or near the line
between the transmitter and receiver. However, these researchers and
the transmitter were in India, a good ways from the epicenter.

Here are some additional references:

Fraser-Smith, A. C., A. Bernardi, P. R. McGill, M. E. Ladd,
R. A. Helliwell, and O. G. Villard, Jr., "Low-Frequency Magnetic Field
Measurements near the Epicenter of the Ms 7.1 Loma Prieta Earthquake,"
Geophys. Res. Letters, 17,1465-1468, 1990

Hayakawa, M, O.A. Molchanov, T. Ondoh, & E. Kawai, Precursory signature of the Kobe
earthquake on VLF subionospheric signal. J Atmos Electr, 16, p. 247,
1996.

Molchanov, O. A., and M. Hayakawa, "Subionospheric VLF
signal perturbations possibly related to earthquakes" J. Geophys. Res.,
vol. 103, p. 17 489, 1998.

Chakrabarti, S K, M Saha, R Khan, S Mandal, K Acharyya, R Saha.
"Unusual sunset terminator behavior of VLF signals at 17 kHz during
the Earthquake episode of Dec. 2004". URSI General Assembly, 2005.

New Google-Earth-based SID and AWESOME map available

We now have a Google Earth
implementation of the map of SID and AWESOME sites:
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/SID/map/
This is our beta version. Once it's fully tested, we'll
link it onto the SID data website.

Please send email to sid@sun.stanford.edu if you find
any errors or problems.

Thanks!

Deborah Scherrer

Without flare

Lots of people have by now noticed by now that not a lot is happening at the sun lately. The article "What's wrong at the sun (Nothing)"  explains that this is nothing to worry about. These boring non-exiting times apparently do happen all the time! Patience and science are related I'm afraid.

jaap

SID earthquake early warning

Some time ago somebody here said something about SID being able to predict earthquakes. Now I have read this:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20080605&articleId=9225
Can anybody elaborate? :)

SID in Southern Stars

We have had an article printed in the March 2008 edition of "Southern Stars" (Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand).

If any one is interested it can be downloaded as a pdf from:
http://203.97.20.134:7777/uploads/SouthernStarsSID.pdf

Stuart Weston