Solar radio observations and their application in the space weather

Abstract:

Over the last few decades our dependence on technological assets is rapidly increasing, inducing the need for reliable space weather forecasting.

The coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and associated shocks, together with the fast solar wind, are the main drivers of space weather at Earth, and they are responsible for the geomagnetic storms. Therefore, the accurate predictions of their arrival to Earth is one of the most important topics in the space weather research and operations. Observations of solar radio emission associated with CMEs and CME-driven shock waves are unique means for tracking the shocks. The shock associated radio emission can be observed in a broad frequency range (from several hundred MHz down to a few kHz), which encompasses the whole solar atmosphere and the inner heliosphere. Moreover, radio observations can provide unique information on the coronal parameters e.g. coronal magnetic field strength, coronal electron density and even the velocity of the background solar wind and CMEs.

In this presentation I will focus on the application of the solar radio observations in the space weather studies and operational space weather forecasting. I will discuss how different types of radio observations can be used in the space weather research and operations, such as ground based (e.g. LOFAR, MWA) and space based observations (STEREO/Waves and WIND/Waves). I will also discuss the possibility for employing the information obtained from the radio observations as an input to the heliospheric models (ENLIL and EUHFORIA), or for the validation of the models.