Development of a coronal mass ejection arrival time forecasting system using interplanetary scintillation observations

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) cause disturbances in the environment of the Earth when they arrive at the Earth. However, the prediction of the arrival of CMEs still remains a challenge. We have developed an interplanetary scintillation (IPS) estimation system based on a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the inner heliosphere to predict the arrival time of CMEs. In this system, the initial speed of a CME is roughly derived from white light coronagraph observations. Then, the propagation of the CME is calculated by a global MHD simulation. The IPS response is estimated by the three-dimensional density distribution of the inner heliosphere derived from the MHD simulation. The simulated IPS response is compared with the actual IPS observations made by the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, and shows good agreement with that observed. We demonstrated how the simulation system works using a halo CME event generated by a X9.3 flare observed on September 5, 2017. We find that the CME simulation that best estimates the IPS observation can more accurately predict the time of arrival of the CME at the Earth. These results suggest that the accuracy of the CME arrival time can be improved if our current MHD simulations include IPS data.Comment: 39 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Earth, Planets and Spac

OCTAD-S: Digital Fast Fourier Transform Spectrometers by FPGA

We have developed a digital fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectrometer made of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The base instrument has independent ADC and FPGA modules, which allow us to implement different spectrometers in a relatively easy manner. Two types of spectrometers have been instrumented, one with 4.096 GS/s sampling speed and 2048 frequency channels and the other with 2.048 GS/s sampling speed and 32768 frequency channels. The signal processing in these spectrometers has no dead time and the accumulated spectra are recorded in external media every 8 ms. A direct sampling spectroscopy up to 8 GHz is achieved by a microwave track-and-hold circuit, which can reduce the analog receiver in front of the spectrometer. Highly stable spectroscopy with a wide dynamic range was demonstrated in a series of laboratory experiments and test observations of solar radio bursts.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Earth, Planets and Spac