Using the Murchison Widefield Array to observe midlatitude space weather

Midlatitude space weather events are being monitored at a location in Western Australia (–26.7° latitude, 116.7° longitude, and –38° magnetic latitude). This location is that of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a new low radio frequency array (80 to 300 MHz) being built with the objective of developing powerful new capabilities for radio astronomy, solar, heliospheric, and ionospheric science. The MWA is a radio interferometer that images large fields of view with unprecedented fidelity and dynamic range at these frequencies. With respect to the ionosphere, it will be able to make important new measurements of ionospheric scintillation and improve our understanding of midlatitude space weather events in the Southern Hemisphere. For example, by studying midlatitude space weather events in the Australian sector, the seasonal and geomagnetic dependencies of storm enhanced density (SED) can be characterized and separated from other forces that may impact its formation elsewhere, such as in the longitudinal sector of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA). After full commissioning, the MWA will consist of 2048 dipole antennas arranged as 128 “tiles,” each being a 4 × 4 array of dual-polarization dipoles. Currently, an engineering prototype comprising 32 tiles has been installed and has been used to observe the Faraday rotation from a linearly polarized satellite beacon on the DMSP-15 satellite. We will report on these initial observations of ionospheric Faraday rotation and on results from GPS receivers located at the site and elsewhere in the Australian continent. We will also discuss future space weather products enabled by the MWA.