Articles | Volume 24, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-24-2413-2006
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-24-2413-2006
20 Sep 2006
 | 20 Sep 2006

The solar eruption of 13 May 2005: EISCAT and MERLIN observations of a coronal radio burst

R. A. Jones, A. R. Breen, R. A. Fallows, M. M. Bisi, P. Thomasson, G. Wannberg, and C. A. Jordan

Abstract. We report results from EISCAT and MERLIN observations of radio scintillation during a solar eruptive event in May 2005. Anomalous increases in signal strength detected at sites more than 2000 km apart are shown to arise from the detection of a strong coronal radio burst in the distant off-axis response of the MERLIN and EISCAT antennas. These observations show that EISCAT is capable of detecting the signatures of explosive events in the solar atmosphere with a high degree of time resolution. We further suggest that the highly time-structured variation in signal strength caused by distant off-axis detection of a powerful coronal radio signal could provide an explanation for previously unexplained anomalies in EISCAT IPS observations, as well as being a potential source of errors in active observations using radar codes with a completion time longer than the time-variation of the coronal signal.