Bulgaria's first polar astronomy project will take place in 2024-2025

"Impact of solar activity on ionospheric dynamics and high-energy particle fluxes over Antarctica" is the title of the first Bulgarian polar astronomical scientific research project, which will take place in 2024-2025 on the territory of the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingstone Island.

The team of scientists from the Institute of Astronomy with National Astronomical Observatory at the Bulgarian Academy of Science, the Technical University - Sofia and the Higher Naval School "N. J. Vaptsarov", which will work on its implementation, is headed by associate professor Dr. Kamen Kozarev. The research project has been approved in the competition for financing polar research of the National Center for Polar Research at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski".

The study of the Sun and solar activity is extremely important to us humans and to the Earth's biosphere. Sometimes solar storms reach the planet and lead to geomagnetic activity. The solar cycle is expected to peak in 2025, and solar flare events will occur almost daily. Strong and short-lived electromagnetic radiations change the density and structure of the Earth's ionosphere. This leads to a change in its reflective properties and causes interference in radio communications.

For the first time, the pulsations in the Earth's ionosphere caused by solar storms will be studied in detail from the polar base on Livingston Island. In fact, the main goal of the project is the study of the activity of the solar corona - solar flares and mass ejections from it. High-frequency radio observations, which will be carried out with the equipment prepared under the project, will provide valuable information about the speed and energy of coronal solar mass ejections.

Daily multi-hour radio observations of the Sun will be conducted on the territory of the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingstone Island, which has a unique location due to its proximity to the South Pole of the Earth. The place was also chosen because of its extremely quiet radio location. This will allow the study of pulsations in solar flares and features of shock waves in the solar corona.

Scientists will also make observations of solar cosmic rays, consisting of particles accelerated during solar flares. In addition to electromagnetic radiation, solar flares accelerate ions that spread throughout the solar corona and into interplanetary space. They reach the Earth's magnetosphere and get the easiest access to the circumpolar regions due to the peculiar geometry of the Earth's magnetic field. With the help of scientific research on this project, it will be possible to answer the important question of when and where these streams of solar cosmic rays are accelerated.

During the Antarctic summer, continuous radio spectral observations of solar activity will be possible for up to 20 hours per day. Observations of the change in the ionospheric layer will be made simultaneously from Livingston Island, from Bulgaria and from Ireland. This will make it possible to use the ionosphere as a giant detector during solar activity. Scientific experiments will help to fully investigate peak solar flares and their effects on the Earth system.