Source code and update actions for the KO6BTY/KD0FNR Global Ionosphere F2 map

Data provided by NOAA GloTEC.
KO6BTY and myself, KD0FNR, are the creators of Project TouCans, a crystal radio tranciever and amplifier. We operate on the 20 meter band at 14.0754 MHz, using Morse code. Via ionospheric skip Hamie has talked to Argentina from Colorado and I recently contacted Sweden from Albuquerque.

We map our contacts vs. the F2 layer height to get an idea of the skip path. Amateur operators in general are interested in the height of the F2 layer and the critical frequency foF2 along with the maximum usable frequency over 3,000 km paths, (mufd(3,000km)). They use these numbers to decide what band to use, or whether or not to attempt F2 skip communications.

We were using digisondes to retrieve this information, and to map our QSOs, but there are only a few ionosondes on the air at any given time. onsequently, we became curious if there was more data available. We found COSMIC-2, made use of that data, and both of us presented posters at COSMIC / JCSDA Workshop and IROWG-10. While there, scientists from UCAR made KO6BTY aware of the GloTEC data set.

She and I have been working with that data and have created a global map of the most recent hmF2, and foF2 data, and a calculated value for mufd(3,000km), using the Cesium Ion mapping framework. Here are a few screenshots:

The grid squares are color coded on either the foF2 or mufd scale depending on which map is viewed. The ‘spires’ are color coded on the hmF2 scale and extend upwards to each spires’ corresponding hmF2 height in km.

The map is hosted though github and Cesium Sandcastle at no cost to us. Users can view the most recent GloTEC data for their area by exploring the map.

The map is hosted on one of our blog pages and can be viewed here.

Implementation notes

The png and html image map creation steps are done in the Datasette plugins that create the czml files.