The initiative promotes scientific education and research on the African continent, contributing to the understanding of the mysteries of space and the Earth's ionosphere.
L'National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), L ' e are proud to announce the organization of the first Eastern Africa Capacity Building Workshop on Space Weather and Low-latitude Ionosphere. The international event takes place in Malindi, Kenya, at the Luigi Broglio – Malindi Space Center (BSC), from 3 to 12 October 2023.
The initiative sees the participation of around 30 students and young researchers from Africa and represents an opportunity to enrich one's knowledge through lessons held by internationally renowned teachers, carrying out experimental activities with the advanced instrumentation for ionospheric measurements made available provision by INGV at the BSC.
The study of the Earth's ionosphere plays a fundamental role in our understanding of the planet and in the development of predictive and mitigation tools to address the harmful effects of adverse space weather conditions on technological systems and human health. However, to achieve these objectives, it is essential to have global coverage of measurements obtained from both ground-based instruments and satellites. Unfortunately, many regions of the world, including Africa, still suffer from a shortage of such measures.
To face this challenge, about four years ago, INGV and ASI joined forces in the NORISK (New Observatory for Real-time Ionospheric Sounding over Kenya) project, within the framework agreement existing since 2017 between the two institutions. The project, coordinated by INGV researcher Claudio Cesaroni, allowed the creation of a permanent multi-instrumental ionospheric observatory at the BSC.
As underlined by Giancarlo Santilli, ASI manager of NORISK, the observatory is already operational and hosts an ionoprobe and a GNSS receiver for ionospheric monitoring, making real-time data freely accessible to the entire scientific community.
Bruno Nava, ICTP researcher, highlighted that an essential part of the project is the organization of training activities for African students and young researchers. This will allow them to actively contribute to scientific research on topics related to Space and related sciences in their home countries.
Useful links
Web page of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV)
