Real-time Data

SGO publishes some of the measured geophysical data from Sodankylä in real time on this page. Here you can find the latest geomagnetic field measurements, all-sky camera picture, and temperature in Tähtelä.

Geomagnetic field: The X, Y, and Z components of the geomagnetic field are measured at a sampling rate of 2 Hz (twice per second). The X component points to the true geographical north, Y to east and Z component points to down to the centre of Earth. There are two plots, one showing the current day including the last 6 hours of the previous day and the other showing the current hour plus the previous hour. Both plots are updated every 5 minutes.

All-Sky Camera: The cameras operate automatically every night from early September to mid April whenever the Sun is more than 10° below the horizon and it is dark enough to see the aurora borealis. Cameras operate on camera-specific schedules, and not all images are uploaded for real-time viewing. More information on the individual camera pages. In addition keograms are available, which show a summary of the photos taken during the night.

Ionogram:A new ionosonde, called as Alpha-Wolf, was taken in routine use on 16th Nov. 2005. Alpha-Wolf replaced the old IS-14 sounder. Alpha-Wolf uses the continuous wave linear frequency sweep method, and the sounding frequencies cover the band 0.5-16 MHz. Sounding interval is usually 10 minutes.Quick look ionograms are available almost in real time and at present the given range resolution is a little better than 3 km, the frequency resolution is about 50 kHz, maximum range is 1500 km, the ordinary mode polarization is used and the nominal dynamic range is 90 dB. Low-level leakage of extraordinary mode can appear in the first order echo.

Temperature: Ground temperature at Tähtelä is recorded near the magnetic huts. The measurement is needed in support of the magnetic observations only. Therefore, the temperature data are not scientific use.

Meteor radar: SGO operates SKiYMET meteor radar together with University of Leicester (UK). Realtime graphs shows latest meteor echos and echos of the present day in 30min bins. Meteor echos are used to estimate winds and temperature in upper athmosphere (80-100km) SLICE Realtime winds and temperatures.