# The Status of Space Weather Infrastructure and Research in Africa
## 2 Distribution of Space Weather Infrastructure in Africa
### Space Weather Monitoring
#### 2.1.3 Other Ground-Based Facilities  
Several other ground-based facilities that can be used for space weather monitoring have been deployed in Africa. Figure 5 depicts the distribution of most of the other space weather equipment in Africa.  
The incoherent scatter radar (ISR) is one of the most powerful sounding methods developed to estimate certain properties of the ionosphere. This radar system determines the plasma parameters by sending powerful electromagnetic pulses to the ionosphere and analyzing the received backscatter. This analysis provides information about parameters such as electron and ion temperatures, electron densities, ion composition, and ion drift velocities. Nevertheless, in some cases, ISR analysis has ambiguities in the determination of plasma characteristics. They are in Ethiopia and Nigeria. There is also one under construction in Kenya. (b) Ionosondes The ionosondes are used to generate ionograms and assist in determining the state of the ionosphere and selecting the optimum frequencies for HF radio communication.  
The ionosondes are installed in South Africa (four), Kenya (one), Ethiopia (one), and Nigeria (one). The stations in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria are non-operational. In the Ethiopian case, the electric power supply is unreliable and unstable, and in the Kenyan case, there are issues with system configuration as well as storage of data. Only two of the ionosondes in South Africa are currently operational (HR, GR), while the two others are being refurbished after vandalism and theft.  
A new ionosonde was installed in July 2023 in Malindi, Kenya, at the Broglio Space Center (BSC) managed by the Italian Space Agency and it is the only one operational, at present, outside South Africa.  
(c) Very-Low-Frequency (VLF) and Very-High-Frequency (VHF) receivers  
Several VLF devices have been distributed by Stanford University (USA) and installed in several African countries (See Table 8) to monitor the lower layer of the ionosphere (D layer). They are divided into two groups: those related to the AWESOME (Atmospheric Weather Education System for Observation and Modeling of Effects) network and those related to the SID (Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance Monitor) and super-SID receivers. Besides these, there is also the Compact Astronomical Low-Cost Low-Frequency Instrument for Spectroscopy and Transportable Observatory (_CALLISTO_) _spectrometer_[43, 44], which operates between 45 to 870 MHz. The monitors are installed in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Egypt, Algeria, and South Africa. The principal investigator of CALLISTO is [PERSON] of the Radio Astronomy Group (RAG) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. SANSA operates an e-Callisto Solar Radio Spectrometer ([[http://e-callisto.org/](http://e-callisto.org/)]([http://e-callisto.org/](http://e-callisto.org/))) at Sutherland in South Africa (Lat 32:38\({}^{\circ}\) S, Lon 20:81\({}^{\circ}\) E). Table 8 gives some details of the VLF and VHF receivers installed in Africa.  
Some VHF monitors [11] were installed across the continent by AFRL. The host countries are Congo (Brazzaville), Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.  
Most of North Africa and parts of Central Africa have substantial infrastructure gaps. Several countries in these regions are politically unstable, thus making the installation of ground-based space weather equipment rather difficult. These gaps will need to be filled so that there will be sufficient data to enable adequate coverage of Africa in terms of space weather research.  
Figure 5: Distribution of other infrastructure dedicated to space weather monitoring in Africa.