BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts professor is leading a group of citizen scientists from across the country to use the sky as a laboratory during the upcoming solar eclipse on Monday.
University of Massachusetts Boston assistant engineering professor Kiersten Kerby-Patel and two George Mason University professors are organizing a crowdsourced experiment called “EclipseMob.” They will use inputs from observers across the country to monitor changes in the ionosphere. The data will help scientists understand how radio waves behave during ionospheric disturbances.
The team has shipped 150 student-designed monitoring kits to citizen scientists in 31 states and two countries. Volunteers will use these antennas and receiver circuits to measure the ionospheric activity. A GPS-enabled EclipseMob app on their smartphones will record data and get accurate time and location information.
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