Context.Type II radio bursts are evidence of shocks in the solar atmosphere and inner heliosphere that emit radio waves ranging from sub-meter to kilometer lengths. These shocks may be associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and reach speeds higher than the local magnetosonic speed. Radio imaging of decameter wavelengths (20–90 MHz) is now possible with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), opening a new radio window in which to study coronal shocks that leave the inner solar corona and enter the interplanetary medium and to understand their association with CMEs.Aims.To this end, we study a coronal shock associated with a CME and type II radio burst to determine the locations at which the radio emission is generated, and we investigate the origin of the band-splitting phenomenon.Methods.Thetype II shock source-positions and spectra were obtained using 91 simultaneous tied-array beams of LOFAR, and the CME was observed by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and by the COR2A coronagraph of the SECCHI instruments on board the Solar Terrestrial Relation Observatory(STEREO). The 3D structure was inferred using triangulation of the coronographic observations. Coronal magnetic fields were obtained from a 3D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) polytropic model using the photospheric fields measured by the Heliospheric Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) as lower boundary.Results.The type II radio source of the coronal shock observed between 50 and 70 MHz was found to be located at the expanding flank of the CME, where the shock geometry is quasi-perpendicular withθ_Bn~ 70°. The type II radio burst showed first and second harmonic emission; the second harmonic source was cospatial with the first harmonic source to within the observational uncertainty. This suggests that radio wave propagation does not alter the apparent location of the harmonic source. The sources of the two split bands were also found to be cospatial within the observational uncertainty, in agreement with the interpretation that split bands are simultaneous radio emission from upstream and downstream of the shock front. The fast magnetosonic Mach number derived from this interpretation was found to lie in the range 1.3–1.5. The fast magnetosonic Mach numbers derived from modelling the CME and the coronal magnetic field around the type II source were found to lie in the range 1.4–1.6.

Shock waves in the solar corona are closely associated with coronal mass ejections and flares. The longest-known and frequently studied signatures of coronal shock waves are metric type II radio bursts, which provide information on the shock driver and ambient plasma conditions. We report on outstanding high frequency/time resolution LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) observations of a metric type II radio burst. The LOFAR observations show a strong fragmentation of the type II emission, in both the frequency and time domains, during the whole duration of the event. A very unusual splitting of an already-split type II band, which we call the band-split of the band-split, was observed for the first time. The richness of fine structure, observed in both the fundamental and harmonic bands of the type II emission, is unprecedented. Fine structures, morphologically similar to those seen superposed on a type IV continuum, were observed for the first time within a type II burst. We classify the fine structures into three categories: simple narrowband, broadband, and complex fine structures, and discuss their properties. LOFAR observations of fragmented shock-associated radio emission have the potential of bringing new insight into the physics of coronal shock waves, and also new challenges for the theory of electron acceleration by shocks.

Context. The quiet solar corona emits meter-wave thermal bremsstrahlung. Coronal radio emission can only propagate above that radius, R_ω, where the local plasma frequency equals the observing frequency. The radio interferometer LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) observes in its low band (10–90 MHz) solar radio emission originating from the middle and upper corona. Aims. We present the first solar aperture synthesis imaging observations in the low band of LOFAR in 12 frequencies each separated by 5 MHz. From each of these radio maps we infer R_ω, and a scale height temperature, T. These results can be combined into coronal density and temperature profiles. Methods. We derived radial intensity profiles from the radio images. We focus on polar directions with simpler, radial magnetic field structure. Intensity profiles were modeled by ray-tracing simulations, following wave paths through the refractive solar corona, and including free-free emission and absorption. We fitted model profiles to observations with R_ω and T as fitting parameters. Results. In the low corona, R_ω < 1.5 solar radii, we find high scale height temperatures up to 2.2 × 10⁶ K, much more than the brightness temperatures usually found there. But if all R_ω values are combined into a density profile, this profile can be fitted by a hydrostatic model with the same temperature, thereby confirming this with two independent methods. The density profile deviates from the hydrostatic model above 1.5 solar radii, indicating the transition into the solar wind. Conclusions. These results demonstrate what information can be gleaned from solar low-frequency radio images. The scale height temperatures we find are not only higher than brightness temperatures, but also than temperatures derived from coronograph or extreme ultraviolet (EUV) data. Future observations will provide continuous frequency coverage. This continuous coverage eliminates the need for local hydrostatic density models in the data analysis and enables the analysis of more complex coronal structures such as those with closed magnetic fields.

Radio emission of the quiet Sun is considered to be due to thermal bremsstrahlung emission of the hot solar atmosphere. The properties of the quiet Sun in the microwave band have been well studied, and they can be well described by the spectrum of bremsstrahlung emission. In the meter-wave and decameter-wave bands, properties of the quiet Sun have rarely been studied due to the instrumental limitations. In this work, we use the LOw Frequency ARray telescope to perform high quality interferometric imaging spectroscopy observations of quiet Sun coronal emission at frequencies below 90 MHz. We present the brightness temperature spectrum and the size of the Sun in the frequency range of 20–80 MHz. We report on dark coronal regions with low brightness temperatures that persist with frequency. The brightness temperature spectrum of the quiet Sun is discussed and compared with the bremsstrahlung emission of a coronal model and previous quiet Sun observations.

This paper presents the results from one of the first observations of ionospheric scintillation taken using the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR). The observation was of the strong natural radio source Cassiopeia A, taken overnight on 18–19 August 2013, and exhibited moderately strong scattering effects in dynamic spectra of intensity received across an observing bandwidth of 10–80 MHz. Delay-Doppler spectra (the 2-D FFT of the dynamic spectrum) from the first hour of observation showed two discrete parabolic arcs, one with a steep curvature and the other shallow, which can be used to provide estimates of the distance to, and velocity of, the scattering plasma. A cross-correlation analysis of data received by the dense array of stations in the LOFAR “core” reveals two different velocities in the scintillation pattern: a primary velocity of ~20–40 ms⁻¹ with a north-west to south-east direction, associated with the steep parabolic arc and a scattering altitude in the F-region or higher, and a secondary velocity of ~110 ms⁻¹ with a north-east to south-west direction, associated with the shallow arc and a scattering altitude in the D-region. Geomagnetic activity was low in the mid-latitudes at the time, but a weak sub-storm at high latitudes reached its peak at the start of the observation. An analysis of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and ionosonde data from the time reveals a larger-scale travelling ionospheric disturbance (TID), possibly the result of the high-latitude activity, travelling in the north-west to south-east direction, and, simultaneously, a smaller-scale TID travelling in a north-east to south-west direction, which could be associated with atmospheric gravity wave activity. The LOFAR observation shows scattering from both TIDs, at different altitudes and propagating in different directions. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that such a phenomenon has been reported.