The citizen science investigation organization HamSCI has asked Canadian officials to halt their planned shutdown later this month of its shortwave time-signal station CHU, saying it has unique and irreplaceable value to researchers and the international scientific community.

A statement on HamSCI's website praises CHU for its longstanding role as a resource in auroral research. Its unprecedented citizen-science study of the 2024 solar eclipse over North America also relied heavily on CHU's capabilities.

The statement says, in part: [quote] "The use of time standard beacons as ionospheric signals of opportunity dates back more than a century to the earliest days of radio science. Today, this time-tested approach is supercharged by inexpensive single-board computers, software defined radios, and the participation of the global amateur radio and shortwave listener community, who have built a growing meta-instrument that spans the continent of North America and points beyond." [endquote]

HamSCI’s flagship project, the Personal Space Weather Station Network, is also closely intertwined with CHU and its remote-sensing capabilities.

There was no statement released in response by the recipient, Dr. Marina Gertsvoff of the NRC.