To study the ionosphere using LOFAR, strong radio sources such as Cassiopeia A or Cygnus A are typically observed. However, few studies have explored the use of other sources, such as those from the 3C catalogue, for detecting ionospheric fluctuations.
Scintillation observations of more sources simultaneously allow for probing differences in the spatial distribution of ionospheric disturbances. When such observations are carried out with multiple LOFAR stations, the results are comparable to those obtained from other instruments, such as GNSS. Moreover, combining LOFAR data with those of other instruments can lead to new scientific insights.
Currently, work is investigating the possible calibration algorithm and observation conditions. This would allow us to use sources from the 3C catalogue to study ionospheric processes. Currently, the biggest challenge is to remove the A-Team source flux from 3C source observations.