Detecting space weather events with subionospheric VLF observations: Producing quiet day curves from AARDDVARK data

The ionization rate of the upper atmosphere can be significantly increased by space weather events, examples being solar proton events (SPE), solar flares and energetic electron precipitation from the radiation belts. In this study we use radio wave observations from the AARDDVARK receivers located at Edmonton, Canada and Scott Base, Antarctica to determine the typical behavior of the received amplitude so as to determine the Quiet Day Curve (QDC) and perturbations from that curve. We will present work we are undertaking to develop an algorithm to automatically define the QDC for a given transmitter-receiver path from many years worth of observations.