Paper detail

Digitizing analogic spectrograms recorded by the Nançay Decameter Array on 35 mm film rolls from 1970 to 1990

The Nançay Decameter Array (NDA), which has now passed 40 years old, acquires daily observations of Jovian and Solar low frequency radio emissions over a continuous spectrum ranging from 10 up to 100MHz, forming the largest database of LW radio observations of these two bodies. It also intermittently observed intense radio sources since its opening in 1977. Before that date, decametric observations were conducted on the same site with an interferometer formed of a pair of log-periodic Yagi antennas mounted on mobile booms. These observations have been recorded with a series of analogic recorders (before 1990) and then digital receivers (after 1990), with increasing performances and sensitivities. The NDA scientific team recently retrieved and inventoried the archives of analogic data (35mm film rolls) covering two decades (1970 to 1990). We now plan to digitize those observations, in order to recover their scientific value and to include them into the currently operational database covering a time span starting in 1990 up to now, still adding new files every day. This modern and interoperable database has virtual observatory interfaces. It is a required element to foster scientific data exploitation, including Jovian and Solar data analysis over long timescales. We present the status of this project.