Aeronomical and Meteorological Research at Jicamarca Radio Observatory

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Jicamarca Radio Observatory near Lima, Peru serves as the equatorial anchor of the 75th meridian chain of incoherent scatter observatories. Its operation is crucial to a number of joint experiments which trace the flow of energy, momentum and mass from the polar to the equatorial regions of the earth's upper atmosphere. The global responses to the high latitude interactions of the magnetosphere with the polar ionosphere and thermosphere are a subject of great scientific interest and a key area of study in the 1980's and 1990's. The Jicamarca Radio Observatory, for example, is critical to the new NSF initiative CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions). The project will help support the operation of the Jicamarca Radio Observatory and provide funds for a program of experimental research to be conducted at that facility. Jicamarca is one of four radars, forming a meridional chain from Greenland to Peru that are particularly well sited to examine the global energy questions indicated above. It will observe, alone and in combination with the other radars and optical instruments the atmospheric response (i.e., changes in densities, temperatures, winds, and electric fields to high-latitude energy inputs. In addition to the radar chain experiments, research will continue in the following major areas: (1) the dynamics of the neutral atmosphere (winds, waves, and turbulence in the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere); (2) plasma turbulence in the equatorial electroject; (3) the 150km echoing region: (4) equatorial spread F (ESF) irregularities; (5) electric fields in the E and F region during quiet and disturbed periods; and (6) the artificial generation of VLF waves by heating the equatorial electrojet.