Study of Auroral Radio Emissions from Alaska: Continued Observations and Data Analysis

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Despite the intensity with which the aurora has been studied at radio wavelengths, there remains a gap in the ground measurements between a few hundred kiloHertz, the upper range of VLF experiments, and a few tens of megaHertz, at which riometers operate. A number of ground observations indicate that emissions are generated by the aurora in this frequency range, but the observations are spotty, and the nature and even the existence of these emissions remains uncertain. There is some theoretical work justifying the investigation of auroral emissions using ground- based instrumentation, but more systematic observations are needed to lay the groundwork for further theoretical progress. Under a previous NSF grant, a PC-based instrument for monitoring 0.1-5 MHz radio waves from remote sites has been developed and operated for one Winter, a preliminary analysis of the data has been done, and publications on this related subjects have been prepared or published. In the next year, we propose to continue collecting radio data from Alaska with an improved version of the instrument. We further propose three specific plans for completing the analysis of last year's data and the data from the upcoming year. The goals of the further year of study are: 1) to provide a solid start towards clearing up the uncertainty regarding the existence of and/or natures of LF/MF/HF emissions observable on the ground from aurorae; 2) to determine whether the method of using PC-based radio receivers in the Northern Hemisphere shows promise for longer-term observations of auroral emissions in the frequency range; and 3) to complete several specific data analysis goals which are achievable with data collected last year, and which will be enhanced by a further year of data.