US-Poland Research on High-Latitude Ionospheric Scintillation (Aeronomy)

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The objective of this U.S.-Poland research project between Dr. K.C. Yeh of the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and Dr. Andrzej W. Wernik of the Radiophysics Laboratory, Space Research Center, Polish Academy of Science is to study satellite radio beacon scintillation. These studies will provide information about irregular structure of the ionosphere. Recent interest in coupling process between the solar wind, magnetosphere and ionosphere has lead to an increased activity in the high-latitude ionosphere studies. Past cooperative projects on scintillation measurements have been at the Polish Polar Station at Spitsbergen. Using these data, the researchers will: (1) Study more extensively the morphology of scintillation in the auroral, polar cap and polar cusps regions accessible from the Station; (2) Model the highlatitude scintillation avoiding assumptions apparently not satisfied at high latitudes, namely that fluctuations of the electron density are random with a spectrum which has the same form along and across magnetic field, and compare with observations; (3) Apply the approach used in the nonlinear system studies to scintillation and in-situ electron density data. This research will obtain fuller description of the high-latitude scintillation morphology, to improve the scintillation theory, to gain more information about the ionospheric irregular structure at high latitudes. This project in electrical and computer engineering fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling leading experts in the United States and Eastern Europe to combine complementary talents and pool resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence.