SuperDARN: Global-Scale Observations of the High-Latitude Ionosphere

该项目涉及拉布拉多鹅湾雷达的操作和维护。 在过去几年中，已经建立了一个全球范围的高纬度高频雷达网络，以探讨日地研究中的一些关键问题。 该网络的首字母缩写为SuperDARN（超级双极光雷达网络），其中的雷达是基于位于鹅湾的雷达的设计和操作。 这些高频雷达通过对小尺度电离层不规则结构后向散射信号的多普勒测量来感测电离层等离子体运动。 新的雷达由英国、加拿大、芬兰、法国和南极洲资助;还有四个将在未来16个月内完成。 除了操作和维护外，调查人员还将确保控制雷达的软件得到维护和更新，并将所有雷达的数据收集到共同的数据库中，供包括美国在内的所有参与国感兴趣的科学家使用。并继续进行与SuperDARN数据相关的研究活动。 这些研究包括在变化的行星际磁场和太阳风压下高纬度对流的全球尺度结构和动力学研究，在高纬度电离层成像的瞬态磁层边界过程研究，高纬度E区电场、电流和电导率之间存在的详细关系研究，大尺度MHD共振研究，以及高纬度电离层小规模不规则现象的研究。

This project involved the operation and maintenance of a radar at Goose Bay, Labrador. Over the past several years, a global-scale network of high-latitude HF radars has been developed to probe some of the critical questions in solar-terrestrial research. The network is known by the acronym SuperDARN (Super Dual Auroral Radar Network) and the radars within it are based upon the design and operation of the radar located at Goose Bay. These HF radars sense ionospheric plasma motions from Doppler measurements of signals backscattered from small-scale ionospheric irregularities. The new radars are funded by Britain, Canada, Finland, France and Antarctica; four remain to be completed within the next 16 months. In addition to operation and maintenance, the investigators will insure that the software controlling the radars is maintained and updated, and that data from all of the radars are collected onto common data bases that are available to interested scientists from all participating countries, including the U.S. They will also assist U.S. scientists in the acquisition and use of HF radar data, and continue their own research activities that are associated with the SuperDARN data. These include studies of the global-scale structure and dynamics of high-latitude convection under changing interplanetary magnetic field and solar-wind pressure, studies of transient magnetospheric boundary processes as imaged in the high- latitude ionosphere, studies of the detailed relationships that exist in the high-latitude E-region between electric fields, currents and conductivities, studies of large scale MHD resonances, and studies of small-scale irregularity generation in the high- latitude ionosphere.***