The Operation of an ELF/VLF Radiometer at Arrival Heights, Antarctica

在南极洲到达高地监测极低频/极低频无线电噪声（频率范围在5赫兹到32千赫之间）的项目将持续四年，这将使观测记录延长到20多年，并将允许对噪声统计进行更精确的估计。该辐射计于1984-5年南方夏季首次安装在目前位置，此后一直连续运行，从而提供了南极极低频/极低频噪声的记录，其连续性和持续时间是前所未有的。与此同时，一个相同的系统在斯坦福大学校园内运行了几乎相同的时间，从而提供了一个（北方）中纬度比较数据集。由于ELF/VLF无线电噪声的主要来源是发生在热带地区的雷暴，因此到达高度和斯坦福系统提供了热带地区发生的雷暴活动的互补视图。长期统计数据可以提供关于全球变化的独立信息。到达高地记录中的低背景进一步允许确定舒曼共振。这些是存在于地球“电磁”腔（地球表面和电离层之间的空间）中的准驻电磁波。这些共振频率的时间变化可能与电离层特性的变化有关。

This four year continuation of a program to monitor ELF/VLF radio noise (frequencies in the range 5 Hz to 32 kHz) at Arrival Heights, Antarctica, will extend the observational record to more than twenty years, and will allow more precise estimates of noise statistics. The radiometer was first installed at its present location during the austral summer of 1984-5 and has been operated continuously since that time, thus providing a record of ELF/VLF noise in the Antarctic that is unprecedented in its continuity and duration. In parallel with this system, an identical one has been operating on the Stanford University campus for almost the same period of time, thus providing a (northern) mid-latitude comparison data set. Since the predominant sources of ELF/VLF radio noise are thunderstorms occurring in the tropical regions, the Arrival Heights and Stanford systems provide complementary views of the thunderstorm activity occurring in the tropics. The long-term statistics can then provide independent information about global change. The low background in the Arrival Heights record further allows the determination of Schumann resonances. These are quasi-standing electro-magnetic waves that exist in the Earth's 'electromagnetic' cavity (the space between the surface of the Earth and the Ionosphere). Temporal changes in these resonant frequencies can be related to variations in the characteristics of the ionosphere.