Upgrading the Jicamarca Radio Observatory

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The NSF-supported Jicamarca Radio Observatory (JRO) in Peru has been operational for over 50 years. This major center for upper atmospheric research, training, and education, currently facilitating the research efforts of investigators supported by NSF's Geospace Programs, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force. The observatory participates in the World Day investigations, which is a globally coordinated observing effort where participating radars make simultaneous measurements of the upper atmosphere. The observatory also performs specialized experiments, maintains a large instrument cluster in partnerships with other investigators, hosts visitors at different professional levels, and conducts internship programs and schools in aeronomy and space weather. JRO is also preparing to support NASA's ICON (Ionospheric Connection Explorer) and GOLD (Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk) missions as well as a NASA sounding rocket campaign in Peru planned tentatively for 2022. This award will support upgrades to the facility to maintain its historically highly productive status. These upgrades are to complete the final half of electronic antenna beam steering upgrade, to entirely replace the deteriorating ground screen that the main antenna sits above, and to upgrade obsolete tube amplifiers to solid state amplifiers which will increase the power output of the antenna.Jicamarca is the foremost ground-based instrument for studying the equatorial ionophere and can observe echoes from the lower, middle, and upper atmosphere, ionosphere, topside, and plasmasphere to an altitude of nearly 10,000 km. Jicamarca is unique because if its high power (50-MHz operating frequency), its modularity, and its proximity to the magnetic equator. The frequency allows it to probe both exceptionally low and exceptionally high altitudes compared to other mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere (MST)/incoherent scatter radars, in a region with few instruments. The capabilities permit discovery research even after several decades of operation but are suffering from the postponement of essential maintenance and upgrades. The new ground screen will improve the gain and the beam shape which directly impacts pointing precision. The beam steering and switching capability along with increased power will enable new and improved experiments to be carried out including monitoring of equatorial spread F and of mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere winds and turbulence, as well as planetary and solar radar experiments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.