Upgrading the Jicamarca Radio Observatory

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The Jicamarca Radio Observatory near Lima, Perú is a premier ground-based facility for studying plasma processes in the upper atmosphere near the magnetic equator. Jicamarca is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Over its life, it has undergone continuous renewal and so still represents the state of the art in radio technology in most respects. Some of the systems at Jicamarca are outdated, however, which impacts the scientific potential of the facility. The work will expand this potential by acquiring a final tube amplifier, replacing Jicamarca’s two tube-type driver amplifiers with modern solid-state units, upgrade the Jicamarca ionospheric sounder, and replacing an optical digital camera. The technical upgrades will improve the resilience and extend the lifetime of the observatory, while also dramatically enhancing its capabilities to enable new measurement modes. These will include a potentially transformative capability to directly probe the solar corona, an extension of topside and inner-magnetosphere measurements to 10,000 km from the current top limit of 6,000 km, and long-term measurements of plasma parameters. These, in turn, will provide novel ways to study equatorial plasma processes such as plasmaspheric refilling following solar and geomagnetic storms, formation of the equatorial spread F, and storm-time equatorial electrodynamics, as well as for operational space weather modeling and forecast purposes. Jicamarca has two highly successful educational programs such as the Jicamarca International Research Experience Program, a competitive program which is open to international (non-Peruvian) students, and a STEM program intended for Peruvian undergraduate students. The important broader impact of this project will be an enhancement of STEM educational opportunities through the provision of additional and novel research projects for the students and trainees. The additional capabilities and measurement modes will also provide new synergies with several satellite missions including the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 2 and the Ionospheric Connection Explorer.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.