Accurately mapping the location of ionospheric backscatter targets (density irregularities) identified by the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) HF radars can be a major problem, ...particularly at far ranges for which the radio propagation paths are longer and more uncertain. Assessing and increasing the accuracy of the mapping of scattering locations is crucial for the measurement of two-dimensional velocity structures on the small and meso-scale, for which overlapping velocity measurements from two radars need to be combined, and for studies in which SuperDARN data are used in conjunction with measurements from other instruments. The co-ordinates of scattering locations are presently estimated using a combination of the measured range and a model virtual height, assuming a straight line virtual propagation path. By studying elevation angle of arrival information of backscatterred signals from 5 years of data (1997–2001) from the Saskatoon SuperDARN radar we have determined the actual distribution of the backscatter target locations in range-virtual height space. This has allowed the derivation of a new empirical virtual height model that allows for a more accurate mapping of the locations of backscatter targets.
The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) has been operating as an international co-operative organization for over 10 years. The network has now grown so that the fields of view of its 18 ...radars cover the majority of the northern and southern hemisphere polar ionospheres. SuperDARN has been successful in addressing a wide range of scientific questions concerning processes in the magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, and mesosphere, as well as general plasma physics questions. We commence this paper with a historical introduction to SuperDARN. Following this, we review the science performed by SuperDARN over the last 10 years covering the areas of ionospheric convection, field-aligned currents, magnetic reconnection, substorms, MHD waves, the neutral atmosphere, and E-region ionospheric irregularities. In addition, we provide an up-to-date description of the current network, as well as the analysis techniques available for use with the data from the radars. We conclude the paper with a discussion of the future of SuperDARN, its expansion, and new science opportunities.
Recent analysis of a short period of observations has led to the hypothesis that enhanced meso‐scale flows from well within the region of open polar cap field lines may cross the nightside polar cap ...boundary into the closed field line region and contribute to the triggering of equatorward (earthward) meso‐scale flows across the ionospheric (equatorial) portion of plasma sheet fields lines and lead to PBIs and streamers. This includes the streamers that have been postulated to bring new plasma equatorward (earthward) and lead to substorm onset. Meso‐scale structure of flow within the polar cap, often studied near the dayside polar cap boundary, has not previously been generally recognized as significant within the nightside polar cap. Here we have taken advantage of new capabilities to measure polar cap convection by the Resolute Bay incoherent scatter radar and the Rankin Inlet PolarDARN radar, coordinated with THEMIS all‐sky imager observations, to study flow measurements from well within the polar cap to near the polar cap boundary. We present evidence that flow structures moving from the polar cap toward the nightside polar cap boundary may be important for triggering the flows that lead to substorm onset streamers. The new observations also have given evidence that the flow structures come from deep within the polar cap, and have given unexpected evidence that a continuation of flow structures moving from the polar cap toward the nightside polar cap boundary after substorm onset may be important in controlling the poleward expansion and duration of post‐onset auroral activity.
Key Points
Polar cap flow channels may cause flows leading to pre‐substorm onset streamers
These flow structures may come from deep within the polar cap
Such flow structures after onset may be important for post‐onset activity
When studying magnetospheric convection, it is often necessary to map the steady-state electric field, measured at some point on a magnetic field line, to a magnetically conjugate point in the other ...hemisphere, or the equatorial plane, or at the position of a satellite. Such mapping is relatively easy in a dipole field although the appropriate formulae are not easily accessible. They are derived and reviewed here with some examples. It is not possible to derive such formulae in more realistic geomagnetic field models. A new method is described in this paper for accurate mapping of electric fields along field lines, which can be used for any field model in which the magnetic field and its spatial derivatives can be computed. From the spatial derivatives of the magnetic field three first order differential equations are derived for the components of the normalized element of separation of two closely spaced field lines. These can be integrated along with the magnetic field tracing equations and Faraday's law used to obtain the electric field as a function of distance measured along the magnetic field line. The method is tested in a simple model consisting of a dipole field plus a magnetotail model. The method is shown to be accurate, convenient, and suitable for use with more realistic geomagnetic field models.
Ionospheric plasma drift velocities measured by High Frequency (HF) coherent scatter radars, such as the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), are typically underestimated, sometimes ...significantly, because the refractive index in the scattering volume is not known. Large‐scale or background estimates of ionospheric electron density and refractive index can be made by other instruments; however, these instruments both do not cover the large field‐of‐view of the SuperDARN radars and do not provide information about the small‐scale structures which may be very important for the scattering process. A method has been developed to use different operating frequencies of the SuperDARN radars to obtain the average scattering volume electron density. These electron density measurements provide an estimate of refractive index and allow for corrections to the SuperDARN velocity data to be made. A comprehensive analysis of all SuperDARN data since its inception almost 20 years ago has provided estimates of average electron density in the scattering volume of the radars for various magnetic latitudes, solar activities, local times, and seasons. The analysis indicates that the average electron density, and therefore refractive index, in the scattering volume can vary significantly with the various parameters. Densities ranging from less than 2 × 1011 m−3 to more than 8 × 1011 m−3, result in refractive index corrections from less than 5% (not very significant) to more than 50% (extremely significant). These results provide estimates of appropriate adjustments to the drift velocities assumed by SuperDARN for various conditions. Further, this research has provided substantial insight into the physics of the coherent scattering process and provides a method by which electron density of the scattering structures can be monitored. This will be tested using in situ high‐latitude ionospheric measurements from the upcoming enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (ePOP) satellite mission.
Key Points
HF radar frequency shifting used to measure ionospheric electron density
Average scattering volume electron densities determined for various parameters
Electron densities can be used to adjust HF velocities for refractive index
Simultaneous two‐dimensional observations of airglow enhancement and radar backscatter from field‐aligned irregularities (FAIs) associated with polar cap patches were conducted. The spatial structure ...of 630 nm airglow from polar cap patches was imaged using an all‐sky airglow imager at Resolute Bay, Canada, while backscatter echoes from decameter‐scale FAIs were observed using the newly constructed HF Polar Dual Auroral Radar Network (PolarDARN) radar at Rankin Inlet, Canada. Both the airglow enhancement and the radar backscatter appeared within a structured region with the spatial extent of about 500–1000 km. The decameter‐scale FAIs were found to extend over the entire region of airglow enhancement associated with polar cap patches, indicating that the polar patch plasma became almost fully structured soon after initiation (within approximately 20–25 min). These findings imply that some rapid structuring process of the entire patch area is involved in addition to the primary gradient‐drift instabilities.
Using two conjunction events of the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) imagers and spacecraft as well as the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) and ...Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radars, we show that longitudinally narrow flow bursts in the nightside polar cap can precede poleward boundary intensifications (PBIs) that are followed by equatorward moving north‐south (N‐S) arcs, including those leading to substorm onset instability within the near‐Earth plasma sheet. The association between the ionospheric flows and PBIs indicates that enhanced flows on open field lines may contribute to parallel potential drop increase, triggering of magnetotail reconnection, and to the earthward flows leading to N‐S arcs and to substorm onset. We also investigated differences between N‐S arc sequences that do and do not lead to substorm expansion onset. We found that the two types of N‐S arcs have similar characteristics, indicating that their corresponding plasma sheet flow properties could also be similar. There is, however, one difference between the sequences of N‐S arc evolution. Each N‐S arc leads to small intensification of the growth phase arc, and when the onset‐related N‐S arc reaches the equatorward portion of the auroral oval, the preexisting growth phase arc is much brighter than at the times of non‐onset‐related N‐S arcs. Assuming that the growth phase arc is related to pressure gradients at the inner edge of the plasma sheet, this difference indicates that the near‐Earth plasma pressure distribution at the time of plasma sheet fast flows is crucial in substorm triggering. These observations suggest that substorm onset instability is possible only when the preexisting inner plasma sheet pressure is sufficiently large.
On the night of December 20, 2006, 630 nm airglow images obtained by an all‐sky camera at Resolute Bay, Canada (74.73°N, 265.07°E; altitude adjusted corrected geomagnetic (AACGM) latitude 82.9°) ...showed the passage of successive polar cap patches. Shortly after convection came to a temporary halt, one of the patches was reorganized into two substructures in approximately 8 min. The two‐dimensional background ionospheric convection pattern measured using the newly deployed PolarDARN radar at Rankin Inlet (62.82°N, 93.11°W; AACGM latitude 72.96°) showed that a velocity shear of approximately 120 m s−1/340 km suddenly appeared in the vicinity of the patch at the time of reorganization. A qualitative analysis of the relationship between the magnitude of the velocity shear and the distance between the divided patches indicates that the shear in the background plasma convection velocity significantly contributed to the reorganization of the patch. This shear structure appeared soon after a southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and was probably associated with the reconfiguration of the convection pattern from a pre‐existing northward‐oriented IMF pattern to a southward‐oriented one. The present observations indicate that the reconfiguration/deformation of patches because of a shear in the background convection field, especially reorganization of patches into smaller substructures, may play an important role in the rapid structuring of patches.
The Cascade SmallSat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE) satellite is to be launched in late 2012. On board this satellite will be a suite of eight scientific instruments composing the enhanced ...Polar Outflow Probe (ePOP). The Radio Receiver Instrument (RRI) on ePOP will be used to receive high‐frequency (HF) (10–18 MHz) transmissions from ground transmitters such as the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) array. Modeling of the characteristics of the HF signal received at ePOP for various ionospheric conditions has been undertaken in preparation for this RRI‐SuperDARN experiment. The effect of ionospheric electron density enhancements and depletions on signal parameters such as polarization and mode delay difference has been modeled. It has been found that at HF the polarization state of the received signal is highly sensitive to regions of locally enhanced or depleted electron density in the ionosphere. In particular, analysis of the orientation angle of the received signal, which changes because of Faraday rotation as the spacecraft passes over a ground transmitter, will allow detection of small‐scale electron density structures (on the order of tens of kilometers) with electron densities as little as 10% different from background values. Because of the sensitivity of the polarization of HF transionospheric waves, the signatures of these small‐scale and relatively weak ionospheric density structures will be apparent. Larger and denser structures will also be detectable from both the polarization state and other signal parameters, such as signal delay. The modeling demonstrates that detailed analysis of the signal parameters received at the ePOP satellite will allow determination of the location, size, and density of structures in the ionosphere.
Key Points
Ray path modeling for the SuperDARN‐ePOP experiment performed
Modeled small‐scale ionospheric electron density structures
Polarization of HF waves is very sensitive to electron density structures
In past calculations of convective velocities from Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) HF radar observations, the refractive index in the scattering region has not been taken into account, ...and therefore the inferred ionospheric velocities may be underestimated. In light of the significant contribution by SuperDARN to ionospheric and magnetospheric research, it is important to refine the velocity determination. The refractive index in the ionosphere at SuperDARN observation F region altitudes has typical values between 0.8 and close to unity. In the scattering region, where conditions are more extreme, the index of refraction may be much lower. A simple application of Snell's law in spherical coordinates (Bouguer's law) suggests that a proxy for the index of refraction at the scattering location can be determined by measuring the elevation angle of the returned ionospheric radar signal. Using this approximation for refractive index, the Doppler velocity calculation can be refined for each SuperDARN ionospheric echo, using the elevation angles obtained from the SuperDARN interferometer data. A velocity comparison of DMSP and SuperDARN observations has revealed that the SuperDARN speeds were systematically lower than the DMSP speeds. A linear regression analysis of the velocity comparisons found a best fit slope of 0.74. When the elevation angle data were used to estimate refractive index, the best fit slope rose 12% to 0.83. As most SuperDARN radars employ an interferometer antenna array for elevation angle measurements, the improvement in velocity estimates can be done routinely using the method outlined in this paper.
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