Auroral field-aligned currents by incoherent scatter plasma line observations in the E region

The aim of the Swedish-Japanese EISCAT campaign in February 1999 was to measure the ionospheric parameters inside and outside the auroral arcs. The ion line radar experiment was optimised to probe the E-region and lower F-region with as high a speed as possible. Two extra channels were used for the plasma line measurements covering the same altitudes, giving a total of 3 upshifted and 3 downshifted frequency bands of 25 kHz each. For most of the time the shifted channels were tuned to 3 (both), 4 (up), 5.5 (down) and 6.5 (both) MHz. Weak plasma line signals are seen whenever the radar is probing the diffuse aurora, corresponding to the relatively low plasma frequencies. At times when auroral arcs pass the radar beam, significant increases in return power are observed. Many cases with simultaneously up and down shifted plasma lines are recorded. In spite of the rather active environment, the highly optimised measurements enable investigation of the properties of the plasma lines. A modified theoretical incoherent scatter spectrum is used to explain the measure-ments. The general trend is an upgoing field-aligned suprathermal current in the diffuse aurora. There are also cases with strong suprathermal currents indicated by large differences in signal strength between up- and downshifted plasma lines. A full fit of the combined ion and plasma line spectra resulted in suprathermal electron distributions consistent with models

3-D extent of the main ionospheric trough - a case study

The EISCAT radar system has been used for the first time in a four-beam meridional mode. The FAST satellite and ALIS imaging system is used in conjunction to support the radar data, which was used to identify a main ionospheric trough. With this large latitude coverage the trough was passed in 21/2hours period. Its 3-dimensional structure is investigated and discussed. It is found that the shape is curved along the auroral oval, and that the trough is wider closer to the midnight sector. The position of the trough coincide rather well with various statistical models and this trough is found to be a typical one

New capabilities of the upgraded EISCAT high-power HF facility

The high-power HF (high-frequency) facility (commonly known as Heating) near Tromsø, Norway, which is an essential part of the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association, has been upgraded in certain key areas in recent years. It is one of only four similar facilities in the world operating at present. An updated description of the facility is given, together with scientific motivation and some results. The main high-power parts such as transmitters, feed-system, and antennas remain essentially the same as built in the late 1970s. The improvements are in the areas of radio frequency waveform generation, computer control, and monitoring. In particular, fast stepping in frequency is now possible, an important aspect in examining features close to harmonics of the electron gyrofrequency. One antenna array has been modified to allow reception to implement an HF radar mode for mesospheric and magnetospheric probing. More realistic modeling of the antenna gain gives improved estimates of the total effective radiated power for both wanted and unwanted circular polarizations. Results are presented by using these new capabilities, but their full scientific potential has yet to be achieved