Observations of Earth space by self-powered stations in Antarctica

• Published in: Review of Scientific Instruments
• Main Authors: Mende, S. B., Rachelson, W., Sterling, R., Frey, H. U., Harris, S. E., McBride, S., Rosenberg, T. J., Detrick, D., Doolittle, J. L., Engebretson, M., Inan, U., Labelle, J. W., Lanzerotti, L. J., Weatherwax, A. T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: AIP Publishing 2009
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3262506; https://pubs.aip.org/aip/rsi/article-pdf/doi/10.1063/1.3262506/16071412/124501_1_online.pdf

Coupling of the solar wind to the Earth magnetosphere/ionosphere is primarily through the high latitude regions, and there are distinct advantages in making remote sensing observations of these regions with a network of ground-based observatories over other techniques. The Antarctic continent is ideally situated for such a network, especially for optical studies, because the larger offset between geographic and geomagnetic poles in the south enables optical observations at a larger range of magnetic latitudes during the winter darkness. The greatest challenge for such ground-based observations is the generation of power and heat for a sizable ground station that can accommodate an optical imaging instrument. Under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, we have developed suitable automatic observing platforms, the Automatic Geophysical Observatories (AGOs) for a network of six autonomous stations on the Antarctic plateau. Each station housed a suite of science instruments including a dual wavelength intensified all-sky camera that records the auroral activity, an imaging riometer, fluxgate and search-coil magnetometers, and ELF/VLF and LM/MF/HF receivers. Originally these stations were powered by propane fuelled thermoelectric generators with the fuel delivered to the site each Antarctic summer. A by-product of this power generation was a large amount of useful heat, which was applied to maintain the operating temperature of the electronics in the stations. Although a reasonable degree of reliability was achieved with these stations, the high cost of the fuel air lift and some remaining technical issues necessitated the development of a different type of power unit. In the second phase of the project we have developed a power generation system using renewable energy that can operate automatically in the Antarctic winter. The most reliable power system consists of a type of wind turbine using a simple permanent magnet rotor and a new type of power control system with variable resistor shunts to ...