How the Saint Santin incoherent scatter system paved the way for a French involvement in EISCAT

• Published in: History of Geo- and Space Sciences
• Main Authors: Bauer, Pierre, Giraud, Alain, Kofman, Wlodek, Petit, Michel, Waldteufel, Philippe
• Other Authors: Bureau des Longitudes, Ecrivain Scientifique, Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG ), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Académie des sciences Paris, France, ESTER - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SHS.HISPHILSO]Humanities and Social Sciences/History; Philosophy and Sociology of Sciences; EISCAT
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-01626392; https://insu.hal.science/insu-01626392/document; https://insu.hal.science/insu-01626392/file/hgss-4-97-2013.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-4-97-2013

International audience This paper relates the development of a French incoherent scatter system which started its operations in 1965. This development took place several years after the initial implementation of such systems in the United States, in Peru and in the United Kingdom. The French system, owing to its bistatic configuration and the use of continuous waves, differed from the previous ones. These characteristics yielded signals of excellent spectral quality, unravelling the possibility of inferring physical parameters (Doppler shift, average ion mass) out of reach, at that time, of other systems. The possibility of making ion drift vector measurements led to extend the system into a quadristatic configuration. The multiple capabilities offered by the incoherent scatter technique, notably as concerns the thermodynamical properties of the ionosphere and of the thermosphere, led further the French community to a project of embarking an incoherent scatter radar on board a ship. Taking account of a project of a Scandinavian auroral zone radar and of the considerable interest of the study of auroral zone electrodynamics, the French community abandoned the idea of the ship and expressed an interest in joining the Scandinavian project in conjunction with Germany and the United Kingdom.