New capabilities of the upgraded EISCAT high-power HF facility

• Published in: Radio Science
• Main Authors: Rietveld, Michael T, Senior, Andrew, Markkanen, Jussi, Westman, Assar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2016
• Subjects: VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400; VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Information and communication science: 420; high-frequency; Tromsø; Norway; European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association; high-power HF facility; transmitters; feed-system; antennas; radio frequency; waveform generation; computer control; monitoring; electron gyrofrequency; mesospheric; magnetospheric; probing; antenna gain; EISCAT
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10803; https://doi.org/10.1002/2016RS006093

Published version. Source at http://doi.org/10.1002/2016RS006093. 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.