|
|
|
|
|
|
USOC Riometers
|
Andøya Rocket Range has 5 riometers, run on a routine basis for the Ionospheric laboratory of the Danish Meterological Institute. One instrument is located at the USOC. The other four is located in the magnetometer shed below a nearby moutain. "Riometers are usually operated with broad-beam antennas, with beamwidth on the order of 60 degrees. These integrate absorption activity over a large portion of the ionosphere, so small scale details of the actual physical distribution of electron density enhancements are lost. Narrow beam antennas, with beamwidths of 10 to 20 degrees, are sensitive to smaller scale features of ionization, but are generally limited in the ionospheric area which can be examined at one time. The data from several riometers operated at different frequencies, but examining the same sky with broadbeam antennas, show effects which have been interpreted as being due to small scale spatial structure in the electron precipitation region which does not completely fill the antenna beam. Results analyzed from narrow beam and multiple frequency riometer data, in conjunction with optical data from all-sky cameras and photometers, indicate that the spatial scale of ionospheric electron density perturbations can be very small, on the order of a few kilometers." Technical data:
|
