NSF PR 98-31 - May 21, 1998
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Automatic Observatories Watch Upper Atmosphere from
Antarctica
A network of six unmanned Antarctic Geophysical Observatories
(AGOs) housing instruments to collect data about the
earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere at high latitudes
is now up and running in the remote reaches of Antarctica.
The AGOs operate all year long, including over the
long polar winter.
These small trailer-like observatories measure eight-by-eight-by-sixteen
feet and provide 50 watts of electrical power to the
experiments. They store data to be retrieved later
during the Antarctic summer. The AGOs also report
on weather and their own status via satellite.
"Antarctica is the only place on earth where there's
a landmass to base these instruments to study the
upper atmosphere at very high magnetic latitudes --
and at many different magnetic longitudes," said Louis
Lanzerotti of Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies.
Lanzerotti uses the observatories to house magnetometers
which measure changes in the earth's magnetic field
caused by electrical currents in the upper atmosphere.
Naturally changing currents can induce secondary currents
in long-distance telephone lines, for example, sometimes
causing damage or interference.
"Data from the AGOs, added to observations from the
inhabited Antarctic stations and from AGOs of the
British Antarctic Survey, are beginning to give us
a wealth of information about the ionosphere at high
geomagnetic latitudes -- the region around the earth's
geomagnetic pole," said John Lynch, National Science
Foundation (NSF) program director for polar aeronomy
and astrophysics.
"This is where magnetic-field lines and ionized particles
come down from space to intersect the earth's atmosphere,
so we can study the outer parts of the earth's magnetosphere,"
Lynch said. "The AGOs are also helping to foster better
understanding of the earth's response to solar activity."
Knowing the physics of the magnetosphere helps to
predict geomagnetic storms that can disrupt power
grids and satellite communications.
The long, dark Antarctic winter permits optical observations
of the aurora around the clock. The extremely cold,
dry air of the East Antarctic plateau also lends clarity
to such observations. These measurements cannot be
done at similar latitudes in the north which are located
above the Arctic Ocean -- not a stable observing platform.
Besides magnetometers, the AGOs contain VLF-HF (very
low frequency/high frequency) receivers, riometers,
and all-sky cameras.
The AGO network is the result of years of planning
how to use stable, earthbound sites to acquire data
on the upper atmosphere and space. The network had
to overcome the challenge of operating in the harsh
environmental extremes of Antarctica.
Editors: Louis Lanzerotti will discuss present
and future AGO results at a press conference at the
Spring Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in
Boston, Mass. Ted Rosenberg, University of Maryland;
Roger Arnoldy/University of New Hampshire, and Jack
Dolittle, Lockheed Martin Company, will also participate.
For further information, including photos of an AGO
and a map showing the AGO network in Antarctica, see:
http://www.polar.umd.edu
and
http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/atmos/data/
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