Opportunities for High-Power, High-Frequency Transmitters to Advance Ionospheric/Thermospheric Research: Report of a Workshop.

摘要

Research conducted by the ionospheric modifications (IM) community -- a community that uses high-frequency (HF) transmitters to inject energy in the ionosphere and measure its effects using ground and space-based diagnostics -- is focused on understanding the interaction of radio waves with the ionospheric plasma, the local consequences of heating in the ionosphere, and studies of nonlinear plasma physics processes. At the request of the Department of Defense (DOD) Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Geosciences/Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council held a workshop on May 20-21, 2013, in Washington, D.C., entitled The Role of High-Power, High Frequency-Band Transmitters in Advancing Ionospheric/Thermospheric Research. The request for this workshop was informed by the sponsors awareness of the possibility that tight budgets would result in DOD s curtailment, or even termination, of support for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which includes the world s highest-power and most capable HF transmitter -- heater -- for ionospheric research. Although the workshop was organized to consider the utility of heaters in upper atmospheric research in general, it had a specific focus on the HAARP transmitter facility, which is located in a remote part of southeastern Alaska.