EISCAT_3D Norway 2014

EISCAT_3D is a multi-static phased array radar system for observations of the auroral zone to study the physics of the upper atmosphere and its interaction with space. This project includes the Norwegian contribution to the first implementation stage of EISCAT_3D and the membership in the international EISCAT Scientific Association. EISCAT_3D is included as a Landmark on the ESFRI Roadmap to research infrastructures. The EISCAT_3D stage 1 consists of a transmitter and receiver site located near Skibotn, and two receiver sites located approximately 130 km away in Sweden and Finland. The radars measure scattered radio waves from the ionosphere. EISCAT_3D measurements have much better spatial and time resolution than the systems that are operational today. When it starts operation the EISCAT instruments will comprise of EISCAT_3D stage 1 and the EISCAT Svalbard Radar. EISCAT is used for space plasma physics studies, such as the physical processes related to the northern lights, climate change and space weather. Meteors, atmospheric layers and space debris can also be measured. Users in Norway and other countries collaborate with and support the EISCAT Association in the development work on observation modes and data products. In summer 2024, Norway will organize the biennial international EISCAT symposium in Tromsø and organize an associated radar school. Users in Norway are also pursuing design studies for a new radar on Svalbard. The users also support the reorganization of the research infrastructure, since the scientific association EISCAT has decided to change its legal status. The EISCAT infrastructure is used by space researchers in Norway, including research projects funded by the Research Council of Norway and the European Research Council. It promotes international collaboration and the establishment of others research instruments in the region; and it trains the next generation of space experts in Norway.

This proposal is asking for Norwegian funding towards construction of EISCAT_3D (E3D), which is an international project on The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap. E3D is a world-class radar facility for investigations of the geospace environment. It will replace the ageing EISCAT facilities in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland. E3D will use the incoherent scattering (IS) technique to make 3-dimensional vector measurements across a wide field of view of key parameters in the auroral atmosphere by taking advantage of technological advances in radio, radar, computing, and signal analysis. E3D will have better sensitivity, resolution, capability, and flexibility than any of the other radar facilities in the world. E3D will allow us to understand the flows, sources, sinks, and interactions of energy, momentum and mass in the auroral atmosphere. E3D will provide synergies towards relevant areas of increasing socioeconomic importance; including atmospheric precursors of climate change and vulnerability of modern technological infrastructures due to space weather and space debris. E3D can study auroral particle precipitation that depletes ozone in the stratosphere, and atmospheric tides and sudden stratospheric warming events bring disturbances to the ionosphere from below. Real-time measurements from E3D will be provided to monitoring services dealing with space weather and space debris, a key focus of ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme. E3D will also contribute to science and engineering education at all levels. The project will create opportunities to national industry and services in communications hardware and software and information technologies. This E3D project is backed by all major universities in Norway (Tromsø, Bergen, Oslo, UNIS and NTNU), Andøya Space Center and the Norwegian Space Centre. The application has been developed in close collaboration with EISCAT HQ and they strongly support it.