The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) has been operating as an international co-operative organization for over 10 years. The network has now grown so that the fields of view of its 18 radars cover the majority of the northern and southern hemisphere polar ionospheres. SuperDARN has been successful in addressing a wide range of scientific questions concerning processes in the magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, and mesosphere, as well as general plasma physics questions. We commence this paper with a historical introduction to SuperDARN. Following this, we review the science performed by SuperDARN over the last 10 years covering the areas of ionospheric convection, field-aligned currents, magnetic reconnection, substorms, MHD waves, the neutral atmosphere, and E-region ionospheric irregularities. In addition, we provide an up-to-date description of the current network, as well as the analysis techniques available for use with the data from the radars. We conclude the paper with a discussion of the future of SuperDARN, its expansion, and new science opportunities.

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A decade of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN): scientific achievements, new techniques and future directions

This paper presents a comprehensive review of dispersive Alfven waves in space and laboratory plasmas. We start with linear properties of Alfven waves and show how the inclusion of ion gyroradius, parallel electron inertia, and finite frequency effects modify the Alfven wave properties. Detailed discussions of inertial and kinetic Alfven waves and their polarizations as well as their relations to drift Alfven waves are presented. Up to date observations of waves and field parameters deduced from the measurements by Freja, Fast, and other spacecraft are summarized. We also present laboratory measurements of dispersive Alfven waves, that are of most interest to auroral physics. Electron acceleration by Alfven waves and possible connections of dispersive Alfven waves with ionospheric-magnetospheric resonator and global field-line resonances are also reviewed. Theoretical efforts are directed on studies of Alfven resonance cones, generation of dispersive Alfven waves, as well their nonlinear interactions with the background plasma and self-interaction. Such topics as the dispersive Alfven wave ponderomotive force, density cavitation, wave modulation/filamentation, and Alfven wave self-focusing are reviewed. The nonlinear dispersive Alfven wave studies also include the formation of vortices and their dynamics as well as chaos in Alfven wave turbulence. Finally, we present a rigorous evaluation of theoretical and experimental investigations and point out applications and future perspectives of auroral Alfven wave physics.

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Small scale alfvénic structure in the aurora

[1] The outer zone radiation belt consists of energetic electrons drifting in closed orbits encircling the Earth between ∼3 and 7 RE Electron fluxes in the outer belt show a strong correlation with solar and magnetospheric activity, generally increasing during geomagnetic storms with associated high solar wind speeds, and increasing in the presence of magnetospheric ULF waves in the Pc-5 frequency range In this paper, we examine the influence of Pc-5 ULF waves on energetic electrons drifting in an asymmetric, compressed dipole and find that such particles may be efficiently accelerated through a drift-resonant interaction with the waves We find that the efficiency of this acceleration increases with increasing magnetospheric distortion (such as may be attributed to increased solar wind pressure associated with high solar wind speeds) and with increasing ULF wave activity A preponderance of ULF power in the dawn and dusk flanks is shown to be consistent with the proposed acceleration mechanism Under a continuum of wave modes and frequencies, we find that the drift resonant acceleration process leads to additional modes of radial diffusion in the outer belts, with timescales that may be appropriate to those observed during geomagnetic storms

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2001JA009202

Resonant acceleration and diffusion of outer zone electrons in an asymmetric geomagnetic field

The Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory HF radar at Goose Bay often sees F-region drifts or electric fields which are associated with field line resonances in the Earth's magnetosphere. These resonances are seen in the interval from local midnight to morning, and have discrete, latitude-dependent frequencies at approximately 1.3, 1.9, 2.6–2.7, and 3.2–3.4 mHz. We show that these frequencies are compatible with MHD waveguide modes, with antisunward propagation and reflection at the magnetopause and at turning points on dipolar field lines.

Field line resonances associated with MHD waveguides in the magnetosphere

[1] The dissipation of high-frequency gravity waves (GWs) in the thermosphere is primarily due to kinematic viscosity and thermal diffusivity. Recently, an anelastic GW dispersion relation was derived which includes the damping effects of kinematic viscosity and thermal diffusivity in the thermosphere and which is valid before and during dissipation. Using a ray trace model which incorporates this new dispersion relation, we explore many GW properties that result from this dispersion relation for a wide range of thermospheric temperatures. We calculate the dissipation altitudes, horizontal distances traveled, times taken, and maximum vertical wavelengths prior to dissipation in the thermosphere for a wide range of upward-propagating GWs that originate in the lower atmosphere and at several altitudes in the thermosphere. We show that the vertical wavelengths of dissipating GWs, λz(zdiss), increases exponentially with altitude, although with a smaller slope for z > 200 km. We also show how the horizontal wavelength, λH, and wave period spectra change with altitude for dissipating GWs. We find that a new dissipation condition can predict our results for λz(zdiss) very well up to altitudes of ∼500 km. We also find that a GW spectrum excited from convection shifts to increasingly larger λz and λH with altitude in the thermosphere that are not characteristic of the initial convective scales. Additionally, a lower thermospheric shear shifts this spectrum to even larger λz, consistent with observations. Finally, we show that our results agree well with observations.

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Horizontal and vertical propagation and dissipation of gravity waves in the thermosphere from lower atmospheric and thermospheric sources

Continuous ground-based observations of ionospheric and magnetospheric regions are critical to the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) program. It is therefore important to establish clear intercalibrations between different ground-based instruments and satellites in order to clearly place the ground-based observations in context with the corresponding in situ satellite measurements. HF-radars operating at high latitudes are capable of observing very large spatial regions of the ionosphere on a nearly continuous basis. In this paper we report on an intercalibration study made using the Polar Anglo-American Conjugate Radar Experiment radars located at Goose Bay, Labrador, and Halley Station, Antarctica, and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites. The DMSP satellite data are used to provide clear identifications of the ionospheric cusp and the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL). The radar data for eight cusp events and eight LLBL events have been examined in order to determine a radar signature of these ionospheric regions. This intercalibration indicates that the cusp is always characterized by wide, complex Doppler power spectra, whereas the LLBL is usually found to have spectra dominated by a single component. The distribution of spectral widths in the cusp is of a generally Gaussian form with a peak at about 220 m/s. The distribution of spectral widths in the LLBL is more like an exponential distribution, with the peak of the distribution occurring at about 50 m/s. There are a few cases in the LLBL where the Doppler power spectra are strikingly similar to those observed in the cusp.

HF radar signatures of the cusp and low-latitude boundary layer

The technique of F region sounding by HF coherent radar is applied to the study of field line resonances equatorward of a region of shear flow in the early morning sector. The motions were predominantly in the geomagnetic east-west direction, indicating north-south electric fields. These oscillations had pronounced peaks in their latitudinal power distribution. For the pulsation at 1.95 mHz, a latitudinal phase shift of 180 deg was observed across the peaks in all the look directions of the radar, and a longitudinal wavelength corresponding to an m value of 3 was obtained. For the 2.6-mHz pulsation, the phase shifts across the peaks had a variation with a look direction that indicated a significant longitudinal as well as latitudinal variation; for this activity, an m value of about 16 is estimated. These features are interpreted in terms of the field line resonance theory, and the possible sources of the pulsation energy are discussed.

HF radar observations of Pc 5 field line resonances in the midnight/early morning MLT sector

Several methods developed for mapping high-latitude plasma convection with a high-latitude HF radar are described, which utilize coherent backscatter from electron density irregularities at F-region altitudes to observe convective plasma motion. Several examples of two-dimensional convection-velocity maps are presented, showing instances of L-shell-aligned flow in the dusk sector, the reversal of convection near magnetic midnight, and counterstreaming in the dayside cleft.

Mapping high-latitude plasma convection with coherent HF radars

The Johns Hopkins University high-frequency coherent scatter radar at Goose Bay, Labrador, often observes the effects of propagating atmospheric gravity waves, particularly in ground backscatter returns. To date, these waves have been identified in late fall and early winter on propagation paths directed over the Davis Strait, between northeastern Canada and Greenland. The waves appear as spatially localized enhancements in the backscattered power and as quasiperiodic fluctuations in the backscattered powers, Doppler velocities, and reflection heights. They are generally observed during daylight hours and are usually accompanied by backscatter from higher-latitude ionospheric irregularities that appear to be located near the ionospheric convection reversal boundary. The lowest frequencies associated with the gravity waves lie in the range 0.4 to 0.6 mHz, and the wavelengths lie in the range 300 to 600 km. The waves generally propagate equatorward at an angle of 150° to 180° east of geographic north. During intervals with an expanded polar cap, northward propagating gravity waves are sometimes observed. Measurements of the parameters of the waves and the ranges to the sources suggest that the waves are excited at a height of 100 to 150 km near the convection reversal boundary and the polar cusp, and that the bulk of the observed perturbations are due to Earth-reflected waves.

K. B. Baker

Papers

HF radar signatures of the cusp and low-latitude boundary layer

HF radar observations of Pc 5 field line resonances in the midnight/early morning MLT sector

Mapping high-latitude plasma convection with coherent HF radars

High-frequency radar observations of atmospheric gravity waves in the high-latitude ionosphere