St. Croix
T he Imaging Radar Interferometer on St. Croix is located close to the St. Croix campus of the University of the Virgin Islands. The instrument has the feature of looking perpendicular to B over the field of view of Arecibo.
The radar is used to observe E region field-aligned plasma density irregularities associated with sporadic E ionization layers in the ionosphere. The irregularities are produced by plasma instabilities and are indicative of intermediate-scale structuring in the layers. The structuring, in turn, appears to result from neutral atmospheric waves and instabilities in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere. Aperture synthesis radar imaging allows us to observe the structuring and to compare it with observations made with the Arecibo incoherent scatter radar, resonace lidar , and Boston University imager .
The radar was deployed as part of a joint project involving Clemson University, Cornell University, and the University of the Virgin Islands. Preliminary results from a campaign coducted in the fall of 2008 are tabulated below.
| UT Date | CSR RTI | images | images | images | ISR linefeed | ISR gregorian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun. 17 2008 | s080617.pdf | s080617.mpg | ||||
| Jul. 4 2008 | s080704.pdf | s080704.mpg | ||||
| Jul. 28 2008 | s080728.pdf | s080728.mpg | s080728.mpg | |||
| Sep. 26 2008 | s080926.pdf | s080926.mpg | l080926.pdf | g080926.pdf | ||
| Sep. 27 2008 | s080927.pdf | s080927.mpg | l080927.pdf | g080927.pdf | ||
| Sep. 28 2008 | s080928.pdf | s080928.mpg | l080928.pdf | g080928.pdf | ||
| Sep. 29 2008 | s080929.pdf | s080929.mpg | s080929-2.mpg | l080929.pdf | g080929.pdf | |
| Sep. 30 2008 | s080930.pdf | s080930.mpg | l080930.pdf | g080930.pdf | ||
| Oct. 1 2008 | s081001.pdf | s081001.mpg | s081001-2.mpg | l081001.pdf |
Data for the Summer 2009 campaign are here:
| UT Date | CSR RTI | images | images | images | ISR linefeed | ISR gregorian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul. 17 2009 | s090717.pdf | |||||
| Jul. 19 2009 | s090719.pdf | s090719-1.mpg | s090719-2.mpg | |||
| Jul. 22 2009 | s090722.pdf | s090722-1.mpg | s090722-2.mpg | s090722-3.mpg | ||
| s090722-4.mpg | s090722-5.mpg |
CADI ionosonde
Arecibo ionograms taken during the summer of 2008 and 2009 can be viewed by accessing this link.Gallery
These are some of the sights of the radar and the island, as photographed by the Cornell graduate student Eliana Nossa.