The POLARDARN Concept

George SOFKO, Dieter ANDRE and Sasha KOUSTOV
University of Saskatchewan, Canada

One exciting new future direction for SuperDARN involves placing a pair of SuperDARN radars to cover the polar cap in the northern hemisphere. This possibility is discussed with regard to disturbed electric field observations in both the polar cap and auroral zones and optical red line (630 nm) observations in the polar cap during northward IMF conditions. Although the conductivity may be very low in the polar cap, the HF radar observations indicate that the electric field is not weak and the convection can be quite dynamic, while magnetometers are showing very small responses. Ray-tracings for the proposed sites at Rankin Inlet and Inuvik in Canada are presented to illustrate the viability of the propagation conditions, and the excellent coverage of the region around the north magnetic AACGM pole. The possibility of using the same sites for HF radar observations looking equatorward to the lower latitude portion of the auroral zone where substorms are initiated is also discussed.

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