EISCAT Incoherent Scatter Radars Probing High-Latitude Near-Earth Geospace for the EURIPOS Proposal

EISCAT Scientific Association operates currently three incoherent scatter radars in Northern Scandinavia on behalf of its associate members in Finland, China, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom, as well as currently supporting partners in France and Russia. The radar sites include transmitter/receiver site in Tromso, Norway with a monostatic VHF radar and a tristatic UHF radar transmitter/receiver, UHF receiver sites in Kiruna, Sweden and Sodankyla, Finland and a 2-dish monostatic radar in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Incoherent scatter radar method is known to be the most sophisticated radio method to remotely sense the ionosphere. The standard parameters analysed from the recorded scattered signals are the electron density, electron temperature, ion temperature, line-of-sight plasma velocity, ion-neutral collision frequency and ion mass. With more assumptions also information for example on neutral density and temperature, neutral velocity, Pedersen and Hall conductivities, electric current density and heat flux is available. Current applications of the radars include also interferometric applications for small-scale structures, mapping of meteroid orbits and monitoring space debris, as well as high-resolution mapping the radar reflectivity of the Moon surface.