Auroral-Clutter Predictions for Fylingdales, England

Abstract : Radar clutter produced by auroral processes in the ionospheric E layer, called auroral clutter, can have severe deleterious effects on surveillance radars that operate in the subauroral regions. Auroral clutter characteristics, however, are practically impossible to characterize with a statistical description because of the large number of controlling parameters. Recently, a predictive code called Comprehensive E-Region Auroral Clutter (CERAC) model has been written that used knowledge of the underlying physics and semiempirical data as its basis. This is a description of the predictions of the CERAC model for a surveillance radar located at Fylingdales, England. The results include predictions of occurrence, radar cross section, and Doppler velocity, all as functions of radar elevation, azimuth, range, and time.