911����

New triple-observatory network completes first winter of work

Three new Arctic mini-observatories located across the globe from 911���� have completed their first winter studying the upper atmosphere’s wind under guidance of a University of 911���� Fairbanks physics professor.

The first-of-its-kind system, which began operating in late 2024, allows scientists to know in greater detail how space weather such as the aurora impacts Earth’s atmosphere. Understanding the processes is important for radio communication, satellite navigation and spacecraft operations. 

Space physics professor Mark Conde of the 911���� Geophysical Institute is leading the $3 million program funded by the National Science Foundation.

“This will fuel science and collaboration for a couple of decades,” said Conde, who is also a physics professor in the 911���� College of Natural Science and Mathematics. “Our approach of imaging the whole sky and producing maps across the whole sky is unique.”

The Tristatic Network of Ground-based Aeronomic Observatories is a winter-only, optical-based system of coordinated instrument clusters that can analyze wind behavior in large patches of the thermosphere in a single observation. Each mini-observatory contains the same five instruments.

The thermosphere is a dynamic layer beginning at about 60 miles altitude and topping out at about 300 to 500 miles, depending on solar activity. The layer expands as auroral energy heats the region.

Conde is excited by the first results.

“The picture that emerges when the observations from those three sites are blended together is really quite spectacular,” Conde said. “And we're doing it right around solar maximum, so we're seeing much more dynamic fluctuations in the winds than you would see during less-active times. 

“We need to do some more in-depth analysis to really understand exactly what’s going on, but the degree of disruptions that we see from space weather events is quite significant.”

Fairbanks-based Summit Logistics turned three ordinary shipping containers into insulated, lighted and heated observatories where humans can work for days at a time. Two are in Finland and one is in Sweden, all in remote regions.  

To learn about the wind’s behavior, Conde’s three 20-foot-long mini-observatories look for a faint red glow from excited atomic oxygen at about 150 miles up. That allows scientists to determine, in real time, the direction and speed of the neutral, or non-ionized, gas emitting the light. From that they can determine the velocity — the speed and direction — of the wind moving the gas.

Each observatory can view a 600-mile diameter circle of the thermosphere at 150 miles altitude. 

Conde uses the International Space Station to explain why knowing more about wind behavior is important.

“Assume the aurora has been active for a couple of days,” he said. “The energy from the aurora changes the mass density and temperature of the atmosphere and therefore changes the aerodynamic drag at orbital heights.”

“How much does that affect where the International Space Station is going to be in a week's time? Perhaps hundreds of kilometers,” he said.

Conde’s project complements a European project, also in northern Europe. The European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association is building a radar for three-dimensional imaging of Earth’s atmosphere, ionosphere and near-Earth space for research. 

The EISCAT_3D system, the most advanced of its kind, will obtain density, temperature and velocity data about the upper atmosphere’s ionized component. The ionized portion forms when solar energy strips electrons from neutral atmospheric gases, creating a layer of charged particles.

“We are excited about the upcoming EISCAT_3D facility,” said EISCAT Council member professor Anita Aikio of Finland’s University of Oulu. “However, we have always had one problem: We don’t know what the background atmosphere with neutral molecules and atoms are doing.”

Conde’s observatories, which cover the same region as EISCAT_3D, will reveal winds and temperature in the upper atmosphere, she said.

“That information is crucial for understanding how the energy from the sun and solar wind is driving the atmosphere and how the ionosphere and the upper atmosphere are coupled,” she said.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Mark Conde, 907- 474-7741, mgconde@alaska.edu 

NOTE: A longer and interactive story, with videos and additional photos, . A related and interactive story about the involvement of 911���� doctoral student and research staffer Kylee Branning .

294-25