The Earth Story

Radiating Perseids This photograph of August’s Perseid Meteor Shower was taken on top of the Wasserkuppe Mountain in Central Germany at the peak of the meteor shower in 2015. The structure in the foreground is a Cold War vintage radio station used to watch over the border between East and West Germany.

No way I could find a 1943 vintage, now-digitized video titled "Brazilian Quartz Goes to War" and not share it on #MineralMonday.

ALMA radio telescopes pivoting over the landscape in the Atacama desert of Chile..

Original video caption:

Stars reflect off a telescope in the Canary Islands as it pivots

Timelapse shots from the Atacama Desert, home of the European Southern Observatory’s main telescopes, including the ALMA - Atacama Large Millimeter Array - the gigantic set of radio telescopes you see operating in some of these shots.

COSMIC Satellite program

In 2006, a series of satellites were launched in a joint mission between the United States and Taiwan. These satellites were known as the COSMIC satellites, the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate.

The goal of this mission was to build a new type of weather monitoring satellite based on the GPS Network. As radio waves in the GPS network travel through the atmosphere, they are deflected slightly as a function of the structure, temperature, and humidity of the atmosphere they pass through.

The COSMIC satellites were built to turn these tiny atmospheric deflections into data on the weather. Most weather satellites look down, looking through the atmosphere at a specific point, but they don’t provide a vertical profile through the atmosphere; the COSMIC satellites can do just that. They can give a full look at the atmosphere from surface to orbit, allowing for better understanding of how weather and climate develop through the entire system.

The data are made publicly available within hours of being acquired and thousands of researchers are registered to access the data. This type of data has successfully been deployed in predicting the development of hurricanes, amongst other uses.

The original deployment launched in 2006 consisted of 6 satellites. Currently only 1 is fully functional, and 3 more are partly functional but dealing with battery issues after being in orbit long-term. Based on the successes of the first program, an additional joint US-Taiwan mission was planned for 2016 involving 6 more COSMIC satellites.

From an American perspective, part of the beauty of this system should be that the United States only has to pay half the cost since it has a partner. But, that hasn’t avoided budgetary delays with the program.

NOAA, the organization running the COSMIC program, was forced to take a large budget cut in 2013 They were faced with a Catch-22 in the process; either they could furlough their weather forecasters now and potentially cost lives this year or they could sacrifice future programs and possibly cost lives down the road.

As of right now, these programs have been approved and launch is still planned for 2017, but that may also be up to the whims of the current administration. This is the type of data that can both help reshape weather forecasting and improve knowledge of the Earth.

-JBB

Press report: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/bumpy-landing-for-noaa-satellite-plan-92468.html

Press report: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/7/16/science-environment/climate-space-race

COSMIC satellites: http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/star/Best2006GPSSignals.php

COSMIC Satellite program office: http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu/cosmic2/index.html

Image credit: http://www2.ucar.edu/news/cosmic-visuals-multimedia-gallery

H.A.A.R.P SHUT DOWN

The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), located in Gakona, Alaska, has closed down. The facility has been shuttered since early 2013, and the site is currently abandoned. HAARP’s manager, Dr James Keeney at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, said the closure effectively comes down to money. No one is currently on site, access roads are blocked, buildings are chained and the power turned off; HAARP’s website through the University of Alaska no longer is available.

The goal of HAARP was to study the properties and behaviour of Earth's ionosphere, which is part of the upper atmosphere and lies at about 85 km (53 mi) to 600 km (370 mi) altitude. The HAARP programme began in 1990 and the major construction at the facility was completed in 2007. HAARP was used to study the natural processes in the ionosphere that occur under the natural, yet stronger, influence of solar interaction. This also includes studying how the ionosphere affects radio signals. The facility was sited in Alaska as it is the only US state in the auroral region and its ionosphere has a variety of conditions that HAARP can study. HAARP itself consists of 180 antennas within a land area of about 14 hectares (35 acres). The array and its integrated transmitters have a total radiated power capability of about 3,600 kilowatts.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is expected on the HAARP site as a client to finish up some research later this year. DARPA has nearly $8.8 million in its FY 14 budget to research “physical aspects of natural phenomena such as magnetospheric sub-storms, fire, lightning and geo-physical phenomena.”

HAARP gave notice two years ago that it would be shutting down and therefore did not submit a budget request for FY 15. According to Keeney, the diesel generators on site no longer pass the Clean Air Act, and repairing them to meet EPA standards will cost $800,000. Running the facility costs $300,000 a month and to run it at full capacity for 10 days costs $500,000.

The HAARP facility has been integral to many different research projects and so many will keenly miss its closure. In 1997, HAARP transmitted test signals on HF (3.4 MHz and 6.99 MHz) and solicited reports from hams and short-wave listeners in the “Lower 48” to determine how well the HAARP transmissions could be heard to the south. In 2007, Radar pulses from the HAARP research station were bounced off the Moon and picked up by a radio telescope system. This was the lowest frequency radar echo from the Moon ever detected on Earth; it took 2.4 seconds to radio the Moon. Scientists analysing the echo gained insights into the properties of the lunar sub-surface topography (http://on.fb.me/196ueru). More recently, HAARP scientists successfully produced a sustained high-density plasma cloud in Earth’s upper atmosphere (http://on.fb.me/15364Kp). HAARP research is published in a number of journals, including the Journal of Geophysical Research, Geophysical Research Letters, and Radio Science. Some are available here: http://bit.ly/13RZA3Z

Though the Air Force has possession of the facility for now, if no other agencies step forward to take it over, HAARP will be dismantled.

-TEL

Previous posts on HAARP research: http://on.fb.me/196ueru, http://on.fb.me/15364Kp

http://www.arrl.org/news/view/haarp-facility-shuts-down Image: an aerial view of the HAARP facility, copyright ARRL

Classic U shaped, formerly glaciated valley in the Alps.

NOAA regularly releases weather reports in text that are translated into audio to be broadcast over the radio, through both standard and emergency channels. That text-to-audio program produces a particular cadence and pronounciation pattern. It was originally known as “NOAA's Perfect Paul” but it’s acquired other nicknames, including, obviously, Imperfect Paul. In this clip, they fed the text of the song “Deck the Halls” to that software. 

Chilean radio host doesn’t miss a beat during magnitude 8 earthquake.

DENSEST ARTIFICIAL IONOSPHERIC PLASMA CLOUDS PRODUCED USING HAARP

Research physicists and engineers from the Plasma Physics Division of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory successfully produced a sustained high-density plasma cloud in Earth's upper atmosphere. The team created the higher density plasma ‘ball’ using the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) transmitter facility, in Gakona Alaska. The ‘ball’ was sustained for over an hour by the HAARP transmissions and was dispersed when the HAARP radio beam was terminated. The plasma clouds (or balls) were created using the 3.6-megawatt high-frequency (HF) HAARP transmitter, to be studied for use as artificial mirrors at 50 kilometres altitude below the natural ionosphere. They will be used for reflection of HF radar and communications signals. These discharges were created to analyse ionospheric phenomena and its impact on communications and space weather.

Previous attempts by scientists to create electron density enhancements yielded densities of 4 x 105 electrons per cubic centimetre (cm3); the NRL group produced artificial plasma clouds with densities above 9 x 105 electrons cm3. The artificial plasma balls created in this study were seen to contain dynamically changing density structures. The electrons accelerated to high enough energy to produce the glow discharge in the neutral atmosphere, which was approaching altitudes of 170 kilometres. The acceleration of the electrons was thought to be due to electrostatic waves created by the HAARP radio transmissions.

These artificial plasma clouds are detected using HF radio soundings and backscatter, ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radar backscatter, and optical imaging systems. Ground measurements of the stimulated electromagnetic emissions display the strength and frequency of the electrostatic waves that are responsible for the acceleration of the ambient electrons, which reach ionising velocities.

The NRL team is aiming to develop a comprehensive theory of the plasma cloud generation.

The image is a sequence showing the glow plasma discharge produced with transmissions at the third electron gyro harmonic using the HAARP HF transmitter, Gakona, Alaska. The third harmonic artificial glow plasma clouds were obtained with HAARP using transmissions at 4.34 megahertz (MHz). The resonant frequency yielded green line (557.7 nanometer emission) with HF on November 12, 2012, between the times of 02:26:15 to 02:26:45 GMT.

-TEL

For more on HAARP: http://on.fb.me/13Co4fG

http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2013/nrl-scientists-produce-densest-artificial-ionospheric-plasma-clouds-using-haarp Photo: SRI International—Elizabeth Kendall

THE HIGH FREQUENCY ACTIVE AURORAL RESEARCH PROGRAM (H.A.A.R.P.)

Most of us see the word HAARP when it’s used as something to blame for any natural phenomena or disaster; be it clouds, rainbows, earthquakes, sink holes – even storms on other planets (3rd comment on this post http://on.fb.me/12oOvEU). Aside from being a word used to troll comments, what did HAARP actually do and what research was it used for?

The goal of HAARP was to study the properties and behaviour of Earth's ionosphere, which is part of the upper atmosphere and lies at about 85 km (53 mi) to 600 km (370 mi) altitude. The ionosphere is the transition area between the atmosphere and the magnetosphere, where the atmosphere is thin enough for the Sun's X-rays and UV rays to penetrate it but also thick enough for there to be enough molecules present to absorb these rays. HAARP studied the natural processes in the ionosphere which occur under the natural yet stronger influence of solar interaction. This also includes studying how the ionosphere affects radio signals.

The ionospheric research facility was located in Gakona, Alaska. Alaska was chosen for the site as it is the only US state in the auroral region and its ionosphere has a variety of conditions that HAARP could study. HAARP had an array of 180 antennas within a land area of about 14 hectares (35 acres). The array and its integrated transmitters had a total radiated power capability of about 3,600 kilowatts. Research at the facility had a particular emphasis on understanding and using the ionosphere to enhance the design of communication and navigation systems for civilian and defense purposes.

The facility contained the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI), which was a high power transmitter facility operating in the High Frequency (HF) range. The IRI was used to temporarily excite a limited area of the ionosphere so that the physical processes occurring in that excited region can be studied using diagnostic instruments. The facility directed a 3.6 MW signal, in the 2.8–10 MHz region of the HF (high-frequency) band, into the ionosphere; the signal could either be pulsed or continuous. The effects of this transmission were then examined using VHF and UHF radars, HF receivers, and optical cameras.

The energy transmitted in these frequency ranges was not absorbed in either the troposphere or the stratosphere, which are the two levels of the atmosphere that produce Earth's weather. This added energy’s effects were limited to a region directly over the HAARP observatory which ranges in size from 9 km to 40 km in radius; these effects rapidly dissipate once the HF transmitter is shut down. HAARP interacted only with charged (or ionised) particles in this limited area of the ionosphere directly over the facility; interaction occurs because a charged particle (electron or positive ion) reacts to an external electric field. The effects that HAARP produces were very small when compared with the natural day-night variations that occur in the ionosphere. By observing the processes that result from the use of the IRI, scientists were better able to understand the processes that occur under the natural stimulation of the Sun.

There were other scientific instruments at the HAARP Observatory that do not use the IRI. There was a fluxgate magnetometer which is used to monitor variations in the Earth's magnetic field. Rapid and sharp changes can indicate a geomagnetic storm. There was also a digisonde that provides ionospheric profiles; this allowed scientists to choose the right frequencies for IRI operation. An induction magnetometer measures the changing geomagnetic field in the Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) range of 0–5 Hz.

There were other instruments at the facility used to study ionospheric characterisation using satellite beacons; telescopic observation of the fine structure in the aurora; and documentation of long-term variations in the ozone layer. Data collected by all the scientific instruments at the ionospheric observatory are archived and made available in chart form on HAARP’s website. The Environmental Impact Process (EIP) documents are a matter of public record and the project is not classified.

In 2007, Radar pulses from the HAARP research station were bounced off the Moon and picked up by a radio telescope system in New Mexico. This was the lowest frequency radar echo from the Moon ever detected on Earth; it took 2.4 seconds to radio the Moon. Scientists analysing the echo gained insights into the properties of the lunar sub-surface topography; the low frequency radar waves propagated to differing depths below the surface of the Moon. The experiment also allowed the team to study the interaction of the echo signal with the Earth’s ionosphere along its return path.

During the experiment, which was carried out on Oct. 28 and 29, 2007, the radar signals from HAARP were at 7.4075 MHz and 9.4075 MHz. Both the transmitted signal and the echo from the moon were detected by NRL Remote Sensing Division scientist, Dr. Kenneth Stewart, and NRL engineer Brian Hicks with antennas built for the Long Wavelength Array (LWA).

The HAARP programme began in 1990 and the major construction at the facility was completed in 2007. HAARP research is published in a number of journals, including the Journal of Geophysical Research, Geophysical Research Letters, and Radio Science. Some are available here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/search/easi/results. The HAARP research facility was temporarily shut down in 2013 and then finally shut down in 2014.

-TEL

More on the Moon radar research: http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2008/scientists-detect-lowest-frequency-radar-echo-from-the-moon http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/ Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program

#Volcanosnowman I got my first snowfall of the upcoming winter last week, and this week North America is facing an early-season outbreak of arctic weather. A typhoon in the Pacific Basin is migrating north towards Alaska today and will, over the next few days, knock the jet stream and an arctic airmass south over the bulk of North America. I even made the mistake of moving farther north this year. This therefore seems like the right day for this photo. This photo shows a geologist from the US Geological Survey on the slopes of Mt. St. Helens in Washington from February, 1983, almost 3 years after the large explosive eruption in 1980. The geologist has a friend holding his radio, belt, and I’m pretty sure that’s a can of mildly chilled beer. -JBB Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgeologicalsurvey/14218344980/

Have you ever wondered which spacecraft are talking to the Earth at any given time? You can actually watch the Deep Space Network in action, receiving data and uploading commands, at this new link. It was talking to Voyager 1, Stereo-A, MESSENGER, Rosetta, and MRO when this was taken