Abstract
Abstract. The article focuses on the history of ionospheric research using the incoherent scatter method at the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics and development of the only incoherent scatter radar in Russia, which is located near Irkutsk. It describes the radar features and the current situation of research at the Irkutsk Incoherent Scatter Radar (IISR). Operating modes and types of measurements of the radar are specified. There is a brief description of the original measurement techniques that were developed considering the IISR features such as the frequency principle of scanning and receiving of one linear polarization of a scattered signal. The main feature of the IISR is the possibility of obtaining absolute values of the ionospheric plasma electron density. The automatic method for constructing the electron density vertical profile is based on registration of vertical profiles of a rotation phase of the polarization plane of a scattered signal. The method does not require calibration with additional facilities.
Highlights
In the Soviet Union, the 1960s was a period of growth in all branches of science and, above all, in physics
Since 2006 to the present time, the Irkutsk Incoherent Scatter Radar (IISR) has worked over 800 d in the ionospheric sounding mode
Since 2011 till in the intervals between active observations, the IISR has been operated in the radio astronomical mode of observations of solar radio emission and registration of signal scintillations from space radio sources
Summary
In the Soviet Union, the 1960s was a period of growth in all branches of science and, above all, in physics. In 1975, Zherebtsov initiated a special laboratory at the institute, where they designed and constructed the first 40-channel analog spectrograph (see Fig. 2) and developed methods and programs to process data of incoherent scattering. At this stage, Boris Velichansky, Valery Kulagin, Vladimir Abramov, Alexander Klimov, Alexey Zavorin, and Valery Evstafiev took part in the works. At this point, our colleagues from the Millstone Hill observatory, and their leader John Foster who visited the radar in autumn 1997 (see Fig. 4), gave very important support to the future Irkutsk Incoherent Scatter Radar. Foster was able to get a grant from the National Science Foundation for joint research at the IISR and Millstone Hill ISR, and this cooperation was of value for the IISR from both a scientific and financial point of view
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