Abstract
Abstract. The COSCAT system enables the detection of E-region auroral backscatter with the EISCAT remote receivers at magnetic aspect angles close to 90 °. This is achieved by utilising a low-power transmitter stationed in Oulu, Finland. Many important observations of E-region irregularities have been achieved with this simple experiment. Recent studies have attempted to push the COSCAT system to its experimental limits. Firstly, the CW signal has been phase-modulated with 13-bit Barker codes with baud lengths of 40, 70 and 100 µs. Interpretation of the received power allows the spatial distribution of the auroral scatterers to be determined. The second advance is in the use of a sophisticated correlator program which allows data to be buffered within the correlator at very high time resolution. This enables the coherent backscatter power to be sampled every 12.5 ms and the full auto-correlation function to be measured every 100 ms. These measurements allow the COSCAT system to be employed for the first time in an investigation of the growth and decay of the auroral irregularities.Key words. Ionosphere (ionospheric irregularities) · Radio science (Instruments and techniques)
Highlights
The COherent SCATter experiment (COSCAT, McCrea et al, 1991) was developed to enable the observation of Eregion auroral plasma irregularities at small magnetic aspect angles with the European Incoherent SCATter facility (EISCAT; Rishbeth and Williams, 1985)
There are two key areas in which this has been achieved; Barker coding of the transmitted signal to allow the determination of spatial structure in the scattering region and the operation of special correlator programs at the EISCAT receivers in order to improve the time resolution of the observations
The two remote EISCAT receivers at SodankylaÈ and Kiruna are oriented to look at low elevations approximately due north (Fig. 1), into a volume of the E-region illuminated by a transmitting antenna at Oulu
Summary
The COherent SCATter experiment (COSCAT, McCrea et al, 1991) was developed to enable the observation of Eregion auroral plasma irregularities at small magnetic aspect angles with the European Incoherent SCATter facility (EISCAT; Rishbeth and Williams, 1985). It. Recent operation of the COSCAT experiment has focussed on improving the technical capabilities of the experiment, thereby furthering the study of auroral plasma irregularities. There are two key areas in which this has been achieved; Barker coding of the transmitted signal to allow the determination of spatial structure in the scattering region and the operation of special correlator programs at the EISCAT receivers in order to improve the time resolution of the observations
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