3
1. INTRODUCTION
A three year research program is proposed to establish an array of wideband ELF/VLF receiversand to conduct continuous measurements of the magnetospheric response to the injection of ELF/VLF waves using the HAARP HF heater. The primary objective of the proposed programis to detect the so-called
‘
one-hop
’
direct and the
‘
two-hop
’
whistler-mode echo of a HAARP-injected ELF/VLF signal, and to study the characteristics of these signals to determine thedegree to which injected ELF/VLF signals are ampli
fi
ed by the magnetospheric plasma, leadingto the triggering of new emissions and enhanced precipitation of energetic electrons from theradiation belts. The scienti
fi
c opportunities, background and justi
fi
cation for ELF/VLF wave-injection and magnetospheric probing experiments with HAARP are provided in
AttachmentA
, which is a copy of a detailed report prepared earlier (April 2001) by Stanford for preliminaryELF/VLF wave-injection campaigns conducted under the auspices of the Polar Aeronomy andRadio Science (PARS) program.
L
= 7
L
= 6
L
= 5
L
= 4Akhiok Port GrahamHAARPCrosswindChistochinaJuneau
L
= 3Ketchikan
Cold BayValdezYakutat
PrecipitatingReflectedHeatedregionwavesAmplified and/ortriggeredwavesInteractionregionEnergeticelectronsPitch anglescatteredelectronsReflectedwaves
Conj.PointHAARP
electronsInjectedwaves
Fig. 1. Proposed Program of ELF/VLF Observations in the northern hemisphere.
At each of the sites shown, broadband ELF/VLF measurements will be conducted with identical equipmentand with two orthogonal magnetic loop antennas. The purpose of the measurements is to detect thetwo-hop whistler-mode echo of ELF/VLF signals injected into the magnetosphere by modulatedHF heating of the auroral electrojet by HAARP. The solid line circles are incremented in radiiby 100-km, with the outermost one having a radius of 1000-km. The loci of the
L
-shells showncorrespond to 100-km altitude, so that the
L
-value at the ground levels are somewhat lower. Forexample, the HAARP facility at ground level is located at
L
4
.
89, while the
L
-value at 100-kmaltitude immediately above HAARP is
L
5
.
25.
The measurements of the two-hop signals in the northern hemisphere would be complementedwith ELF/VLF observations in the geomagnetically conjugate region (in the Southern Paci
fi
cOcean) on buoy (see Figure 3), aimed at observing ampli
fi
ed one-hop whistler-mode signalsand associated triggered emissions. Based on results from 15-years of experimentation with theVLF wave-injection facility at Siple Station, Antarctica (
L
4
.
2), observation of the ampli
fi
edone-hop signal with triggered emissions is
∼
5 times more likely than the detection of the two-hopecho [Carpenter and Bao, 1983]. Accordingly, the ocean-based measurement is considered a
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