The Fast Borealis Ionosphere: High Time‐Resolution Mapping of Polar Ionospheric Flows With SuperDARN
Abstract Recent improvements to hardware for the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network systems have allowed for a much greater control of radar transmit and receive functionalities than previously possible. One of these functionalities is the application of a new operational mode, known as wide‐beam, whi...
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Earth and Space Science |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EA003876 |
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| author | D. D. Billett R. A. Rohel C. J. Martin K. A. McWilliams K. M. Laundal |
| author_facet | D. D. Billett R. A. Rohel C. J. Martin K. A. McWilliams K. M. Laundal |
| author_sort | D. D. Billett |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Recent improvements to hardware for the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network systems have allowed for a much greater control of radar transmit and receive functionalities than previously possible. One of these functionalities is the application of a new operational mode, known as wide‐beam, which vastly improves the temporal resolution of the radars without compromising their spatial coverage. Wide‐beam allows for the retrieval of line‐of‐sight ionospheric drift velocities at a temporal resolution of 3.7 s, a sixteen‐fold improvement from the one‐minute resolution offered by traditional operational modes. In this paper, we use wide‐beam data from the Borealis SuperDARN systems, located in Canada, to derive local horizontal ionospheric plasma velocity fields above Northern Canada, Greenland, and the polar cap, at a 3.7 s temporal resolution. For this local fitting of ionospheric velocity data, we use the Local Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (Lompe) spherical elementary current systems technique. This new data product, which we call the Fast Borealis Ionosphere, is compared to both the global SuperDARN spherical harmonic convection pattern data product (the Map Potential technique), as well as Lompe convection patterns derived using the traditional SuperDARN narrow‐beam scanning mode. We show that Lompe systematically produces a better representation of the underlying radar velocity data than Map Potential, that the 3.7 s wide‐beam data contains a significant amount more ionospheric variability than narrow‐beam, and that the high time‐resolution convection patterns can resolve dynamic ionospheric events lasting on the order of tens of seconds. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-84bc92d846d746e48e1d5782e1e2456f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2333-5084 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
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| series | Earth and Space Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-84bc92d846d746e48e1d5782e1e2456f2025-08-20T03:30:01ZengAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU)Earth and Space Science2333-50842025-06-01126n/an/a10.1029/2024EA003876The Fast Borealis Ionosphere: High Time‐Resolution Mapping of Polar Ionospheric Flows With SuperDARND. D. Billett0R. A. Rohel1C. J. Martin2K. A. McWilliams3K. M. Laundal4Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon SK CanadaInstitute of Space and Atmospheric Studies University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon SK CanadaInstitute of Space and Atmospheric Studies University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon SK CanadaInstitute of Space and Atmospheric Studies University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon SK CanadaDepartment of Physics and Technology University of Bergen Bergen NorwayAbstract Recent improvements to hardware for the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network systems have allowed for a much greater control of radar transmit and receive functionalities than previously possible. One of these functionalities is the application of a new operational mode, known as wide‐beam, which vastly improves the temporal resolution of the radars without compromising their spatial coverage. Wide‐beam allows for the retrieval of line‐of‐sight ionospheric drift velocities at a temporal resolution of 3.7 s, a sixteen‐fold improvement from the one‐minute resolution offered by traditional operational modes. In this paper, we use wide‐beam data from the Borealis SuperDARN systems, located in Canada, to derive local horizontal ionospheric plasma velocity fields above Northern Canada, Greenland, and the polar cap, at a 3.7 s temporal resolution. For this local fitting of ionospheric velocity data, we use the Local Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (Lompe) spherical elementary current systems technique. This new data product, which we call the Fast Borealis Ionosphere, is compared to both the global SuperDARN spherical harmonic convection pattern data product (the Map Potential technique), as well as Lompe convection patterns derived using the traditional SuperDARN narrow‐beam scanning mode. We show that Lompe systematically produces a better representation of the underlying radar velocity data than Map Potential, that the 3.7 s wide‐beam data contains a significant amount more ionospheric variability than narrow‐beam, and that the high time‐resolution convection patterns can resolve dynamic ionospheric events lasting on the order of tens of seconds.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EA003876ionosphereSuperDARNconvectionspace weathermagnetosphere |
| spellingShingle | D. D. Billett R. A. Rohel C. J. Martin K. A. McWilliams K. M. Laundal The Fast Borealis Ionosphere: High Time‐Resolution Mapping of Polar Ionospheric Flows With SuperDARN Earth and Space Science ionosphere SuperDARN convection space weather magnetosphere |
| title | The Fast Borealis Ionosphere: High Time‐Resolution Mapping of Polar Ionospheric Flows With SuperDARN |
| title_full | The Fast Borealis Ionosphere: High Time‐Resolution Mapping of Polar Ionospheric Flows With SuperDARN |
| title_fullStr | The Fast Borealis Ionosphere: High Time‐Resolution Mapping of Polar Ionospheric Flows With SuperDARN |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Fast Borealis Ionosphere: High Time‐Resolution Mapping of Polar Ionospheric Flows With SuperDARN |
| title_short | The Fast Borealis Ionosphere: High Time‐Resolution Mapping of Polar Ionospheric Flows With SuperDARN |
| title_sort | fast borealis ionosphere high time resolution mapping of polar ionospheric flows with superdarn |
| topic | ionosphere SuperDARN convection space weather magnetosphere |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EA003876 |
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