AMISR-14 is a 14-panel version of the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR) system that has been deployed at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory in Peru.
In collaboration with Ana G. Mendez University (Puerto Rico) and the Jicamarca Radio Observatory we have been able to make new UHF radar observations of the geospace environment at low latitudes using AMISR-14 (Rodrigues et al., 2023).
Figure 1 shows the array of antennas that is part of the AMISR-14 system.
Figure 1 – Antenna array of the AMISR-14 system.
Additionally, the electronic steering capability of the system allowed us to create new two-dimensional observations of irregularities in the ionospheric electron density. Figure 2 presents a sequence of images that show the evolution of a plume, radar signature of a large-scale ionospheric perturbation also known as equatorial plasma bubble.
Figure 2 – The top panel shows the range-time-intensity (RTI) map of the near-zenith observations made by the AMISR-14. The bottom panels show a sequence of two-dimensional distributions of F-region echoes (sub-meter ionospheric irregularities) observed by AMISR-14. The images are within the time window indicated by the horizontal white line in the RTI map. These images show the genesis and evolution of a radar plume.