Heinselman, C. and Nicolls, M.
SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, USA
The Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar, based on AMISR technology, commenced scientific operations in January of this year. This system is the first pulse to pulse steerable phased array ISR operating at high latitudes and, as such, fully exploiting its capabilities requires some new developments in radar techniques. In this presentation, we will discuss an approach to estimating the vector ion velocities from measurements made in multiple simultaneous directions. While the approach is also applicable to other systems, PFISR derives special benefits from it because that system readily supports simultaneous estimates at multiple spatial and temporal scales. In particular, the measurements themselves can help determine what scales are available in the data sets after collection in a very general way, greatly relaxing the need to make critical decisions before or during an experiment.
In addition to discussing the technique, several data sets will be presented to demonstrate its application. In particular, we will show estimates of latitudinal profiles of electric field behavior versus time as well as neutral wind influences on ion motion as a function of altitude.