The Southern Hemisphere Auroral Radar Experiment
The Southern Hemisphere Auroral Radar Experiment (SHARE) is an Antarctic research project begun in 1988 to observe the speed and irregularities in the electrical fields of the ionosphere and magnetosphere , jointly carried out by the University of Natal, Potchefstroom University, the British Antarctic Survey and the Johns Hopkins University is coordinated. The investigations are carried out in Antarctica at the South African SANAE-IV station and the Halley (England) and Syowa (Japan) stations, which are around 1000 km away .
A total of 16 antennas are used, each on its own 12 m high tower, which operate on a fixed frequency between 8 and 20 MHz. The functionality corresponds to that of a conventional radar - every two minutes a high-frequency radio signal is sent through the antennas into the upper atmosphere .
The fields of the three research stations overlap so that a large part of the Antarctic continent can be covered. The project is also part of the international Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) and provides valuable data for determining the solar energy fields that radiate on the earth (“ space weather ”).
See also
- Research stations in the Antarctic
- HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program)
Web links
- Research on SANAE : Overview of SHARE
- Pictures from SHARE