Convener:
Wesley E. Swartz (wes@ece.cornell.edu), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
(Chairman of the URSI Incoherent Scatter Working Group)
2004 Thursday 01 July 0945-1145 AM
Coordinated experiments (called "World Days") at the Upper Atmospheric Facilities (UAFs) are scheduled each year under the auspices of the URSI Incoherent Scatter Working Group (ISWG). Other ground-based and space based instrument clusters are also encouraged to take data on these days and contribute to the scientific studies. This year the CEDAR meeting provided a lively forum of about 40 participants that shared ideas for the World Day experiments for the 2005 calendar year. The resulting draft for a very ambitious year can be found at http://people.ece.cornell.edu/wes/URSI_ISWG/2005WDschedule.htm. This link also includes descriptions of the objectives of the various experiments.
A highlight of next year's schedule is a 30-day run, a "World Month", planned for the month of September. Although it is not expected that all the UAFs will run the full 30 days, both Millstone Hill and EISCAT Svalbard have already demonstrated the capability for continuous operations lasting this long. Also Jicamarca often makes very long runs, albeit usually in one of their lower power modes. Arecibo is likely to contribute to about 10 of the 30 days, either in two groups of 5 days or all in sequence. Discussions are continuing as to just what operational mode is optimum for each UAF.
We were reminded that our CEDAR modelers like to have three or more days in sequence for the best comparison/validation schemes. The groups of 3 to 5 day runs, as well as the World Month, should produce excellent data sets to meet these needs.
The data collected during World Days are readily available in the CEDAR database and/or through other online databases. Those interested in storm time effects should take a look at the World Day data for 2004 April 4 in which Millstone Hill recorded factors of 2 to 3 increases in the F-region electron densities. Interested parties should get in touch with the contact people listed for the appropriate World Day period type.
Other useful information (including the current and several past years' schedules) can be found on the index page at http://people.ece.cornell.edu/wes/URSI_ISWG.