The EISCAT Svalbard Radar has two parabolic dishes. In order to attempt to implement radar aperture synthesis imaging methods three smaller, passive receive array antennas were built. Several science goals for this new receiver system exist, the primary of which is to study so called naturally enhanced ion acoustic lines. In order to compare radar aperture synthesis imaging results with measurements from optical imagers, calibration of the radar interferometer system is necessary. In this work we present the phase calibration of the EISCAT Svalbard interferometer including one array antenna. The calibration was done using the coherent scatter from satellites passing through the radar beam. Optical signatures of the satellite transits provide accurate position for the satellites. By using transits of a number of satellites sufficient for mapping the radar beam, the interferometric cross-phase was fitted within the radar beam. The calibration technique presented in this work will be applied to all antenna pairs of the antenna configuration for future interferometry studies.

We present the first measurements of Naturally Enhanced Ion Acoustic Line (NEIAL) echoes observed with 5 antennas. The observations were obtained with the European Incoherent CATter (EISCAT) radar and the EISCAT Aperture Synthesis Imaging receivers (EASI) installed at the EISCAT Svalbard site. Four baselines of the interferometer are used in the analysis. Based on the coherence estimates derived from the measurements we show that the enhanced backscattering region is limited in the plane perpendicular to the geomagnetic field. Previously it has been argued that the enhanced backscatter region is limited in size, however, here the first unambiguous observations are presented. The size of the enhanced backscatter region is determined to be less than 900500 m, and at times less than 160 m in the direction of the longest antenna separation, assuming the scattering region to have a Gaussian scattering cross section in the plane perpendicular to the geomagnetic field. Using aperture synthesis imaging methods volumetric images of the NEIAL echo are obtained showing the enhanced backscattering region to be aligned with the geomagnetic field. Although optical auroral emissions are observed outside the radar beam we show that the enhanced backscatter region and optical emission likely occur on the same geomagnetic field lines.

Natural enhancements in the backscattered power of incoherent scatter radars up to 5 orders of magnitudes above the thermal backscatter are sometimes observed at high latitudes. Recently observations of enhancements in the backscattered power including a feature at zero Doppler shift have been reported. These enhancements are limited in altitude to tens of kilometers. The zero Doppler shift feature has been interpreted as a signature of electron density cavitation. Enhanced plasma lines during these observations have also been reported. We report on the first EISCAT UHF observations of enhanced backscattered radar power including a zero Doppler shift feature. The enhancements originated from two distinct and intermittent layers at about 200 km altitude. The altitude extent of the enhancements, observed during auroral high-energy electron precipitation, was < 2 km.

We present a statistical study of anomalous radar echoes observed in the auroral ionosphere thought to be signatures of Langmuir turbulence (LT). Data obtained with the European Incoherent Scatter Svalbard radar during the international polar year (IPY) were searched for these anomalous echoes in the auroral Fregion. In incoherent scatter radar experiments LT may in certain circumstances be observed as enhanced backscattered radar power at the ion line frequencies, plasma line frequencies, and at zero Doppler shift. The power enhancement at zero Doppler shift could arise due to Bragg scattering from nonpropagating density fluctuations caused by strong LT. In the IPY data set, around 0.02% of the data comply with our search criteria for altitudes above 190 km based on the ion line spectrum including enhancement at zero Doppler shift. The occurrence frequency of the identified events peaks in the premidnight sector and increases with local geomagnetic disturbance. Enhanced backscattered power is observed with limited altitude extent (below 20 km in 70% of the events), and the altitude distribution of identified radar signatures in the ion line channel has a peak at about 220 km. Enhancement of the plasma line is observed with the ion line enhancements in more than 60% of the events. Two classes of enhanced plasma lines occur. In the first class, plasma lines are limited in frequency and altitude and occur at altitudes of ion line enhancements. In the second class, the plasma lines are spread in frequency and range and are observed at lower altitudes than the first class (at about 170 km) with frequencies close to 3 MHz. Available optical data available indicate that the identified events to occur during auroral breakup with high-energy electron precipitation.