Scientific and Technical Discovery at the Millstone Hill Geospace Facility

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is for the maintenance and operations of the Millstone Hill Observatory (MHO) in Westford, Massachusetts. MHO sits at the MIT Haystack Observatory which has been by the institute for many decades. The site consists of two 2.5MW UHF transmitter, a fixed zenith 68m diameter antenna and a 46m fully steerable antenna. In 1958, the UHF radar was built by MIT Lincoln Laboratory for the US Air Force for ballistic missile and satellite tracking. In 1974, NSF began supporting the radar operations studies of the upper atmosphere. The power and frequency of these two incoherent scatter radars remain unique in the world, with a handful of such radars still in operation for science. Modern technology has yet to surpass the resolution that can be obtained by this radar and the others like it. In addition to maintaining this unique asset for the US scientific community, this award provides funding for the Madrigal database, which is a central database groundbased observations from across the planet. It is a key asset for the Aeronomical science community. MHO makes measurements in the mid latitudes, subauroral zone making it a key location between NSFs auroral zone assets (AMISR) and equatorial assets (Arecibo Observatory and Jicamarca Radio Observatory). The 2020-2025 MHGF program will conduct ionospheric and thermospheric research at the frontiers of Geospace science. These include (1) thermosphere-ionosphere dynamics and variability studies, including tides, planetary waves, and traveling ionospheric disturbances using long duration IS radar observations; (2) studies of wave and disturbance signatures including those from the solar terminator, mesospheric gravity waves, and coupled whole atmospheric responses; (3) geomagnetic storm response and magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling; and (4) eclipse response and dynamics during the April 2024 continental US total eclipse. MHGF will enable Geospace radar observations to support community science objectives, through (1) increasing total Millstone Hill IS radar observation time from ~1000 hours/year to 1250 hours/year; (2) providing sub-auroral coverage using a wide field of view suited for system science investigations; and (3) producing high quality data using validated and calibrated systems. MHGF will conduct a new series of annual 30-day continuous Millstone Hill IS radar mid-latitude campaigns that will (1) organize a science focused planning effort at the CEDAR and GEM workshops; (2) coordinate additional ground and space-based observations to maximize science returns; (3) lead data analysis for the topics listed above and those defined by CEDAR and GEM; and (4) organize and host a 30-day run focused model-data comparison workshop to promote IS radar data use for geospace system science. MHGF will demonstrate a new mid-latitude meteor radar based neutral wind observation capability using advanced radio capture with the RAPID platform that will (1) measure fine-scale mesospheric neutral wind structure over Millstone Hill; (2) overlap a 30-day IS radar run and provide approximately one year of neutral wind data; and (3) explore techniques for comparison of IS radar and multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO) based meteor wind measurements. MHGF will also produce and make available GNSS based total electron content data products that (1) provide line of sight and vertical total electron content observations with bias calibration; and (2) support the use of GNSS products in Geospace science research by the community. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.