RADIO STUDIES OF THE SOUTHERN-HEMISPHERE HIGH-LATITUDE IONOSPHERE

Radio studies are crucial for the study of the high-latitude ionosphere and this paper is a brief review of the use of radio probing techniques being used in Antarctica. It is important to study the Antarctic ionosphere in order to understand conjugate effects and the result of differences in north-south symmetry such as the greater offset between the geographic and geomagnetic poles which occurs in the southern hemisphere. The main radio techniques being used in Antarctica are MF auroral radars, digital ionosondes and satellite beacon observations. Current developments of the SHARE HF radar system, installation of additional digital ionosondes, and the installation of GPS receivers which can provide TEC data, will all provide significant advances in our ability to study the Antarctic ionosphere. Details of the structure and convection of the ionosphere, and its response to magnetospheric phenomena, will all be studied in much more detail than before. Undoubtedly collaborative studies with conjugate northern hemisphere systems will have the highest priority but collaborative studies using the different Antarctic instruments will reveal new insights into phenomena such as polar arcs, patches and blobs. Advances in the use of digital ionosondes to study the ionosphere will also be important at lower latitudes. As an example, observations of storm, effects at sub-auroral latitudes, obtained using a digital ionosonde operating as an oblique HF radar, are presented.