Kodiak's talking heavens.

• Author: Jeffrey, Sue
• Position: Antenna network to be constructed on Alaskan island

Global Antenna Network Links Alaska To Space

Scientists worldwide are in the midst of constructing a gigantic network of antennas around the North and South poles to better understand the physics at play in space. The system stretches from Finland to Central Canada and, soon, to Kodiak Island, the first site to be erected on U.S. soil.

Philosophers during the Roman Empire thought the auroras were fissures in the night sky that let light in from the other side of darkness. The Eskimos believed the colorful waves of light were ancestors playing ball with walrus skulls, light leaking out when the tusks poked holes in the dark heavens.

Folklore about the aurora borealis, or northern lights, may sound unscientific. But as we stand at the door of the 21st century, scientists are working as hard as ever to solve the mystery behind the astonishing curtains of light that drape across the polar nights.

Kodiak Joins Network

In fact, scientists worldwide are in the midst of constructing a gigantic network of antennas around the North and South poles to better understand the physics at play in space. The global antenna system, called the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network, or SuperDARN, stretches around the North Pole from Finland to Central Canada and, soon, to Kodiak Island, the first site to be erected on U.S. soil.

Over the past five years, scientists have begun using the antennas to study the ionosphere, the upper atmosphere located approximately 60 miles to 150 miles from the Earth's surface.

"Using SuperDARN, we can observe motions in the ionosphere," said Dr. Bill Bristow, a physicist from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. "Sometimes when the sun puts out an especially large amount of energy, as during a large solar flare, the motion that is generated in the ionosphere can cause problems for us on Earth that can include disruption of radio communications and damage to satellites.

"The goal of SuperDARN is to understand how the ionosphere responds to the wildly varying conditions that Earth is subjected to. It is hoped that computer models can be developed to accurately predict conditions in the upper atmosphere."

Around the poles, scientists from Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Japan, South Africa, Sweden and the U.S. installed the first SuperDARN site at Goose Bay, Labrador in 1983. Since 1993, they have added nine more around the North and South poles - five in Finland, Iceland and...