Southern Hemisphere Auroral Radar Experiment

The Southern Hemisphere Auroral Radar Experiment, or SHARE, started in 1988, is an

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

research project designed to observe velocities and irregularities of electrical fields in the

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...

and

magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior Dynamo ...

. It is operated jointly by the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

, Potchefstroom University, the

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of list of global issues, global issues, and to provide an active prese ...

and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and operates out of British Halley Station, South African SANAE IV Station and Japanese Showa Station. Using a total of 16 antennas, each mounted on a 12 m tower and radiating on fixed frequencies in the 8–20

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

range, SHARE transmits a radio frequency pulse into the upper atmosphere every two minutes. The three stations' ranges overlap to cover most of the Antarctic continent. SHARE is part of the international Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN). It supplies valuable data to track

space weather Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the varying conditions within the Solar System and its heliosphere. This includes the effects of the solar wind, especially on the Earth's magnetosphere, ion ...

. Meteorology research and field projects Radio frequency propagation Plasma physics facilities Ground radars Astronomical experiments in the Antarctic 1988 establishments in Antarctica {{plasma-stub