NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE 
 
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 
 
 
Media contact:  May 21, 1998 
Lynn Simarski   NSF PR 98-31 
(703) 306-1070/lsimarsk@nsf.gov 
 
Program contact: 
John Lynch 
(703) 306-1045/jlynch@nsf.gov 
 
AUTOMATIC OBSERVATORIES WATCH UPPER ATMOSPHERE FROM ANTARCTICA 
 
A network of six unmanned Antarctic Geophysical Observatories (AGOs) housing instruments to collect 
data about the earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere at high latitudes is now up and running in the 
remote reaches of Antarctica. The AGOs operate all year long, including over the long polar winter. 
 
These small trailer-like observatories measure eight-by-eight-by-sixteen feet and provide 50 watts of 
electrical power to the experiments. They store data to be retrieved later during the Antarctic summer. 
The AGOs also report on weather and their own status via satellite. 
 
"Antarctica is the only place on earth where there's a landmass to base these instruments to study the 
upper atmosphere at very high magnetic latitudes -- and at many different magnetic longitudes," said 
Louis Lanzerotti of Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies. Lanzerotti uses the observatories to house 
magnetometers which measure changes in the earth's magnetic field caused by electrical currents in the 
upper atmosphere. Naturally changing currents can induce secondary currents in long-distance telephone 
lines, for example, sometimes causing damage or interference. 
 
"Data from the AGOs, added to observations from the inhabited Antarctic stations and from AGOs of the 
British Antarctic Survey, are beginning to give us a wealth of information about the ionosphere at high 
geomagnetic latitudes -- the region around the earth's geomagnetic pole," said John Lynch, National 
Science Foundation (NSF) program director for polar aeronomy and astrophysics. 
 
"This is where magnetic-field lines and ionized particles come down from space to intersect the earth's 
atmosphere, so we can study the outer parts of the earth's magnetosphere," Lynch said. "The AGOs are 
also helping to foster better understanding of the earth's response to solar activity." 
 
Knowing the physics of the magnetosphere helps to predict geomagnetic storms that can disrupt power 
grids and satellite communications. 
 
The long, dark Antarctic winter permits optical observations of the aurora around the clock. The 
extremely cold, dry air of the East Antarctic plateau also lends clarity to such observations. These 
measurements cannot be done at similar latitudes in the north which are located above the Arctic Ocean -- 
not a stable observing platform. 
Besides magnetometers, the AGOs contain VLF-HF (very low frequency/high frequency) receivers, 
riometers, and all-sky cameras. 
 
The AGO network is the result of years of planning how to use stable, earthbound sites to acquire data on 
the upper atmosphere and space. The network had to overcome the challenge of operating in the harsh 
environmental extremes of Antarctica. 
 
 
For further information, including photos of an AGO and a map showing the AGO network in Antarctica, 
see: http://www.polar.umd.edu and http://sprg.ssl.berkely.edu/atmos/data/