ELF Radar System Proposed for Localized D-Region Ionospheric Anomalies

This letter proposes a novel extremely low frequency (ELF) radar for localized D-region (altitude < 95 km) ionospheric anomalies that have been generated by natural geophysical processes. The proposed system would use the former U.S. Navy Wisconsin Transmitting Facility as a distant well-characterized impulsive ELF source. Sample calculations that demonstrate how passive vertical E-field detectors could characterize ionospheric conductivity depressions of variable diameter located above Los Angeles are provided. These calculations have been obtained using our recently developed three-dimensional whole-Earth electromagnetic wave propagation model based upon the rigorous finite-difference time-domain solution of Maxwell's equations. A key potential application of the proposed ELF radar system is the detection of hypothesized ionospheric earthquake precursors