AGH UST scientist heads work on unique radiolocation system

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Professor Andrzej Kułak of the Department of Electronics heads a design and research team which has developed the WERA system, a new intercontinental radiolocation system, working within the ELF range and serving to obtain the measurement of discharges in the Earth’s atmosphere.   

The Polish global radiolocation system WERA (World ELF Radiolocation Array), which uses electromagnetic waves of Extremely Low Frequency (ELF), consists of three measurement stations. The first one – Hylaty – has been continually in operation since 2005 in the Bieszczady Mountains. The second one is the “Hugo” station, launched in Colorado (USA) in 2015. On 27 March, 2016, the third measurement station – Patagonia – was opened in Rio Gallegos in Argentina. Combining data from these three stations, placed in different parts of the world will, for example, enable scientists to locate precisely the examined phenomena in the atmosphere, such as large electrical discharges into the Earth’s ionosphere.   

The WERA system is a result of a project carried out by the Krakow ELF Team. The team is headed by Dr Andrzej Kułak of AGH UST, and its members are: Janusz Młynarczyk, DSc, of the AGH UST Department of Electronics, professor Michał Ostrowski, Vladimir Marchenko, PhD, Adam Michalec, PhD, Zenon Nieckarz, PhD, Stanisław Zięba, PhD, Jerzy Kubisz, BSc, of the Jagiellonian University, and Michał Dyrda, PhD, of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.  

WERA operates in a continuous manner within the frequency range from 0.03 to 300 Hz. Thanks to very limited wave damping, the ELF system ensures the location and measurement of the parameters of natural wave sources on the entire surface of the Earth. A high class of the system is possible thanks to independent measurement stations powered by internal energy sources, located in uninhabited areas, and of a very little level of interference from humans, modern-life and electromagnetic sources (the stations are not connected to the Internet).  

The development of the system was preceded by many-year research conducted by the team in the field of modelling the propagation of ELF waves in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide, and the search for the new methods of signal analysis. Since 1994 the team has been constructing their own ELF research and measurement equipment, thanks to which a number of technologically-advanced antennas and reception systems have been developed. The result of many-year observations are a number of pioneering research activities in the field of the analysis of the influence of solar activity on the condition of the waveguide (2003), the mapping of storm centres (2006-2009), and research into the parameters of sources based on the analysis of the ELF electromagnetic field pulses (2010-2015). Currently, the Krakow team is one of the most advanced teams in this type of research in the world.   

Research conducted with the use of the WERA system is of interdisciplinary character and can be applied to several disciplines of science. In the first place, thanks to the simultaneous observations of the Schumann resonance phenomenon by means of three stations, it is possible to map and measure in absolute units the time-varying global storm activity on a scale from minutes to many years. It enables scientists to perform precise geophysical, as well as meteorological and climatic analyses. This research can play an important role in the measurement and forecasting of the greenhouse effect on the Earth. The multi-point measurement of the Schumann resonances also makes it possible to examine precisely the models of the Earth-ionosphere waveguide, as well as to model the influence of various forms of solar activity on the condition of the lower layers of the Earth’s ionosphere.   

The analysis of the wave formations of the ELF field pulses that reach the stations enables a complex examination of the process of discharges that occur rarely on the Earth. Some of them are a little-known class of particularly intensive positive discharges of the cloud-to-ground type, as well as huge, many-metre high discharges between clouds and the ionosphere, which are accompanied by optical phenomena such as SPRITE and Gigantic Jets. A unique feature of the system is a possibility to measure a number of discharge parameters which cannot be measured by other existing discharge examination systems that work in the Very Low Frequency (VLF) range.  

The three stations of the WERA system are a part of research into the influence of the Earth’s electromagnetic interference on precise measurements performed by the gravitational wave detectors LIGO in the USA and VIRGO in Italy.  

Since 1999 the work of the Krakow ELF Team has been carried out within the framework of five projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the National Science Centre.   

The optimum location of the stations on three continents was possible thanks to the “Harmonia” project of the National Science Centre and its American partners. They are: Earle Williams of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Marek Golkowski of the University of Colorado, and Eduardo J. Quel, Director of Unidad de Investigacion y Desarrollo Estrategico Para Defensa in Buenos Aires.   

The website of the Krakow ELF Team.

 

“Hugo” station  
The first hours of building the station in the Hugo Wildlife Area. ELF electromagnetic waves penetrate deep into the ground, hence antennas and reception apparatus can be placed underground. This screens out the system from direct meteorological influence and protects the station from people and animals.   

“Hugo” station  
Adjusting the antennas according to the geographic coordinate system of the Earth. The accuracy of the procedure is being verified by Janusz Młynarczyk, DSc, of AGH UST. The installation of the “Hugo” station also involved six students of Dr Marek Gołkowski of the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado, who had joined in the research on ELF waves.   

“Hugo” station  
The reception module of the “Hugo” station just before placing it underground. It is located in the distance of several dozen metres from the antennas so that the biological fields of people who operate the equipment do not disturb the measurements (for example, the magnetic field produced by the heart). The members of the expedition: Jerzy Kubisz, BSc (first on the left), Janusz Młynarczyk, PhD (third on the left), and Marek Gołkowski, PhD (third on the right).   

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