Updated on February 15, 2021 by
EISCAT Radar Sites
There are ten incoherent scatter radars in the world, and we here at EISCAT operate three of the highest-standard facilities. These sites are located in the Scandinavian sector, north of the Arctic Circle. They consist of two independent radar systems under the auroral oval on the mainland, together with another radar in the north polar cap region on the island of Spitzbergen in the Svalbard archipelago.
EISCAT UHF and EISCAT VHF-system
The EISCAT UHF system was designed as a tristatic radar, that is, three facilities that work together. These are located in Finland, Norway and Sweden. In Norway there are two different EISCAT facilities that work in UHF and VHF. Recently the remote sites in Finland and Sweden were converted to the VHF frequency. The Heating facility is also located in Norway. The exact location of the EISCAT facilities can be found here.
Developments in hardware, software and observational techniques have allowed the range of science addressed to be dramatically broadened since the first observations were made and the Association continues to provide and develop appropriate tools to support its user community.
This is a video made by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. The video shows how the antenna outside Kiruna can be moved around to collect data from different directions.
Read more about the EISCAT Kiruna site here.