Annular Solar Eclipse to be Observed by the Hokkaido radar on May 20-21, 2012

By: Nathaniel Frissell on: Thu., May 10, 2012 04:55 PM EDT (9885 Reads)

On the morning of 21th May in JST (22 UT on May 20 to 02 UT on May 21), a gold ring (annular) solar eclipse event will occur in the Japanese sector, for details see:

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2012May20Agoogle.html

The footprint of the moon will pass the area near the field of view of the Hokkaido radar (and a few others nearby). Scientists at Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (STEL) in Nagoya lead by Dr. Nozumu Nishitani have requested an adjustment to the SuperDARN radar schedule so thay can make observations to confirm whether short-period waves (gravity or acoustic) can be excited or not.

Nishitani-san has requested that the period from May 20, 18 UT to May 21, 06 UT be classified as discretionary time to run an 'eclipse special mode' such as themisscan with 15 km resolution at the Hokkaido radar.

Link to a Washington Post article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/first-ring-of-fire-eclipse-visible-in-us-in-nearly-20-years-also-can-be-seen-in-e-asia/2012/05/17/gIQAvQMPVU_story.html?hpid=z4

A related study on the appearance of mid-latitude irregularities seen with the Shigaraki MU radar during a partial eclipse can be accessed here

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2010/2010GL042855.shtml

Annular Solar Eclipse to be Observed by the Hokkaido radar on May 20-21, 2012

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