U of S Professor Gets $850,000 To Hire Scientists for Space Radar Network

Posted April 07, 2000

Physics professor George Sofko will receive more than $850,000 over the next five years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to hire several researchers on four campuses to help analyze space weather data from an international space radar network.

Sofko's grant is one of 15 awarded under NSERC's Collaborative Research Opportunities program. Sofko will distribute $170,000 annually for the next five years to the partners -- U of S, University of Alberta, University of Western Ontario and University of New Brunswick.

"We desperately need these scientists to harvest the fruits of the large investment in the Canadian portion of international SuperDARN (Super Dual Auroral Radar Network) project," said Sofko. "Their research could aid in the development of reliable space weather models to provide warnings of dangerous space weather conditions."

He noted that over the past decade, space weather has become a major issue for the world economy. "Multimillion-dollar damages are the consequence of satellites and electrical power grids being ripped apart by super powerful solar winds that strike the Earth's outer atmosphere," he said.

In 1989, an 11-year sunspot cycle and the solar wind peaked, causing the solar wind to induce a magnetic storm that cost Canada millions in damage. Quebec's electrical grid system suffered a complete blackout, leaving thousands without electricity.

With another sunspot maximum expected to hit this year, it's likely Canada will experience similar space weather conditions to those in 1989, he said.

SuperDARN has set up radar centres in 10 countries to monitor space weather in an effort to improve knowledge of space weather. The SuperDARN Network has eight radars (four pairs) in the Northern Hemisphere and six in the Southern Hemisphere.

The headquarters for copying and distributing the radar data is at the Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies (ISAS) in the U of S Department of Physics and Physics Engineering.

At the U of S, the funds will be used to pay ISAS research associate Chao-Sung Huang to analyze the radar data and measure wind systems at high altitudes. The data received from the radar network will be sent out to the researchers at the other universities.

Just over a year ago, Sofko was faced with the possibility of losing Huang and other key members from the Canadian research team. Funding for their salaries had been provided through an NSERC program which ended in March of 1999. The national research team has since struggled to keep their non-faculty researchers by using funds from other research grants.

Sofko noted there has been great progress in the monitoring of space weather in Canada since Quebec's great storm in 1989. Since then, large investments have been made by NSERC, the Canadian Space Agency, and American counterparts to set up two radar systems in Canada.

The fully operational radar systems run by the Canadian SuperDARN team are located in Saskatoon, whose partner facility is a U.S.-run radar at Kapuskasing, Ontario, and in Prince George, whose partner facility is in Kodiak, Alaska.

For more information, contact:

Professor George Sofko
Department of Physics and Engineering Physics
(306) 966-6444

Kathryn Warden
Communication Officer
Office of the Vice-President (Research)
(306) 966-2506

105 Administration Place
Saskatoon, SK, Canada