Exploring Characteristics of Turbulent Density Fluctuations in the Arctic Ionosphere with Multi-Point Measurements

Turbulence studies look at how energy is transferred between temporal and spatial scales (or wavenumber) by analyzing the power spectral density or structure function of a measured turbulent environment.
In the high-latitude ionosphere, the spatio-temporal characteristics of turbulent density fluctuations are not well understood. 
Currently, these are generally measured in-situ, using data from satellites or rockets that provide instantaneous measurements along the track.
However, to obtain a complete description of the fluctuating fields, time-series of volumetric measurements are needed.
In this work, we develop tools to characterize the statistical properties of ionospheric density fluctuations using multi-point measurements that are applicable to incoherent scatter radars such as the upcoming EISCAT_3D.
We utilize data from the AMISR radars in Resolute Bay, Canada, and compute the structure functions of ionospheric electron density fluctuations under various seasonal and geophysical conditions. We examine the nature of the fluctuations associated with multiple polar patches in more detail, shedding light on how energy is redistributed across the scales. 
With the upcoming EISCAT_3D radar, this project aims to investigate and resolve outstanding issues about the structuring of auroral dynamics and the physics involved in creating density irregularities.