KOCHI: The Cusat on Friday will play host to the formal handing over of the Moveable Atmospheric Radar for Antarctica (MARA), a wind-profiler radar at the Indian Antarctic station 'Maitri', to research agencies here . MARA is a wind-profiler radar operating at 54.5 MHz at Maitri. MARA provides continuous measurements of full height profiles of winds, turbulence, waves, and diverse atmospheric features starting from the troposphere to the mesosphere.
Owned by Swedish Institute of Space Physics, the radar will be handed over to the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCOAR), Goa and Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research (ACAZAR), Cusat. MARA had been in operation at 'Maitri' since the summer of 2013-14. The successful operation of MARA at the Indian station has been made possible with the dedicated logistics support from the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa. MARA will be handed over to India by Swedish Institute of Space Physics for continuous operation and research. Following this, MARA will be owned and operated by NCAOR and IRF.
The NCAOR & Cusat Radar Centre (ACARR) will jointly undertake expeditions for maintenance and carry out scientific studies using the data collected by MARA. Simultaneous measurements of wind profiles from ST Radar at Cochin, MARA at Antarctica, and another Radar (ESRAD) at Kiruna, Sweden will be highly useful for various studies on high latitude – low latitude coupling processes.
These observational facilities are expected to provide remarkable information on the circulation and dynamics of the cold polar atmosphere and warm tropical atmosphere and their role in modulating the global atmospheric weather systems. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the scientific collaboration among the three institutions utilising the radar facility will also be signed at the function. Sheila Kirkwood, representing the Swedish Institute of Space Physics; Cusat V-C J Letha and NCAOR senior scientist Thampan Meloth will be present.