CEDAR email: Millstone Hill IS radar status update for the CEDAR community

[Phil Erickson]

Hello all,

  Roger Varney's note today about AMISR status in the COVID-19 period
prompts me to send a similar note regarding Millstone Hill IS radar
observations.

  MIT, Governor Baker of Massachusetts, and Haystack Observatory itself
have cancelled all non-essential activities.  In response, Millstone Hill
has temporarily ceased operations as of March 12, as we must prioritize the
safety of our personnel.  IS radar runs are definitely non-essential under
MIT, state, and federal guidelines. Haystack campus is completely closed to
all and we are on full telework, but the radar cannot function under these
restrictions as it requires an operator at the controls to monitor the
klystron based transmitter, steerable antenna status, and to fulfill FCC
guidelines.

  We have no clear idea at the moment when the situation will change, but
it is highly unlikely that we will even begin thinking of reactivation
until well into May and likely June (maybe beyond).  Accordingly, our
calendar has essentially been cleared for the moment.

  I'm in close contact with NSF program officers and will update CEDAR when
conditions change.  We hope everyone stays healthy and follows your
national guidelines.  Please feel free to contact me or any of the
Millstone Hill team if you have requests for Millstone Hill experiments so
we can begin a discussion on how those might be fulfilled in the future.

Regards,
Phil Erickson for the Millstone Hill PI team (Frank Lind, Anthea Coster,
Larisa Goncharenko, Shunrong Zhang)

-----
Philip Erickson, Ph.D.
Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Group
MIT Haystack Observatory
Westford, MA  01886  USA

email: pje at haystack.mit.edu
WWW: http://www.haystack.mit.edu
voice: +1 617 715 5769
fax:   +1 781 981 5766

Public key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x54878872
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