SuperDARN Principal Investigators' Agreement
and Policy Documents
Latest Edition: 2025
These documents were last updated in 2023, as such some information such as PI names, institutions and number of operating radars may have changed, always check with your friendly neighbourhood PI before publishing SuperDARN data and radar information. Check out our radar information tables for up to date information about the PI's, institutions and radars.
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SuperDARN Principal Investigators' Agreement
Authorization and Approval
Responsibility: SuperDARN Principal Investigators' Executive Council
Authorization: SuperDARN Principal Investigators' Executive Council
Approval Date: 27 July 2023. Modified: 01 October 2025 (minor)
1 Introduction
The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is an international collaborative program for scientific investigation of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere. SuperDARN consists of high-frequency (HF) radars in the northern and southern hemispheres with locations as listed in Appendix PI-1. SuperDARN Principal Investigators, the locations of their radars and their associated countries are listed in Appendix PI-2. This document represents the memorandum of understanding reached among the SuperDARN Principal Investigators and forms the basis for coordination of the operations of the radars, the exchange of data, the analysis and publication of results and the sharing of technical developments associated with the radar systems. Specific individual and institutional responsibilities identified in this document and the related policies (SuperDARN Data Policy, SuperDARN Operations Policy and SuperDARN Software Policy) have been made under the assumption that they would be adequately supported by their respective funding agencies.
All parties agree to abide by this agreement and related policies in a spirit of goodwill and conciliation, bearing in mind the harsh and unpredictable environments in which the radars will be operated. The Principal Investigators’ Executive Council (PIEC) will attempt to resolve any controversies that arise under the terms of this agreement. In the event that the controversies cannot be resolved, Principal Investigators may withdraw from this agreement one month after a full Principal Investigators’ Executive Council meeting in which the issues are discussed. This agreement will remain in force for so long as the radars are funded by the sponsoring organizations.
2 Categories of Participation
The SuperDARN community is international in character and its membership has made a wide range of financial, scientific and technical contributions. In acknowledgement of these contributions, the following categories of SuperDARN participation have been identified:
Principal Investigator:
A representative of a scientific group who has responsibility for one or more of the SuperDARN radars. Typically, they will have led the procurement of principal funding and support for the radar(s). Principal investigators comprise the Principal Investigators' Executive Council.
Co-Investigator:
A participant who has been named by a Principal Investigator as a member of their SuperDARN research team. Identification of a co-investigator should be based upon actual or anticipated contributions to the scientific and/or technical development of the SuperDARN project.
Guest Investigator:
A participant identified by the SuperDARN Principal Investigators' Executive Council to join the SuperDARN community for a fixed period with status equivalent to a Co- Investigator but not as a member of an individual research team. Nomination shall be made by a member of the Executive Council.
User:
Any user of SuperDARN data.
Affiliate:
A contributor to SuperDARN recognized by the SuperDARN Principal Investigators' Executive Council who is not in the above categories (e.g. a member of the SuperDARN Advisory Committee).
3 Management
3.1 Executive Council
SuperDARN is managed by an executive council consisting of all Principal Investigators (PI) and is referred to as the Principal Investigators' Executive Council (PIEC). The Council shall elect its chairperson from its membership for a term of 4 years. The PIEC can elect up to two Deputy Chairs. The Council is the final arbiter on all matters to do with SuperDARN and would normally operate on the basis of consensus, although, if necessary, a vote would require a simple majority of the Principal Investigators or their representatives present at the in-person or online meetings, with a quorum of 75% of the Principal Investigators or their representatives present. For matters that can be resolved by a virtual poll, a poll would require a simple majority of at least 75% of Principal Investigators or their representatives.
All Principal Investigators are signatories of this document. As new radars are developed the PIEC will by consensus welcome additional Principal Investigators so long as they abide by the terms of this agreement and related policies. Principal Investigators who wish to relinquish their role to replacement Principal investigators will be removed as signatories of this document, and the PIEC will welcome the replacement Principal Investigators. The new Principal Investigators will become signatories of this document.
The PIEC may designate individuals as Observers to participate in meetings of the Council. Observers may include prospective Principal Investigators and individuals whose specific expertise or contribution merits participation in Council meetings. Observers may participate without vote in discussions at the PIEC meetings.
The PIEC will normally meet once per year in association with the annual SuperDARN workshop. At other times, it will operate via other communication channels such as e-mail and virtual meetings. Principal Investigators may be represented by alternates at meetings if they are unable to attend. Alternates may vote should it be necessary.
3.2 Advisory Committee
An ad hoc advisory committee consisting of independent senior scientists and representatives of national funding agencies may be formed to advise the SuperDARN community through the PIEC on issues such as funding, science programme, and technical developments. Membership of the Advisory Committee would be by invitation from the PIEC.
3.3 Working Groups
Working groups act under the guidance of the PIEC to fulfill critical functions of the SuperDARN consortium that require ongoing attention or detailed discussion beyond the capacity of the Principal Investigators. Working groups may be standing or ad hoc. Working Groups cannot be chaired by a Principal Investigator. Composition, participation and decision making are described in more detail in the Working Group Guidelines document. Working groups are required to adhere to all directives outlined in this agreement, in all related policy and procedure documents, and in the Working Group Guidelines document. The primary functions of the Working Groups will be to provide recommendations on specified topics to the PIEC and to implement decisions by the PIEC appropriate to them.
3.4 Task Forces
Task forces will be constituted by the PIEC on an as-needed basis for limited terms to address specific issues. Unlike working groups, a task force may be chaired by a Principal Investigator. Task forces will provide recommendations to the PIEC. Task forces are required to adhere to all directives as outlined in this agreement, as well as all related policy and procedure documents.
4 SuperDARN Operations and Maintenance
Principal Investigators agree to operate their radars towards the collaboration’s goal of coordinated observations of geospace. Three categories of SuperDARN operational time have been defined: Common Time; Special Time; and Discretionary Time. Each category has associated data rights and availability. Please refer to the SuperDARN Operations Policy for definitions, associated data rights, data availability, division of operating time and scheduling information for each category of operations.
Within limitations imposed by climatic conditions and available staff and financial resources, all Principal Investigators agree to maintain continuous operation of their respective radars. Where possible, radar down time due to maintenance or upgrade of a radar will be scheduled during Discretionary Time intervals.
The Principal Investigators also agree to maintain their operational software in a state that yields data files in the accepted format for data distribution during SuperDARN Common and Special Programs.
5 Data Formats, Fusion, Exchange and Usage
5.1 Data Format
Principal Investigators agree to provide data from their radar(s) in common defined formats. Please refer to the SuperDARN Data Policy for details including definitions of levels of SuperDARN data, CPID (radar control program identification number) information, etc. Principal Investigators are responsible for ensuring that each radar they operate can achieve the data fusion, exchange and usage described in the PI Agreement, the Data Policy, and the SuperDARN Software Policy.
5.2 Data Fusion and Exchange
Principal Investigators agree to provide their complete Level 1 Data sets on a daily basis, or as regularly and as soon as the available technology or resources allow. The data are distributed to institutions agreed upon by the PIEC. The institutions currently involved in the distribution are identified in Appendix PI-2. The method of distribution will be reviewed by the PIEC on an annual basis.
SuperDARN Principal Investigators are responsible for distributing SuperDARN data to their respective Co-Investigators, Guest Investigators and Users.
5.3 Data Usage
The PIEC aims to operate an open data use policy for all data and will actively encourage the wider usage of the data by the scientific community. Provision may be limited by available resources and subject to reasonable specific requests and variable lead times for the release of data depending on the operating time category (Common, Discretionary, or Special Time), as described in the Rules of the Road (Section 6.1) and in the SuperDARN Data Policy.
6 Communication and Research Collaborations
With the goal of fully exploiting the scientific potential of the SuperDARN network, the Principal Investigators agree to the following principles to enhance communications, to promote scientific collaboration, and to maintain a spirit of goodwill in the SuperDARN community:
- The Principal Investigators agree to encourage usage of the SuperDARN data set.
- In cases of conflicting use of a particular interval of data, the Principal Investigators agree to give preference for this data usage to students working towards higher degrees.
6.1 Rules of the Road
The continued availability of SuperDARN data depends on the proper acknowledgement of data by its Users. Guidelines for data acknowledgement are as follows:
- When data from an individual radar or radars are used, Users must contact the principal investigator(s) of those radar(s) to obtain the appropriate acknowledgement information and to offer collaboration, where appropriate.
- For all usage of SuperDARN data, Users are asked to include the standard acknowledgement text, which is in Appendix PI-3.
The PIEC must be notified before data are redistributed through another database. The data are not to be used for commercial purposes.
6.2 Mailing Lists
Mailing lists targeted to specific user groups such as the Principal Investigators, various Working Groups and/or Task Forces, etc. exist. A full listing of these mailing lists is found in Appendix-PI-4.
7 Interchange of Technical Information
The Principal Investigators agree to share freely among themselves all technical information on radar hardware (subject to International Trade Agreements), radar system performance, signal processing techniques, radar-control software and analysis software.
8 Limitations and Duration of Agreement
This agreement supersedes the pre-existing agreements listed in Appendix PI-5. It does not invalidate those agreements in areas not covered by this document. Future agreements should be made consistent with this document unless waived by consensus of the PIEC.
There are three levels of revision that will be required for the PI Agreement and related policies. These levels are: editorial; minor or non-substantive; and major or substantive. The chair of the PIEC is empowered to make editorial and minor changes, such as correcting spelling errors and adding new radars to the radar list and new PIs to the PI list, without the consensus of the PIEC. All such changes will be communicated to the PIEC. Major or substantive changes to the PI Agreement and related policies that alter the principles and objectives of the SuperDARN collaboration can only be made by consensus with the PIEC.
Signatories
This section states who signed the original copy of the 2023 PI Agreement, the PI names and institutions may be out of date at time of reading.
- William Bristow, Penn State University, 9 June 2023
- Alex Chartier, JHU/APL, 19 June 2023
- Gareth Chisham, British Antarctic Survey, 20 June 2023
- John Devlin, LaTrobe University, 20 June 2023
- Michael Kosch, SANSA, 20 June 2023
- Jianjun Liu, Polar Research Institute of China, 20 June 2023
- Dag Lorentzen, University Centere in Svalbard, 20 June 2023
- Aurelie Marchaudon, IRAP, CNRS, Toulouse University, CNES, 20 June 2023
- Stefano Massetti,INAF-IAPS, 01 October 2025
- Glenn Hussey, University of Saskatchewan, 25 September 2025
- Nozomu Nishitani, Nagoya University, 20 June 2023
- J Michael Ruohoniemi, Virginia Tech, 20 June 2023
- Simon Shepherd, Dartmouth College, 27 July 2023
- Tim Yeoman, University of Leicester, 20 June 2023
- Sessai Yukimatu, NIPR, 25 June 2023
- Jiaojiao Zhang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 June 2023
Appendices
Appendix PI-1: Locations of the SuperDARN Radars
Locations of the SuperDARN Radars
(in order of development)
This appendix will be updated if changes occur to the list of radars. Maintaining accuracy of this list will not require existing signatories to re-sign the agreement.
| Radar Location and Code | Initial Operation | Supporting Countries |
|---|---|---|
| Goose Bay, Canada (GBR) | October 1983 | USA |
| Halley, Antarctica (HAL) | January, 1988 | UK, USA |
| Saskatoon, Canada (SAS) | July, 1993 | Canada |
| Kapuskasing, Canada (KAP) | July 1993 | USA |
| Stokkseyri, Iceland (STO) | June 1994 | France, UK |
| Hankasalmi, Finland (HAN) | February 1995 | UK, Finland, Sweden |
| Syowa South, Antarctica (SYS) | February, 1995 | Japan |
| Pykkvibaer, Iceland (PYK) | November 1995 | UK, Sweden |
| Syowa East, Antarctica (SYE) | February, 1997 | Japan |
| Sanae, Antarctica (SAN) | March 1997 | South Africa |
| Bruny Island, Australia (TIG) | December 1999 | Australia |
| Kodiak, USA (KOD) | January 2000 | USA |
| Prince George, Canada (PGR) | March 2000 | Canada |
| Kerguelen, France (KER) | June 2000 | France |
| King Salmon, USA (KSR) | October 2001 | Japan, USA |
| Unwin, New Zealand (UNW) | November 2004 | Australia |
| Wallops Island, USA (WAL) | June 2005 | USA |
| Rankin Inlet, Canada (RKN) | May 2006 | Canada |
| Hokkaido East, Japan (HOK) | November 2006 | Japan |
| Blackstone, USA (BKS) | February 2008 | USA, UK |
| Inuvik, Canada (INV) | August 2008 | Canada |
| McMurdo, Antarctica (MCM) | January 2010 | USA |
| Fort Hays East, USA (FHE) | January 2010 | USA |
| Fort Hays West, USA (FHW) | February 2010 | USA |
| Falkland Islands, UK (FIR) | February 2010 | UK |
| Zhongshan, Antarctica (ZHO) | April 2010 | China |
| Christmas Valley East, USA (CVE) | November 2010 | USA |
| Christmas Valley West, USA (CVW) | November 2010 | USA |
| Clyde River, Canada (CLY) | August 2012 | Canada |
| Adak Island East, USA (ADE) | September 2012 | USA |
| Adak Island West, USA (ADW) | September 2012 | USA |
| Dome C East, Antarctica (DCE) | January 2013 | Italy, France |
| South Pole Station, Antarctica (SPS) | January 2013 | USA |
| Hokkaido West, Japan (HKW) | October 2014 | Japan |
| Buckland Park, Australia (BPK) | December 2014 | Australia |
| Longyearbyen, Norway (LYR) | October 2016 | Norway |
| Dome C North, Antarctica (DCN) | June 2019 | Italy, France |
| Jiamusi, China (JME) | June 2019 | China |
| Iceland East, Iceland (ICE) | January 2024 | USA |
| Iceland West, Iceland (ICW) | January 2024 | USA |
| Longjing East, China (LJE) | January 2024 | China |
| Longjing West, China (LJW) | January 2024 | China |
| Siziwang East, China (SZE) | January 2024 | China |
| Siziwang West, China (SZW) | January 2024 | China |
| Hejing East, China (HJE) | January 2024 | China |
| Hejing West, China (HJW) | January 2024 | China |
Appendix PI-2: SuperDARN Principal Investigators
SuperDARN Principal Investigators
(in alphabetical order)
This appendix will be updated if changes occur to the list. Maintaining accuracy of this list will not require existing signatories to re-sign the agreement.
| Principal Investigator | Radar(s) | Institute |
|---|---|---|
| William Bristow | Kodiak McMurdo South Pole King Salmon |
Penn State University, USA |
| Alex Chartier | Wallops Island | Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory, USA |
| Gareth Chisham | Falkland Islands | British Antarctic Survey, UK |
| Glenn Hussey | Saskatoon Prince George Inuvik Rankin Inlet Clyde River |
University of Saskatchewan, Canada |
| John Devlin | Buckland Park TIGER |
La Trobe University, Australia |
| Jianjun Liu | Zhongshan | Polar Research Institute of China, China |
| Michael Kosch | SANAE | South African National Space Agency, South Africa |
| Dag Lorentzen | Longyearbyen | University Centre in Svalbard, Norway |
| Aurelie Marchaudon | Kerguelen | IRAP, CNRS, Toulouse University, CNES, France |
| Stefano Massetti | Dome C East Dome C North |
INAF-IAPS |
| Nozomu Nishitani | Hokkaido East Hokkaido West |
Nagoya University, Japan |
| J. Michael Ruohoniemi | Goose Bay Kapuskasing Blackstone Fort Hays East Fort Hays West |
Virginia Tech, USA |
| Simon Shepherd | Christmas Valley East Christmas Valley West Iceland East Iceland West |
Dartmouth College, USA |
| Timothy Yeoman | Hankasalmi | University of Leicester, UK |
| Akira Sessai Yukimatu | Syowa East Syowa South |
National Institute of Polar Research, Japan |
| Jiaojiao Zhang | Jiamusi East Longjing East Longjing West Siziwang East Siziwang West Hejing East Hejing West |
National Academy of Sciences, China |
Appendix PI-3: Standard Form of Acknowledgement
Standard Form of Acknowledgement
This appendix will be updated if changes occur to the standard form of acknowledgement. Updating the text of this statement will not require existing signatories to re-sign the agreement.
“The authors acknowledge the use of SuperDARN data. SuperDARN is a collection of radars funded by national scientific funding agencies of Australia, Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States of America.”
Appendix PI-4: Mailing Lists
Mailing Lists
This appendix will be updated if changes occur to the list of mailing lists. Maintaining accuracy of this list will not require existing signatories to re-sign the agreement.
Principal Investigator Executive Council: darn-pi@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
SuperDARN Users: darn-users@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Data Analysis Working Group: darn-dawg@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Data Distribution Working Group: darn-ddwg@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Scheduling Working Group: darn-swg@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Spacecraft Working Group: darn-space@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Data Standards Working Group: darn-dswg@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Data Visualization Working Group: darn-dvwg@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
To subscribe to a mailing list send an email with the subject: subscribe to: [mailing_list_name]-request@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
For example, to subscribe to the darn-users mailing list send an email with the subject: subscribe to darn-users-request@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
When subscribing to a mailing list do not send messages to [mailing_list_name]@isee.nagoya- u.ac.jp. Doing so will send an email to the mailing list.
Appendix PI-5: Other Agreements
PACE Agreement (BAS and JHU/APL)
SHARE Agreement (SASSC, BAS, JHU/APL
Southern Hemisphere SuperDARN working Agreement (SASSC, BAS, JHU/APL, NIPR)
French-American Agreement (LPCE, CETP, and JHU/APL)
CUTLASS Agreement (University of Leicester, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Swedish Institute for Space Physics)
Falkland Islands radar MoU (BAS-University of Leicester)
Alaska-Project Agreement (NICT and UAF/GI)
KSR-HOK Agreement (NICT, STEL, and UEC)
MoU between JHU/APL and VT.
Acronyms
BAS: British Antarctic Survey
CAS: Chinese Academy of Sciences
CETP: Centre d’Etudes de l’Environnements Terrestre et Planetaires
CNES: Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
CNRS: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
INAF: Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica
IAPS: Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali
IRAP: Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie
JHU/APL: Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory
LPCE: Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de I' Environnement
NICT: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
NIPR: National Institute of Polar Research
SANSA: South African National Space Agency
SASSC: South African SHARE Steering Committee
STEL: Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory
UAF/GI: University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute
UEC: University of Electro-Communications
Software Policy
Authorization and Approval
Responsibility: Chair, SuperDARN Principal Investigator Executive Council
Authorization: SuperDARN Principal Investigator Executive Council
Approval Date: 27 July 2023. Modified: --
Purpose
The SuperDARN Software Policy (hereafter, “the Policy”) has been established to promote and govern the development, use, and dissemination of software developed as part of SuperDARN’s research and radar operations activities.
Principles and Objectives
SuperDARN commits to developing and maintaining radar operating software that provides high quality data in a format that is compatible with SuperDARN software. SuperDARN shall maintain, improve, document and distribute software for analysing and visualising SuperDARN radar data for use by scientists and trainees.
The objectives of this Policy are to:
- Foster collaboration among SuperDARN researchers, and with the larger research community, through high quality, well-documented and citable data analysis and visualization software.
- Clearly outline the roles and expectations of SuperDARN Principal Investigator (PI) Teams and data users in the development, management, dissemination, and preservation of radar operating and data analysis and visualization software.
- Respect the rights of the software developers who have invested considerable effort in developing, documenting and testing software.
- Improve the efficiency and reproducibility of research by ensuring that operating software produces high quality data and that analysis software can read and process that data.
- Cultivate a reputation of trust through the dissemination of high quality and reliable software.
Scope of this Policy
This Policy applies to all signatories of the SuperDARN PI Agreement and covers all software developed collectively in support of SuperDARN activities. Software developed by individual PI Teams for their own use is not covered by this Policy. The Policy pertains to radar operations programs and software used to analyze and visualize data.
Policy
1 Radar Operations Software
Radar operations software is software at the radar sites that issues commands to radar hardware and generates data files for download to the PI institutions and subsequent distribution by the Data Distribution Working Group. Originally all SuperDARN radars used the Radar Operation Software (ROS). Radar hardware has since diversified, and PI institutions have implemented operations software designed for specific radar designs at these sites. PIs are responsible for ensuring that their radar systems can produce data files suitable for distribution to all SuperDARN partners, as per the SuperDARN Data Policy.
Towards the goal of reproducibility of SuperDARN data (as per the FAIR data principles), an archive of radar-control software will be maintained. All SuperDARN participants are encouraged to submit documented copies of useful operating software to this archive. All software in the archive should bear a suitable open-source license statement that explicitly allows modification, recompilation, and redistribution.
2 Data Analysis and Visualization Software
Data analysis software is used to produce higher level data products, such as FITACF files and convection map files, from the data files generated at the radar sites and distributed to the PI institutions. The Radar Software Toolkit (RST) is a collection of data analysis, modelling and visualization tools developed for the SuperDARN project. The RST includes several fitting algorithms which are used to determine the physical properties of the received backscatter (e.g., power, velocity, spectral width, and elevation) from the autocorrelation and cross-correlation function estimates. The Data Analysis Working Group (DAWG) maintains, develops, documents and distributes the RST and associated software. The DAWG advises the PIEC of the status of data analysis software development and new algorithms that may be implemented. The DAWG implements data analysis software solutions, as guided by priorities set by the PIEC.
Data visualization software developed for the benefit of the SuperDARN collaboration produces plot types commonly used by SuperDARN data users, such as range-time plots, fan plots, and convection maps. The Data Analysis Working Group maintains, develops, documents and distributes the core data visualization software in the Radar Software Toolkit (RST). The Data Visualization Working Group (DVWG) maintains, develops, documents and distributes one software package—pyDARN. The DAWG and the DVWG implement data visualization software solutions, as guided by priorities set by the PI Executive Council (PIEC).
3 Licensing and Version Control
SuperDARN software is for use by SuperDARN members (see Categories of Participation in the PI Agreement), as well as for users from the broader scientific community. Software will be well documented to facilitate its use. SuperDARN software will have an appropriate open licence, to encourage software use and development. The DAWG and the DVWG will publish software on a recognized repository with a data object identifier (DOI) to ensure version control and therefore data reproducibility (as per the FAIR Data Principles).
Responsibilities
This Policy enters into force on the date of its adoption. It will be reviewed by PIEC annually or at any time, as required.
The PIEC is responsible for oversight and approval of the Policy. The PIEC will see to the implementation of the Policy and related documents according to the Working Group Guidelines. The PIEC has a duty to ensure resources are available to carry out the work described in the Policy and related documents.
Software Users are responsible for abiding by the licensing of the software, as well as the Rules of the Road for data usage for any data they produce using the software. User responsibilities include proper consultation with, and citation of, software and data providers.
Related Documents
The links below provide additional information related to procedures and implementation of the Policy.
Operations Policy
Authorization and Approval
Responsibility: Chair, SuperDARN Principal Investigator Executive Council
Authorization: SuperDARN Principal Investigator Executive Council
Approval Date: 27 July 2023. Modified: --
Purpose
The SuperDARN Operations Policy (hereafter, “the Policy”) has been established to promote and govern the operations of the SuperDARN radars operated by the signatories of the SuperDARN Principal Investigators’ Agreement.
Principles and Objectives
SuperDARN Principal Investigators (PIs) agree to operate their radars as laid out in the Policy towards the collaboration’s goal of coordinated observations of geospace.
The objective of the Policy is to clearly outline the roles and expectations of SuperDARN Principal Investigator Teams in the scheduling and operating their radars.
Scope of this Policy
The Policy applies to all signatories of the SuperDARN Principal Investigators’ Agreement and covers all radar operations performed in association with SuperDARN activities.
Policy
1 SuperDARN Types of Radars
The SuperDARN radars are classified into three types: single channel; Stereo; and multi-channel. A channel is/are one or more concurrent or simultaneous data streams recorded by a single radar site. A data stream can be considered simultaneous if it is (1) concurrently digitized through hardware or software means, for example on separate frequencies, OR (2) if operating parameters such as frequency or pulse sequence are switching within a 2-minute cadence, which is the upper limit of temporal resolution required to satisfy Common Time requirements.
Where a data stream may change or switch operating parameters but does not meet the requirements for separate channels as outlined above, radar operators are encouraged to keep data streams writing to the same channel (having the same channel parameter inside the file) as much as possible to maintain chronological order of records as it is generally accepted that datasets in chronological order are easier to work with for data users.
The traditional ROS-style radars produce single-channel data. No channel identifier is required in the name nor in the data within the file. Stereo radars, which take advantage of a low duty cycle on the transmitters to produce two channels of nearly simultaneous data using two separate sets of transmitter hardware, preserved the single-channel file-naming convention by including the two data channels within a single file. The channels in Stereo files use a channel identifier variable within the file.
For multi-channel radars the file naming convention is slightly modified from that of the single- channel and Stereo radars by the addition of a channel identifier in the file name. The channel identifier is any lowercase character from a through z. Principal Investigators should aim to produce files with identifier 'a' that are suitable for input into gridding and convection mapping processing. A suitable convection map mode is the common time mode, as described in Appendix OP-1. A minimum of one channel's files (the ‘a’ channel, where possible) should be provided whenever the radar is operating. Additional channel files are encouraged to be distributed but are not required.
2 SuperDARN Categories of Operation
2.1 SuperDARN Common Time
SuperDARN Common Time is an interval of concurrent operation of all SuperDARN radars to produce an identical type of data product (e.g., defined by viewing area, and range and time resolution). The current Common Time Programs are defined in Appendix OP-1. Modifications or additions to these programs must be approved by the Principal Investigators’ Executive Council (PIEC).
2.2 SuperDARN Special Time
SuperDARN Special Time is an interval of concurrent operation of some or all SuperDARN radars to produce a special data product different from those of Common Time. While the mode of operation of each radar may be different, the purpose of Special Time is to use the network of radars for a coordinated scientific experiment. Experiment proposers and radar operators must ensure that the Radar Control Program is suitable for the radar(s) and that the mode of operation complies with each radar’s transmission license.
2.3 SuperDARN Discretionary Time
SuperDARN Discretionary Time is an interval when each radar can operate independently, at the discretion of the Principal Investigator, for the specific research goals of individual Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators or Guest Investigators.
2.4 Division of Operating Time
The Executive Council agrees to divide the monthly operational time of the radars in the following proportions:
- Common Time: a minimum of 50%
- Special Time: a maximum of 20%
- Discretionary Time: a maximum of 30%
Changes in the proportions of operational time would be determined by the PIEC, either through consensus or, if necessary, through the decision-making process of the PIEC described in Section 3.1 of the PI Agreement.
3 Scheduling
The Scheduling Working Group (SWG) is responsible for the preparation of a detailed operational schedule for the network each month, which is subject to the approval of the PIEC. Each Principal Investigator shall nominate one member to the Scheduling Working Group, but in general should not serve on it personally. Each Principal Investigator agrees to respond to reasonable requests for Discretionary Time from other SuperDARN Principal Investigators.
The Spacecraft Working Group (ScWG) is responsible for identifying and prioritizing times of joint operations to support SuperDARN collaborations with space missions. The Spacecraft Working Group submits their ranked scheduling requests to the SWG through the scheduling process described below.
Scheduling requests shall be submitted to the SWG (see Appendix OP-2) more than eight weeks prior to the first day of the month in which the schedule will operate. The Spacecraft Working Group shall submit their request to the SWG by this same eight week deadline. Conflicts in scheduling will be resolved by the SWG, firstly, by equity in fulfilling requests and, secondly, by scientific merit. The draft schedule is written and released by the SWG to the Principal Investigators five weeks before the first day of the month in which the schedule will operate. Principal Investigators will have one week to approve this draft schedule before it is released to the SuperDARN community four weeks prior to the first day of the month in which the schedule will operate.
The SuperDARN radar operating schedule is prepared in monthly blocks with the allocation between Common Time, Special Time, and Discretionary Time being divided into 2-hour UT intervals. Once the monthly allocation has been scheduled, it will apply for all radars. Unused allocations for Special Time or Discretionary Time in any given month revert to Common Time. Unused monthly allocations do not accumulate over monthly boundaries. Nine days of Discretionary Time operations will be scheduled every month, regardless of requests. Half of all Common Time will be scheduled every month where no frequency switching shall be performed (radars can still switch between day and night frequencies).
If individual Principal Investigators or subgroups of Principal Investigators choose to operate Common Time modes during Discretionary intervals, the resulting data categorized as Common Time data. Access to this data will follow the same rules as access to Common Time data, which is described in the SuperDARN Data Policy.
3.1 Implementation of the Schedule
Each PI is responsible for the implementation of the schedule on the radars under their control.
For SuperDARN Common Time it is the responsibility of the radar operator to validate new Common Time Programs during Discretionary Time prior to the intended scheduled operation in Common Time.
For SuperDARN Special Time it is the responsibility of the proposing individual to work with radar operators from many groups to develop and the program(s) suitable for all the radars involved. Experiment proposers and radar operators should validate new Special Programs during appropriate Discretionary Time periods in the month or months prior to the intended scheduled operation. They should ensure that the mode does not invalidate appropriate agreements and licenses (e.g. transmission licenses) and should demonstrate the scientific validity of the mode.
5 Radar Control Programs
Each radar mode will be identified by a CPID (control program identification) number. A record of CPIDs will be maintained such that the radar mode is described. The Scheduling Working Group maintains a list of CPID allocation by country, as well as a list of all known CPIDs. These links are provided below the section Procedures and Related Documents. Principal Investigators are responsible for ensuring compliance with CPID allocations.
An archive of radar-control software and analysis software for the SuperDARN radars will be maintained. All SuperDARN participants are encouraged to submit documented copies of useful software to this Archive. All software entered into the archive should bear a suitable open-source license statement that explicitly allows modification, recompilation, and redistribution. More information can be found in the SuperDARN Software Policy.
Responsibilities
The Policy enters into force on the date of its adoption. It will be reviewed by the Principal Investigators’ Executive Council annually or at any time, as required.
The PIEC is responsible for oversight and approval of the Policy. The PIEC will see to the implementation of the Policy and related documents according to the Working Group Guidelines. The PIEC has a duty to ensure resources are available to carry out the work described in the Policy and related documents.
PI institutions are responsible for operating their radar(s) according to the principles and policies laid out in the PI Agreement and the SuperDARN Operations Policy.
There are three levels of revision that will be required for the PI Agreement and related policies. These levels are: editorial; minor or non-substantive; and major or substantive. The chair of the PIEC is empowered to make editorial and minor changes, such as adding new radars to the radar list and new PIs to the PI list, without the vote of the PIEC. Such changes will be communicated to the PIEC. Major or substantive changes to the PI Agreement and related policies that alter the principles and objectives of the SuperDARN collaboration require approval of the PIEC by simple majority with 75% quorum.
Related Documents
The links below provide additional information related to procedures and implementation of the Policy.
Operations Policy Appendices
Appendix OP-1
Common Time Programs
The Common Time program (CP) has changed since the original PI agreement. The aim is to retain standardization and compatibility of radar data for large-scale studies, while recognizing increased operational capabilities and a general desire for more flexible data collection. The versions used to date are as follows:
SuperDARN Common Program v3
The original PI Agreement specified that during a SuperDARN Common Program (CP) interval, all radars shall perform a precise sequence of beam soundings within 2-minute UT intervals. The number of beams (pointing azimuths) was fixed at 16 and the number of range gates was fixed at 70 with a separation of 45 km. The aim was to ensure standardization and compatibility of radar data for large-scale studies. This aim remains valid. However, in recognition of increased operational capabilities and a general desire for more flexible data collection, the rigid specification of radar mode that is characteristic of CP time is hereby relaxed. The operation of a SuperDARN radar is henceforth deemed to be in compliance with CP requirements if it provides a data stream for archiving that conforms to these conditions:
- The field-of-view over which data are collected spans at least (16 x 3.3 deg)= 50 deg in azimuth and at least (70 x 45)= 3000 km in range, with the range of the first range gate being no further than 180 km from the radar.
- The data are organized by integral values of beam (azimuth) and range (group delay time).
- The step in azimuth (beam) is no less than 2.5 deg and no greater than 5 deg.
- The step in range is no less than 15 km and no greater than 45 km.
- The data stream for said field-of-view is entirely refreshed every UT minute or every even UT minute.
- The data collected over a complete sampling of the field of view are consistent in terms of integration times, number of pulse sequences averaged, etc.
The CP requirements can be satisfied with a non-standard arrangement of number of beams, range gate separation, integration time, etc. The PI has the flexibility to run even more unusual operating modes provided that (i) a data stream that is in compliance with the CP specification can be extracted from the mode, and (ii) the PI performs the necessary extraction to produce a CP-compliant data stream for ingestion into the SuperDARN data distribution. The CP-compliant data stream shall consist of files written in RAWACF format for every 2-hour UT interval, starting at 00 UT. If necessary for data transfer from the radar site, shorter file lengths may be provided but the PIs should attempt to keep the file lengths an integer number of UT hours.
The PI shall make a good faith effort to ensure that the quality of the CP-compliant data stream in terms of sensitivity and the errors on derived parameters (e.g., Doppler velocity, spectral width) do not fall below common standards as a result of running unorthodox operating modes.
SuperDARN Common Time Program v2 (Superseded by v3)
- Azimuth scan by each radar through 16 beam directions separated by 3.24 degrees
- Westerly radar of each pair scans clockwise
- Easterly radar of each pair scans counterclockwise
- Each scan commences on 1 minute UT boundary
- Integration time on each beam: 3 seconds
- Initial range sampled: 180 kilometers
- Number of ranges sampled: > 70
- Range separation: 45 kilometers
- Transmitter pulse length- 300 microseconds
- Pulse pattern is approved 7-pulse or 8-pulse multipulse
- Frequency is adjustable for best data return and to comply with frequency license restrictions
SuperDARN Common Time Program v1 (Superseded by v2)
- Azimuth scan by each radar through 16 beam directions separated by 3.24 degrees
- Westerly radar of each pair scans clockwise
- Easterly radar of each pair scans counterclockwise
- Each scan commences on 2 minute UT boundary
- Integration time on each beam: 7 seconds
- Initial range sampled: 180 kilometers
- Number of ranges sampled: > 70
- Range separation: 45 kilometers
- Transmitter pulse length- 300 microseconds
- Pulse pattern is approved 7-pulse multipulse
- Frequency is adjustable for best data return and to comply with frequency license restrictions
The traditional CP operating parameters (slightly modified) are retained here as guidance for the PIs.
Appendix OP-2
SuperDARN Time Allocation Request Form
To submit a SuperDARN experiment request please complete the form below and send it via email to the Scheduling Working Group: darn-swg at isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Scheduling requests must be received at least 8 weeks before the first day of the month in which the experiment is to be performed. See the SuperDARN Operations Policy for additional details.
SUPERDARN TIME ALLOCATION REQUEST FORM
EXPERIMENT PI: [person requesting the experiment]
REQUESTING INSTITUTE: [institution of experiment PI]
EXPERIMENT TITLE:
MONTH: [month (and year) of request, e.g. January 2XXX]
PERIOD: [dates and UT intervals of request]
EXPERIMENT OBJECTIVES:
SCIENTIFIC JUSTIFICATION: [including supporting campaigns, geophysical
conditions, etc.]
COLLABORATORS: [list of experiment collaborators]
RESPONSIBLE SUPERDARN PI: [a SuperDARN PI who can speak for this experiment]
RADARS: [radar names or IDs for which experiment is requested]
CONTROL PROGRAMS TO BE RUN: [a brief description is required for new or
non-standard radar operating modes]
*** NEW REQUEST ***
RADAR(S) CONTROL PROGRAM HAS BEEN TESTED ON: [which radar(s) has the new
control program been successfully run on?]
[Provide initial analysis and justification the control program is
scientifically useful.]
*** REPEAT REQUEST ***
[Provide justification for continuing to schedule this experiment,
including evidence that data has been analyzed and control program is
scientifically useful.]
COULD EXPERIMENT BE RUN AT ANOTHER TIME: [Yes or No]
CATEGORY: [Common, Special, or Discretionary Time]
Please contact the responsible SuperDARN PI with any questions about this
form.
END OF FORM
Data Policy
Authorization and Approval
Responsibility: Chair, SuperDARN Principal Investigator Executive Council
Authorization: SuperDARN Principal Investigator Executive Council
Approval Date: 27 July 2023. Modified: --
Purpose
The SuperDARN Data Policy (hereafter, “the Policy”) has been established to promote and govern the management, retention, use, and dissemination of data and metadata collected as part of SuperDARN’s research activities.
Principles and Objectives
Through the production of high-quality, reliable and accurate data, SuperDARN supports the values of scientific integrity, research excellence, accountability, responsiveness, and collaboration. SuperDARN is committed to the establishment, long-term maintenance, validation, description, accessibility, and distribution of high-quality datasets. SuperDARN fully adheres to the principle that all forms of research data collected with public funds should be publicly accessible, with special obligations to accountability and openness.
The objectives of this Policy are to:
- Clearly outline roles and expectations of SuperDARN Principal Investigator (PI) Teams and data users in collecting, managing, disseminating, and preserving research data.
- Respect the rights of the data originators who invest considerable effort in obtaining or generating data, ensuring that they are given proper recognition for these efforts by anyone using the datasets.
- Benefit society and research communities by promoting re-use of data collected and generated by SuperDARN.
- Improve efficiency and reproducibility of research by ensuring data are managed appropriately and easily discoverable through a recognized digital repository.
- Foster collaboration among SuperDARN researchers, and with the larger research community, through clear mechanisms and mandates for data sharing.
- Cultivate a reputation of trust through disseminating high quality, reliable, and accurate data.
Scope of this Policy
This Policy applies to all signatories of the SuperDARN PI Agreement and covers all research data collected in association with SuperDARN activities. SuperDARN data are defined as data recorded by SuperDARN radars, processed data, and data stored and distributed on the data distribution systems.
Policy
1 Data Management and Standards
SuperDARN PI institutions will make available Level 1 Data daily, or as regularly and as soon as the available technology or resources allow, to the Data Collecting Institutions in common formats defined in Section 2. All data must be stored in a suitable location with appropriate backup, security, and privacy.
Data must be managed according to established standards and best practices for data stewardship, such as the FAIR principles—data are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. Documentation should include, but is not limited to, records related to data collection, storage, and retrieval, as well as steps taken to process, analyze and visualize data. At minimum, data must include clear supporting documentation and metadata (and software, where possible and applicable) sufficient for re-use and replication of results by other researchers.
2 Data Types
SuperDARN data types are produced at radar sites (Level 0 and Level 1 data) or using the Radar Software Toolkit (RST), as described in the Software Policy.
Level 0 Data: The I and Q data (IQDAT) are the samples observed by the analog-to-digital converter or the digital receiver. They can be used to completely characterize and reconstruct the observations at radar sites.
Level 1 Data: RAWACF Files are files produced at radar sites. They contain data combined from pulse sequences within a beam dwell time. They can be post-processed from IQDAT data or converted from the older-format DAT files. RAWACF files contain data that is in units of the radar receiver system.
Level 2 Data: FITACF Files are a fitted post-processed data product from RAWACF files (and sometimes DAT files). FITACF files contain data converted from autocorrelation and cross- correlation data to geophysical quantities, including velocity, power, spectral width and elevation angle of arrival.
Level 3 Data: GRID files are post-processed data produced from FITACF files. Data from FITACF files are placed into cells in an equal-area geomagnetic grid. After GRID files are produced for separate radars, they may be combined with other radars' GRID files for eventual processing into convection map files.
Level 4 Data: MAP files are post-processed data products produced from GRID files. MAP files contain global-scale ionospheric convection velocity (equipotential) data produced by fitting spherical harmonic functions to measured GRID data. The mapping process is constrained by a prioiri statistical convection patterns parameterized by solar wind and geomagnetic activity conditions. The low latitude Heppner-Maynard boundary is the equatorward zero-flow boundary of the solar wind-driven ionospheric convection pattern.
3 Data Access, Sharing and Re-use
SuperDARN adheres to the principle that research data collected with public funds should be publicly accessible, as appropriate. To facilitate discovery and re-use, certain data along with metadata and supporting documentation will be deposited into a recognized digital repository for publication, discovery and access within a reasonable time. This includes time for quality assurance and control, data fusion or collation activities, data documentation, and progress toward or completion of the research project(s) for which the data were collected.
To ensure proper recognition and attribution for data originators and to adhere to the principles of openness and re-use, data will be published under an open use license that requires users to provide attribution to the data originator. In addition, data users are strongly encouraged to establish early contact with PI teams to discuss the intended data use.
3.1 Data Sharing
When data from an individual radar or radars are used, users must contact the PI(s) of those radar(s) to obtain the appropriate acknowledgement information and to offer collaboration, where appropriate. For all usage of SuperDARN data, users are asked to include the standard acknowledgement text, which is in Appendix PI-3.
While SuperDARN has an open data use policy, i.e., prior permission to access and analyse the data is not required, the data user is strongly encouraged to establish early contact with any PI whose data are involved in the project to discuss the intended usage and collaboration. Data can be subject to limitations that are not immediately evident to users. In addition, some data are embargoed for use by designated PIs for a period of one year. SuperDARN and the organizations that contributed data must be acknowledged in all reports and publications that use SuperDARN data.
The SuperDARN Executive Council must be notified before data are redistributed through another database. The data are not to be used for commercial purposes.
3.2 Data Access
SuperDARN has three categories of operation (Common Time, Discretionary Time, and Special Time) that are defined in the SuperDARN Operations Policy.
Common Time and Special Time data are immediately available to all once data have been made available to all PIs. Higher level data products based on Common Time or Special Time data can also be made available to all on the same time scale provided these data are produced by software approved by the SuperDARN Executive Council. All plots and numerical data produced must be accompanied Rules of the Road information (see PI Agreement).
Access to Discretionary Time data is restricted for a period of one year following the distribution of the data. During this time the data are for the exclusive use of the SuperDARN PIs whose radars operated in the Discretionary Time mode and Co Investigators, Guest Investigators and Users designated by these PIs. After one year access rights are the same as for Common Time data. Exclusivity may be waived by the relevant Discretionary Time Investigator at any time.
Common Time data that are obtained by running Common Time mode during Discretionary Time will be available for use as soon as the data have been distributed to all SuperDARN PIs.
Higher level data products may be produced from the SuperDARN data either by the SuperDARN team (Appendix PI-2) or by external users. The usage of such data products follows the same restrictions as for the relevant types of data described above. External users must ensure that SuperDARN is properly acknowledged in an appropriate location, either on user web sites or via publications. Such external data usage must be communicated to the SuperDARN Executive Council as described in the Rules of the Road (SuperDARN PI Agreement).
3.3 Data Embargoes
Data collected during certain SuperDARN categories of operation are subject to restricted release and usage, as described in Section 3.2. Access to such embargoed data will be restricted to SuperDARN PIs whose radars collected the data, as well as their designates. These data will be made openly available at the end of the embargo period or at the discretion of the PI, whichever is sooner.
3.3 Online Data Distribution
The Data Distribution Working Group is responsible for transferring Level 1 data files from PI institutions, first to holding institutions and ultimately to distribution institutions. There they are merged, checked, catalogued, and copied to servers to be shared with all PI institutions. Information on the data distribution partner institutions (including contact information of the data manager) and file distribution workflow procedures are available at the Data Distribution Working Group website.
Data file quality is ultimately the responsibility of the PI team who produced the data at the radar. Data managers at distribution (mirror) institutions perform quality tests on received files to identify problematic files that may have been provided inadvertently. The distribution managers notify the PI team of such files. Problematic files are separated from the data distribution files until they can be corrected by the PI institution.
3.5 Data Security and Preservation
The sharing of data files with all SuperDARN PI Executive Council (PIEC) member institutions creates multiple redundant copies of the full SuperDARN dataset in different physical locations. This is a best practice for data preservation.
3.6 Data Access Via Published Datasets
In addition to obtaining data by communicating with PI institutions directly, users can access data via SuperDARN’s online data repository. The full SuperDARN dataset is published on the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR).
SuperDARN data on FRDR are the level 1 data files shared between PI institutions through the official SuperDARN data distribution. The data on FRDR are published with the same file structure used in the Data Distribution. Each year of data in the collection will be assigned a unique digital object identifier (DOI), which is immutable. These DOIs are suitable for citation in journals and for other scientific purposes.
Each annual data collection will be published no sooner than one year after it is collected. This provides time for data quality control, including filling data gaps and ensuring data file quality, and allows any embargo period to expire.
Responsibilities
This Policy enters into force on the date of its adoption. It will be reviewed by the PIEC annually or at any time required.
The PIEC is responsible for Policy oversight and approval. The PIEC will see to implementation of the Policy and related documents according to the Working Group Guidelines. The PIEC has a duty to ensure resources are available to carry out the work described in the Policy and related documents.
PI institution data managers are responsible for producing data at their sites and for ensuring that the data are in the proper format for distribution by the Data Distribution Working Group.
Data users are responsible for abiding by the Rules of the Road for data usage, including proper consultation with and citation of data providers.
Related Documents
The links below provide additional information related to procedures and implementation of the Policy.
