A Tristatic Array of Aeronomy Instruments to Support EISCAT-3D

We are in the process of establishing an NSF-funded tristatic array of ground-based aeronomy laboratories in Finland and Sweden. These three labs will each house an initial complement of five instruments for remote sensing of the high latitude ionosphere and thermosphere. Specifically, each lab will house an all-sky imaging Fabry-Perot spectrometer (FPS), a narrow-field zenith-pointing FPS, a multi-filter monochromatic all-sky imager, a 3-component vector fluxgate magnetometer, and a GNSS satellite receiver. These instruments and their deployment sites are designed to complement the new EISCAT-3D incoherent scatter radar facility that is currently under construction in the same area. All observational data will be freely distributed on the internet for use by any interested parties. As of summer 2024, all three labs are in place and operating, and about half the instruments are installed and running. We anticipate that the remaining instruments will be installed in August of 2024. This poster will provide an update on the status of the labs and instruments, as well as presenting some "first light" data from instruments that were installed in April of 2024. Collaborative use of this new facility and its resulting data will be warmly welcomed.