First results of a ray trace simulation through an interpolated volume of polar-cap plasma density

There is mounting evidence that the highly structured polar-cap ionosphere is a region in which intuition and climatology of high frequency (HF; 3-30 MHz) radio wave propagation conditions may be inapplicable. This is due to the prevalence of plasma density structuring in the region (e.g., “patches”, troughs, etc…) that lead to both significant vertical and lateral deviations HF radio waves, beyond their expected trajectories through a uniform ionosphere. These effects have been detected in observations; however, they have yet to be modeled thoroughly. This is an important task since remote sensing platforms that are critical to our understanding of the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere (M-I-T) system, such as the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), do not account for the disorder of HF propagation trajectories that are frequently observed in the region. In this work, we present the first results of an HF ray trace simulation, performed with a polar-cap ionosphere constructed by merging an empirical model of the region with plasma density data collected by the Resolute Bay Incoherent Scatter Radar – North (RISR-N). First, we will detail the construction and of the interpolated polar-cap ionosphere and specify its characteristics. We will also describe the degree to which HF rays are affected by the presence of plasma structuring and discuss how these deviations can manifest in our remote sensing systems.