Plasma Wave Measurements at the Great Wall Station in Antarctica Using the WHU ELF/VLF Wave Detection System

An ELF/VLF wave detection system has been designed by Wuhan University (WHU) and recently deployed by the Polar Research Institute of China at the Great Wall station (GWS, 62.22°S, 58.96°W) in Antarctica. With a dynamic range of ~110 dB and timing accuracy of 100 ns, this detection system can provide observational data with the resolution that suffices most atmospheric, ionospheric, and magnetospheric studies. Located southwest and ~370 km away from the Palmer station, the GWS site complements and provides new data for the VLF studies carried out using the Palmer-station data. This paper represents the first attempt of a series of studies aimed at better understanding plasma waves in the near-Earth space environment, and we describe the performance of the VLF detection system in this paper. Moreover, we show that this station has been operating reliably in the past few months: the amplitude and phase change of transmitter signals from most navy transmitters in North America and Europe during the X-class solar flare events are consistent with previous studies. As the HWU-GWS path crosses South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) region, we have also identified the VLF disturbance that is potentially caused by precipitation electrons during geomagnetic storms, given the close correlation in space and time. VLF data are particularly helpful for studies related to radiation belt dynamics, terrestrial lightning discharge, and the lower ionosphere, and the VLF detection system installed at GWS represents one of those devices that fulfill these scientific needs.