Plasma density over Svalbard during the ISBJORN campaign

In 1997, reliable operation of the EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR) was achieved and a rocket launching facility at Ny Alesund on Svalbard (79 degrees N, 1 2 degrees E) (SVALRAK) was established. On 20 November, 1977, the first ins trumented payload was launched from SVALRAK. Although the payload configura tion had been flown many times previously from Andoya Rocket Range on the N orwegian mainland, this presented an unprecedented in situ determination of positive ion density over Svalbard. Simultaneously, ESR measured similar d ensity profiles but in a higher altitude regime. We have combined the ESR m easurements with ionosonde data to establish a calibration and subsequently combined the ground-based and in situ determined profiles to give a compos ite positive ion density profile from the mesosphere to the thermosphere.