Course Infrastructure

The infrastructure available for the research lines, that are part of the Postgraduate Program in Space Geophysics, is mostly experimental. Thus, several lines have their own laboratory infrastructure. The main characteristics of the laboratory infrastructure and equipment available for each line are listed below.

PHYSICS OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE (FISAT)

It has a development laboratory and a specific building, where the Laser Radar (Lidar) is located, covering a total of 390 m2 of built area. The same location also houses the laboratory for the development of imaging photometers for measuring optical emissions in the mesopause and thermosphere. Since 1972, the Laser Radar has measured the density of mesospheric sodium; it has monitored the total load of stratospheric aerosols since 1968 and the temperature of the upper stratosphere and mesosphere since 1993. Since 2006, it has also been able to measure the temperature of the mesopause (80 to 102 km high). The FISAT research line also works with wind dynamics in the region between 80 and 100 km altitude with a Meteor Radar installed in Cachoeira Paulista since 1999. Wind measurements in the equatorial region, in São João do Cariri, PB, have been obtained since 2005, in non-continuous observation periods. In 2016, a new Laser Radar was installed to simultaneously measure sodium and potassium in the mesopause in collaboration with the China/Brazil Joint Laboratory of Space Weather, in a partnership between INPE and NSSC (Chinese Academy of Sciences). This research line has an engineer and an observation technician.

ATMOSPHERIC LUMINESCENCE (LUME)

It has an optics laboratory in São José dos Campos (SP) and a complete airglow observatory in Cachoeira Paulista (SP), with a total area of ​​120 m2. This observatory measures several nocturnal airglow emission lines using imagers, spectrophotometers and two Fabry-Perot type interferometers, where two operational technicians are involved. It also has a small geophysical observatory in São João de Cariri (PB), in collaboration with researchers from the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), graduates of the Space Geophysics course. It also carries out routine airglow operations with an all-sky imager at the Southern Space Observatory (São Martinho da Serra, RS), and more recently an imager and a spectrophotometer are used to measure the dynamics of the mesosphere and temperature at the Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station. A development engineer and a technician also work full-time in this research line.

IONOSPHERE (IONO)

The IONO research line has development laboratories and ionospheric observatories spread across several locations where INPE has infrastructure, such as São José dos Campos (SP), Cachoeira Paulista (SP), São Luís (MA) and Fortaleza (CE). A total of 320 m2 of buildings house ionospheric equipment such as digisondes, polarimeters, VLF receivers, riometers and GPS receivers. It is worth mentioning that a space observatory was built in cooperation with the State University of Maranhão, in São Luís, MA. It is installed there, a digisonde, and 2 coherent scattering radars (RESCO and FCI), and a TBB (Tri-Band Beacon) receiver for satellite signals. A team of 1 engineer and 5 technicians permanently attends to the line. The group also has 26 GPS receivers spread throughout Brazil, a digital ionosonde (CADI) installed in São João do Cariri (PB), in cooperation with UFCG groups, and a gravity wave detection system installed in Northeast Brazil in collaboration with the University of Western Ontario, Canada, UFCG and UFRN.

GEOMAGNETISM (GEOMA)

It has a 60 m2 development laboratory in São José dos Campos (SP), and observatories in Cachoeira Paulista (SP), Santa Maria (RS), São Luís (MA), Vassouras (RJ) and Eusébio (CE), where magnetometers are installed. It has three engineers and six technicians dedicated to the activities of the research line.

ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY (ELAT)

It has a development laboratory in São José dos Campos (SP), totaling 45 m2 of built area, with the main electronic equipment for measuring and testing sensors for measuring discharges and atmospheric electric fields. It has current sensors and high-speed cameras for recording lightning strikes. ELAT operates the Brazilian Atmospheric Discharge Detection Network (BrasilDAT) with more than 55 sensors spread throughout Brazil and has an Atmospheric Discharge Monitoring Center.

CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS OF THE MIDDLE AND LOWER ATMOSPHERE (QUIATM)

It has a laboratory (Environmental Biogeochemistry Research Laboratory) in São José dos Campos (SP), with 45 m2. This laboratory has: a Thermo Scientific chromatograph for analysis of the main greenhouse gases (methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2)), a PerkinElmer system equipped with a gas chromatograph coupled to a thermal desorber and a mass spectrometer (CGMS) for analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and continuous monitors for measurement of trace gases (O3, NO2 and CO2). The laboratory also has spectrophotometers for ultraviolet radiation (UVB) installed in specific locations for study of the ozone layer.

MAGNETOSPHERE-HELIOSPHERE (MAGHEL)

Computers are frequently updated to provide adequate infrastructure for spatial data analysis. This equipment comprises a cluster of computers and individual computers. Currently, research has a high-performance computing system (HPC) with a cluster of 240 nodes for numerical simulations involving geophysics and basic physics of space plasmas. This robust computing environment, which allows parallelization techniques, provides a new frontier for training professionals in strategic areas for the country. The Research Line also has a Laboratory for Space Weather Forecasting in São José dos Campos with computing infrastructure for obtaining and analyzing data from a network of satellites, through several international collaborations. In collaboration with the Southern Space Coordination (COESU/INPE), formerly the Southern Regional Center for Space Research – CRS/INPE in Santa Maria (RS), and with the Federal University of Santa Maria – UFSM, it has a Multidirectional Muon Detector capable of observing the modulation of high-energy cosmic rays in response to variability in Space Weather. Since 2015, the Solar Polarimetry Laboratory has been available, where instruments for solar observation are being developed, with emphasis on the “GSST- Galileo Solar Space Telescope/Brazilian Experimental Solar Telescope - BEST” and a prototype of an onboard radiometer to measure total solar irradiance (TSI).

ATMOSPHERIC AND SPACE ELECTRODYNAMIC COUPLING (ACATMOS)

It operates the LEONA Network, a Latin American Collaborative Network for the Investigation of Transient Luminous Events and High-Energy Emissions from Thunderstorms, with sensor infrastructure for the observation and study of Atmospheric and Space Electrodynamic Coupling, signaled by Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), of which Sprites are the best known, and by High-Energy Emissions from Thunderclouds (HEEs), such as Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes (TGFs).

SPACE WEATHER

In addition to these laboratories directly linked to traditional research lines, there are also facilities provided by the Space Weather program (called “Brazilian Study and Monitoring of Space Weather” - EMBRACE), which operated until 2020, when it became a Research Division within INPE, continuing to operate a large number of different geophysical and astrophysical instruments in various locations throughout the country, in addition to having a robust computational structure (a second high-performance computing system, HPC, with a cluster of 240 nodes, identical to that described in the MAGHEL infrastructure). Students have access to data continuously acquired and processed within this infrastructure, and several of the theses and dissertations recently defended and in the execution phase make use of this data acquisition and processing infrastructure.