David Lee Hysell

The ionosphere and the instabilities and irregularities that inhabit it are mainly studied with remote sensing using radar. Processing and interpreting both kinds of signals turns out to be demanding, and conventional analysis techniques are fraught with artifacts and ambiguity. Hysell’s research focuses mainly on redefining the way radars are used to study the ionosphere and on improving closure between theory and experiment. As the radar techniques developed by Hysell’s group are often applicable in other disciplines, including commercial and defense-related fields, this work has overtones outside aeronomy. Much of Hysell’s research is conducted at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, the world’s largest radar, located outside Lima, Peru. Jicamarca is owned by the Peruvian government but funded mainly through a cooperative agreement between the National Science Foundation and Cornell University. Hysell became the PI for the cooperative agreement in 2005, helping to maintain Cornell’s leadership in aeronomy, space physics, and radar remote sensing. Jicamarca provides an ideal environment for developing, prototyping, and testing new radar techniques, modes, and instrumentation. Once developed, Hysell strives to migrate new radar techniques to different geographic regions for wider application. The strategy is accomplished through the construction and deployment of portable radar systems to middle- and high-latitude sites (the Caribbean and Alaska in particular). These deployments make it possible to address a wide range of problems in aeronomy and to collaborate with different agencies and institutions. Much of the research is also suitable material for the classroom.