Jicamarca Radio Observatory

The Jicamarca Radio Observatory (JRO) is the equatorial anchor of the Western Hemisphere chain of Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) observatories extending from Lima, Peru to Søndre Strømfjord, Greenland. JRO is the premier scientific facility in the world for studying the equatorial ionosphere.

The radar can accurately determine the direction of the Earth's magnetic field (B) and can be pointed perpendicular to B at altitudes throughout the ionosphere. The study of the equatorial ionosphere is rapidly becoming a mature field due in large part due to the contributions made by JRO in radio science.

JRO’s main antenna is the largest of all the incoherent scatter radars in the world. The main antenna consists of a 300m x 300m square array composed of 18,432 cross-polarized dipoles. The main research areas of the observatories are: the stable equatorial ionosphere, ionospheric field aligned irregularities, the dynamics of the equatorial neutral atmosphere and meteor physics.

The Observatory is a facility of the Instituto Geofisico del Peru operated with support from the US National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreements through Cornell University.