Canadian High-Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN) 

P. T. Jayachandran, R. B. Langley 
University of New Brunswick 
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 
J. W. MacDougall 
Department of Physics, University of Western Ontario 
London, Ontario, Canada 
 
Polar cap ionospheric measurements are important in the complete understanding of 
the various processes in the Solar Wind - Magnetosphere - Ionosphere (SW-M-I) 
system as well as space weather applications. Currently polar cap region is 
lacking high-temporal and spatial resolution ionospheric measurements because of 
the satellite orbital limitations and sparse ground based measurements.  Canada 
has a unique advantage because of the most accessible landmass in the 
high-arctic regions and Canadian High-Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN) is 
designed to take advantage of the Canadian geographic advantage for the better 
understanding of the Sun-Earth system.  
	CHAIN is an array of ground based optical and radio instruments distributed in 
the Canadian High-Arctic.  Instruments components of CHAIN are nine high-data 
rate dual frequency GPS receivers, six digital ionosondes, two three wavelength 
All-Sky Imagers and three Meridian Scanning Photometers. All these instruments 
are well within the polar cap.  During this talk I will outline the locations of 
the stations, instrument configuration, and   scientific objectives and 
capabilities of CHAIN. I will also highlighting some of the scientific issues by 
giving examples of the data from already installed stations.