From the article:<p><i>The first 27 months of the programme will be dedicated to understanding the science behind ripples in both the ionosphere and the electrically neutral atmosphere below it, and then building computer simulations of what is going on. These will be tested to see if they can replicate accurately effects seen in the past.</i><p><i>Once the team have a better understanding of the basic science, they will proceed to the second stage: field trials. This will involve three tests at three-month intervals in which researchers attempt to locate pertinent events, such as storm cells, mining operations and earthquakes. If that works, the project will then move on to matters of military interest by spying on missile launches, tracking aircraft and even watching underground bunkers being dug. The result, if all goes well, may be the world’s first true panopticon.</i><p>Hopefully they spend more time on the atmospheric stuff than the military stuff. Exciting news, if the former.
The atmosphere is also used as a detection medium for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) [1]. Very high energy (>tens GeV) photons, electrons or nuclons hit atoms in the atmosphere and produce a cascade of secondary particles, which move faster than the speed of light in the air emitting Cherenkov light [2]. Flashes of this light are lasting for few nanoseconds, so the cameras have nanosecond sampling time and are based on photo multipliers.<p>There are many such telescopes around the world: MAGIC (2 telescopes), FACT (1), HESS (5), Veritas (4). The biggest assembly of such telescopes is currently under construction - Cherenkov Telescole Array [3] with hundred of telescopes in Paranal, Chile and 20 in La Palma, Canary Islands. One large telescope with a mirror of 23m diameter is already operating [4].<p>[1] <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IACT" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IACT</a><p>[2] <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_shower_(physics)" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_shower_(physics)</a><p>[3] <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5gRHFQP_SjU" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5gRHFQP_SjU</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.cta-observatory.org/lst-1_inauguration/" rel="nofollow">https://www.cta-observatory.org/lst-1_inauguration/</a>