Studies of the upper atmosphere have to be performed using optical photometric and spectrometric means. Modern devices allow precise photometry of the glow of the night atmosphere — airglow — with high temporal spatial and spectral resolution. As a result, the obtained airglow parameters make it possible to determine the physicochemical properties of the upper atmosphere and observe their variation under the influence of various factors. The National Heliogeophysical Complex, which is being created in Eastern Siberia, is therefore to include a certain set of modern optical instruments. The paper presents the main phenomena that will be investigated by the optical instruments of the complex, provides information on their composition and scientific goals, presents the results of preliminary studies performed using a prototype of the instruments. As a result of the studies, the presence of a significant (about 10 m/sec) vertical wind at various altitudes (100 and 250 km) was established, the importance of taking into account the vertical wind to study the vertical dynamics of the charged component was demonstrated. The long-term dynamics of the vertical wind at an altitude of about 100 km has a pronounced seasonal variations and the absence of diurnal variations, whereas the dynamics of the vertical wind at an altitude of 250 km has a pronounced diurnal variations, which is mostly clearly defined in winter. This suggests the presumed presence of vertical circulation cells at various altitude levels. The possibilities of optical stereoscopy and differential image analysis methods are demonstrated, as applied to the study of fast luminous formations and conducting active ground and space experiments to modify Earth's ionosphere. We report the results of the determination of a three-dimensional picture of a long-lived meteor track with the use of two wide-angle cameras. We propose an algorithm that allows us to get a stereo image of events occurring in the upper atmosphere, recorded simultaneously from different observation points. The joint work of the tools of this complex and the development of cooperation with third-party organizations are shown to be a good enough direction for further study of the vertical dynamics of Earth’s upper atmosphere and space weather phenomena.

The results of analysis of the experimental data collected on 5 September 2021 on 557.7 and 630 nm artificial airglow of the ionosphere induced by powerful HF radio waves at the SURA facility are presented. For optical measurements, a photometric suite located directly next to the SURA facility was used. Fast variations in the atmospheric emission intensity at 557.7 nm, 630 nm, and 391.4 nm with a three-channel photometer and spatial–temporal variations in the 557.7 nm with a CCD camera were measured. An ionospherically reflected pump wave and the stimulated electromagnetic emission (SEE) were recorded. Background ionospheric conditions were registered with ionosonde. For the first time, an increase in the 557.7 nm emission intensity induced by the SURA facility radiation was found concurrently with a partial blocking ionosphere in the F-region and suppression HF-induced phenomena in the F-region (the 630 nm airglow increase and SEE generation, powerful radio wave anomalous absorption) during the sporadic E-layer ($E_s$) development. Additionally, we managed to obtain images showing moving spots of the SURA-induced 557.7 nm emission increased intensity at the $E_s$ layer heights.

Monitoring thunderstorm activity can help you solve many problems such as infrastructure facility protection, warning of hazardous phenomena associated with intense precipitation, study of conditions for the occurrence of thunderstorms and the degree of their influence on human activity, as well as the influence of thunderstorm activity on the formation of near-Earth space. We investigate the characteristics of thunderstorm cells by the method of cluster analysis. We take the Vereya-MR network data accumulated over a period from 2012 to 2018 as a basis. The Vereya-MR network considered in this paper is included in networks operating in the VLF-LF range (long and super-long radio waves). Reception points equipped with recording equipment, primary information processing systems, communication systems, precision time and positioning devices based on global satellite navigation systems are located throughout Russia. In the longitudinal-latitudinal thunderstorm distributions of interest, the dependence on the location of recording devices might be manifested. We compare the behavior of thunderstorms on the entire territory of the Russian Federation with those in the Baikal natural territory. We have established the power of thunderstorms over the Baikal region is lower. The daily variation in thunderstorm cells we obtained is consistent with the data from other works. There are no differences in other thunderstorm characteristics between the regions under study. This might be due to peculiarities of the analysis method. On the basis of the work performed, we propose sites for new points of our own lightning location network, as well as additional methods of cluster analysis.

Monitoring thunderstorm activity can help you solve many problems such as infrastructure facility protection, warning of hazardous phenomena associated with intense precipitation, study of conditions for the occurrence of thunderstorms and the degree of their influence on human activity, as well as the influence of thunderstorm activity on the formation of near-Earth space. We investigate the characteristics of thunderstorm cells by the method of cluster analysis. We take the Vereya-MR network data accumulated over a period from 2012 to 2018 as a basis. The Vereya-MR network considered in this paper is included in networks operating in the VLF-LF range (long and super-long radio waves). Reception points equipped with recording equipment, primary information processing systems, communication systems, precision time and positioning devices based on global satellite navigation systems are located throughout Russia. In the longitudinal-latitudinal thunderstorm distributions of interest, the dependence on the location of recording devices might be manifested. We compare the behavior of thunderstorms on the entire territory of the Russian Federation with those in the Baikal natural territory. We have established the power of thunderstorms over the Baikal region is lower. The daily variation in thunderstorm cells we obtained is consistent with the data from other works. There are no differences in other thunderstorm characteristics between the regions under study. This might be due to peculiarities of the analysis method. On the basis of the work performed, we propose sites for new points of our own lightning location network, as well as additional methods of cluster analysis.

The work continues the research started in 2017. In 2018 in addition to constant monitoring of the night sky glow, a series of experiments were carried out to register fast variations in the spatial intensity distribution of the night sky radiation in the spectral range of 400–900 nm by an optical instruments complex. The devices complex includes: A photometer assembled on the basis of SONY ICX285AL CCD matrix and a high-aperture lens Jupiter 3; Highly sensitive optical system created on the basis of the 3rd generation EPM102G-04-22C electron-optical converter (EOC) and the Baumer HXG40NIR camera based on CMOSIS CMV4000 1 matrix; Fast four-channel photometer with sensors based on silicon photomultipliers. The paper presents the results of experiments on the synchronous observation of fast optical phenomena in the Earth’s atmosphere. The number of events recorded simultaneously on multiple devices is given. We describe methods and algorithms for extracting events from data series.