RAPID: Time-Critical Enhancements for the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G)

The Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) is a European-led effort to construct a large ground-based radio array at Summit Station to make the first detection of the highest energy astrophysical neutrinos. RNO-G will be an array of 35 radio detectors spread in a 1 km grid, with the first 10 to be installed during the summer of 2021. This award supports the University of Chicago group, which has been deeply involved with the development and planning for RNO-G, to provide time-critical tools and studies that are essential for the success of this first deployment season.

This project will enable real-time communications and data monitoring, leading to earlier first science results and early multi-messenger astrophysics studies with RNO-G. Without these tools and studies, RNO-G will be significantly diminished, science results will be delayed, and the US will lose valuable involvement in an important experiment at a station that NSF operates.

RNO-G teams with glaciologists and biologists for a broad range of science at Summit Station, enabling detailed measurements of surface elevation, horizontal ice flow, analysis of path-delay effects, and reflectometry. Arctic studies are of increasing public interest and the PI is involved with outreach programs at the Adler Planetarium, which benefit significantly from the PI’s hands-on experience in Greenland.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.