| NSF Org: |
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | December 18, 2008 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | December 18, 2008 |
| Award Number: | 0836510 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Farzad Kamalabadi
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | January 1, 2009 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2010 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $114,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $38,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4200 W JEMEZ RD STE 301 LOS ALAMOS NM US 87544-2587 (505)412-4200 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
4200 W JEMEZ RD STE 301 LOS ALAMOS NM US 87544-2587 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | AERONOMY |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001011DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001112DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
In order to fully characterize the effect of lightning on ionospheric density structures, this project will deploy co-located ionosphere and lightning RF arrays at HF (1-30 MHz) for D- and E-region imaging, and VLF (0-500 kHz) and VHF (120-150 MHz) radars for lightning studies. The observational program will be augmented by computations from the Ionospheric Data Assimilation Four-Dimensional (IDA4D) model. The model will perform tomographic reconstruction of the ionosphere for heights extending from the E region to above using the observations obtained as well as other opportunistic E region data sources, most notably from the Los Alamos Portable Pulser (LAPP) with the Cibola Flight Experiment (CFE) satellite. The goal of these activities is to elucidate coupling processes between the troposphere and ionosphere, in particular the interaction between lightning and E region ionization enhancements known as sporadic-E. Current thinking suggests that there are two primary mechanisms that transport energy from the troposphere to the lower ionosphere: the first is mechanical wave activity and the second is electrical effects associated with lightning, including electromagnetic pulses and relativistic electrons. The mechanical coupling of waves may increase the peak plasma densities of sporadic-E layers before propagating into the F-region. Discharges from lightning couple electromagnetically and may increase the peak plasma densities by creating more long-lived metal ions from the ambient population of meteoric metal atoms found at these altitudes. However, very little is known about the electromagnetic coupling between lightning and the ionosphere, even though observations of Transient Luminous Events (TLE) indicate that interactions between thunderstorms and the middle and upper atmospheres do occur. The goal is to make significant progress in answering the following questions on ionosphere/troposphere coupling: (1) What is the coupling mechanism between lightning emissions and the development of sporadic E layers? (2) What is the relationship between lightning emissions and the variations of conductances in the ionosphere? (3) To what degree can we use measured RF values of the lightning emissions and characterization of the ionosphere to simultaneously model and analyze the physical characteristics of lightning emissions and the detailed structuring of the ionospheric response?
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