| NSF Org: |
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 19, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 2, 2014 |
| Award Number: | 1242356 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Sunanda Basu
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2015 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $138,309.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $138,309.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2013 = $45,800.00 FY 2014 = $48,046.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
10889 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 700 LOS ANGELES CA US 90024-4200 (310)794-0102 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
405 Hilgard Ave. Los Angeles CA US 90095-1565 |
| 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: |
01001314DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001415DB 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
This collaborative research effort will study magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling through a coordinated campaign of observations and modeling using the Poker Flat Incoherent-Scatter Radar (PFISR), the Resolute Bay Incoherent-Scatter Radar (RISR), a variety of optical instruments, the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), the Homer Very High Frequency (VHF) radar, and the Global Ionospheric-Thermospheric Model (GITM). The ionosphere, thermosphere, and magnetosphere comprise a tightly coupled system at high latitudes. The ionosphere is the mediating element in this view, facilitating the transfer of free energy generated by solar wind-magnetosphere coupling into heat and bulk motion of the neutral atmosphere. This mediation occurs through electric fields, particle precipitation, diffusion, and field-aligned currents, agents that act collectively to structure the plasma density and composition within the system. Although elements of this system have been studied in considerable detail, their nonlinear interactions, and the global implications of these regional processes, remains poorly understood and inadequately observed. The electronic steering capability of PFISR offers a unique diagnostic to fill this gap. Using a dense grid of beams, a three-dimensional, time dependent view of the ion-neutral interactions can be developed. These results, in coordination with observations by common volume optical, and VHF and HF radar observations, allow access to system dynamics and system responses which were previously unobservable. The experimental campaign, involving twenty researchers from nine institutions, will be carried out over two winter seasons. The results will be used to address fundamental questions of the physics of the upper atmosphere and its coupling to the magnetosphere and the lower atmosphere, which have remained obscured for lack of key data. As a result, although it is understood that small-scale processes play critically important roles in this coupling, they have been difficult to include in quantitative models. The new information will be implemented in the GITM model validating the new understanding of the coupled magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere, and thereby providing enhanced simulation capabilities.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This grant supported the UCLA contribution to the United States upper atmosphere observing campaign called “Ion-Neutral Observations in the Thermosphere”, or PINOT, a project that brought together a number of investigators and instruments to a single location to observe a common volume of the geospace environment. The objective of the project was to address the topic of ion-neutral coupling in the Earth’s upper atmosphere by specifying as many of the necessary parameters as possible with as high a resolution as possible. The measurements were used both to drive simulations and as diagnostics to compare to simulation predictions.
The project included a strategy to address the overall theme of ion-neutral coupling through three sub themes: 1) Magnetospheric drivers of the ionosphere-thermosphere state variables. 2) Waves and Turbulence. 3) Magnetospheric dynamics inferred from the ionospheric-thermospheric response.
The team assembled for the project included 20 investigators from 10 separate institutions. Each investigator brings expertise directly related to the campaign theme.
The UCLA investigators used this data to obtain what we believe are fundamental new information on dynamics of Space Weather disturbances of the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere system. These included 1. The physics of the onset of the dramatic substorm disturbance by flow-wave interaction, 2. Discovery of a neutral wind flow reversal and its driving by ionospheric convection, 3. Mid-latitude ionospheric flow bursts and their connection to auroral dynamics, and 4. Evidence that polar-cap flow channels can directly feed substorm auroral development.
Last Modified: 10/14/2015
Modified by: Lawrence R Lyons
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