| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | November 28, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 22, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1716192 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Robert Moore
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | March 4, 2016 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $269,675.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $269,675.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2017 = $53,396.00 FY 2018 = $54,716.00 FY 2019 = $56,079.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
315 TURNPIKE ST NORTH ANDOVER MA US 01845-5800 (978)837-5166 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
315 Turnpike St North Andover MA US 01845-0001 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): |
Polar Special Initiatives, ANT Astrophys & Geospace Sci |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
The near-Earth environment (Geospace) is mostly controlled by the Earth's magnetic field, which provides the Earth with protection from phenomena of electromagnetic nature, such as solar flares, coronal mass ejection, etc.; some of these events could be very dangerous and affect and even damage satellites, their instrumentation, and their communication with ground centers. However, the Earth's magnetic field has some specific regions where it is exposed to all these impacts from outer space. The polar caps are specific areas around the geomagnetic poles where geomagnetic field lines are open and directly interact with the interplanetary magnetic field (that is an extended magnetic field of the Sun). During strong geomagnetic disturbances, the polar caps increase their size - sometimes dramatically. Monitoring the Earth's polar regions, geomagnetic disturbances, currents that flow over these regions, polar cap boundary dynamics, etc., are important issues of space weather studies. Hundreds of magnetometers observe the Northern hemisphere polar cap and auroral zone on a regular basis. However, the Southern hemisphere has many fewer observatories. Having a large network of magnetometers for monitoring the geomagnetic environment is vital for understanding space weather-related events and their impact on environments, since the number of satellites in Geospace continues to grow very fast.
One of the major problems in developing an observational infrastructure in Antarctica is the enormous difficulty for people to reach the region and to stay there. This factor makes any scientific project extremely expensive. Therefore, the development of Automatic Geophysical Observatories (AGO) that can function autonomously with minimal human interaction and maintenance provides a unique opportunity that can solve the problem. The arrangement of instrumentation produces data with a high potential to provide key advances in the field and that are highly demanded by scientific community. The science questions to be addressed in this research effort are: (1) Is the synoptic fluxgate magnetometer determination of the open-closed magnetic field boundary (OCB) valid; (2) What are impacts of solar wind structures on the OCB morphology; (3) How synoptic structures of GPS scintillations are relevant to OCB dynamics, and (4) Could the Iridium's Short Burst Data system be used to transmit fluxgate magnetometer data at a 1-hour time lag. The research is a cost-effective investment that will advance the state of knowledge of the Geospace domain and provide scientific community with vital observations.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
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.
The near-Earth environment (Geospace) is mostly controlled by the Earth's magnetic field, which provides the Earth with protection from phenomena of electromagnetic nature, such as solar flares, coronal mass ejection, etc.; some of these events could be very dangerous and affect and even damage satellites, their instrumentation, and their communication with ground centers. However, the Earth's magnetic field has some specific regions where it is exposed to all these impacts from outer space. The polar caps are specific areas around the geomagnetic poles where geomagnetic field lines are open and directly interact with the interplanetary magnetic field (that is an extended magnetic field of the Sun). During strong geomagnetic disturbances, the polar caps increase their size - sometimes dramatically. Monitoring the Earth's polar regions, geomagnetic disturbances, currents that flow over these regions, polar cap boundary dynamics, etc., are important issues of space weather studies. Hundreds of magnetometers observe the Northern hemisphere polar cap and auroral zone on a regular basis. However, the Southern hemisphere has many fewer observatories. Having a large network of magnetometers for monitoring the geomagnetic environment is vital for understanding space weather-related events and their impact on environments, since the number of satellites in Geospace continues to grow very fast.
One of the major problems in developing an observational infrastructure in Antarctica is the enormous difficulty for people to reach the region and to stay there. This factor makes any scientific project extremely expensive. Therefore, the development of automatic observatories, together with permanent stations such as South Pole and McMurdo, provide a unique opportunity that can solve the problem. The arrangement of instrumentation produces data with a high potential to provide key advances in the field and that are highly demanded by scientific community.
Last Modified: 12/10/2021
Modified by: Allan T Weatherwax
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
