CEDAR: CEDAR/STEP Workshop on High-Latitude Plasma Structuring

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The major objective of this joint CEDAR/STEP Workshop is to provide an international forum for an in-depth discussion of plasma structuring issues as they pertain to high and middle latitudes. Much new information has become available on the role played by the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in ordering large scale (~ 100 km) plasma density and velocity structuring in the high latitude region as a result of several CEDAR/STEP multi-technique observational campaigns. Clustering of equipment near the major incoherent scatter radar (ISR) sites along the 70oW longitude line, many of them funded by CEDAR, and the EISCAT and MU radars have provided extremely valuable and detailed corrdinated data sets; hence the need for a forum for the presentation of such interdependent measurements. It is the intent of this Workshop to organize this new information on such scientific topics as: high latitude structured plasma density enhancements known as polar "patch" and auroral "blob" formations, their entry, exit, and small scale (km to tens of m) structuring, as well as their dynamics and conjugacy; observations of sun-aligned polar cap and auroral arcs, their morphology, plasma and neutral dynamics, and their small- scale structuring in sheared flow regions. The modeling of these featutres, using theoretical and empirical methods for a better understanding of the physical parameters controlling their occurrence, will also be a major topic of deliberation. In addition, results from a recent conjugate mid-latitude campaign will be discussed to determine the factors controlling structuring in this region, their inverse correlation with sunspot cycle and relationship to gravity wave activity. It is hoped that several joint publications in the open literature will result from this Workship, as well as firm plans for any other international joint initiative necessary to cover gaps in our knowledge of specific plasma structuring issues.