Space Weather: Data-Enhanced Models for ESF Forecasts in Cooperation with the WestPac Program

该研究人员将应用现有的电离层、电动力学和不稳定增长率模型，研究开发赤道电离层传播扰动短期预报的技术。 这项研究将利用西太平洋项目，这是一个由国家科学基金会资助的电离层台站链，测量控制瑞利-泰勒不稳定性的参数，瑞利-泰勒不稳定性是赤道扩展F不稳定性的来源。 赤道扩展F对电离层产生干扰，影响无线电通信，因此是空间气象的一个重要因素。 在这项研究中开发的模型将利用电离层条件的赤道规范来描述赤道扩展F形成的条件。 这项研究还将开发将电离层数据纳入可在低成本个人计算机上运行的预测模型的方法。

This investigators will apply existing models of the ionosphere, electrodynamics, and instability growth rates to examine techniques for developing short-term forecasting of propagation disturbances of the equatorial ionosphere. The study will make use of the WestPac Project, an NSF-funded chain of ionospheric stations measuring parameters that control the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, the source of equatorial spread F instabilities. Equatorial spread F produces disruption to the ionosphere that affects radio communication and is thus an important element of space weather. The model developed in this study will take advantage of the meridional specification of ionospheric conditions to characterize the conditions under which equatorial spread F forms. The study will also develop means by which ionospheric data can be assimilated into a forecasting model that can be run on a low-cost personal computer.