Continuing Theoretical Studies of Dynamical Processes in the Ionosphere

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ATM-0000171SchunkThe proposed research is a continuation of theoretical studies of the effects that plasma and neutral gas transport processes have on the Earth's ionosphere and thermosphere. The research spans a 5-year period and will be conducted by a group that is composed of six scientists and a graduate student. The research involves model/data comparisons, theoretical studies of ionosphere dynamics and electrodynamics, polar wind studies, and high-resolution thermosphere studies. The overall approach is to consider the ionosphere as an integrated system, which interacts with both the magnetosphere and thermosphere. The members of the group will study different, but related, ionospheric problems, with the result that almost all of the major ionospheric regions will be studied, including the E region, F region, and topside ionosphere at equatorial, middle, and high latitudes. In the course of these studies, some of the group's models will be upgraded or improved, but most of the proposed studies will be conducted with existing ionospheric, thermospheric, electrodynamic, and polar wind models. Also, in many of the proposed studies, data will be needed from several incoherent scatter radars, ionosondes, ground-based magnetometers, superDARN radars, and satellites, but all of the data required are either already available or will be available on the World Wide Web in the near future. The proposed research is directly relevant to the National Space Weather Program as well as to the NSF-sponsored community-wide initiatives called CEDAR and GEM, and to NASA's TIMED satellite.