Studies of Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling and Space Weather using the Magnetometer Array for Cusp and Clust Studies (MACCS-west)

研究人员将继续操作和分析来自位于加拿大北极的尖角和裂缝研究磁力计阵列（MACCS）的西半部的数据。在过去的八年中，由12个磁力计组成的MACCS阵列为支持地球空间环境的研究提供了关键信息。由于太阳风与地球磁场的相互作用，在行星际空间和磁层边界处的磁力线映射到极地尖角，即在北半球和南半球当地中午时分接近磁纬75度的小区域。这些尖端区域是许多地面研究的重点，因为它们有可能提供沿着这个遥远而看不见的边界的等离子体相互作用的诊断。未来利用MACCS数据的科学工作将着重于长周期的极低频波、昼侧-夜侧耦合以及诸如突然开始、突然脉冲、行进对流漩涡和磁脉冲事件等瞬变现象，所有这些似乎都是由太阳风和行星际磁场驱动的。与此项目相关的数据减少和分析工作非常适合本科生的研究参与，它将建立在目前强大的教师和本科生研究项目的基础上。这项研究将通过与来自俄罗斯的访问科学家的合作而受益。

The investigators will continue the operation of, and analysis of data from, the western half of the Magnetometer Array for Cusp and Cleft Studies (MACCS) located in Arctic Canada. For the past eight years, the MACCS array of twelve magnetometers has provided critical information in support of studies of Earth's space environment. Because of the interaction of the solar wind with Earth's magnetic field, magnetic field lines at the boundary between interplanetary space and the magnetosphere map to the polar cusps, small regions near 75 degrees magnetic latitude at local noon in the northern and southern hemispheres. These cusp regions are the focus of much ground-based research because of their potential to provide diagnostics of plasma interactions along this remote and invisible boundary. Future scientific efforts using MACCS data will emphasize long-period ULF waves, dayside-nightside coupling, and transients such as sudden commencements, sudden impulses, traveling convection vortices, and magnetic impulse events, all of which appear to be driven by the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field. The data reduction and analysis efforts associated with this project are highly suitable for undergraduate research participation, and it will build on currently strong programs of faculty and undergraduate student research. The study will benefit through collaboration with visiting scientists from Russia.