Auroral Thermosphere with Nitrogen-Ion (N2+) Lidar and Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR)

使用三种仪器对北极热层和 E 区电离层进行采样：新型氮离子 (N2) 谐振激光雷达、高级模块化非相干散射雷达 (AMISR) 和阿拉斯加 Poker Flat 的子午扫描光度计。 使用美国空军多物种电离层化学模型对测量结果进行同化和建模，以生成一组封闭的 E 区域连续性方程，除了直接根据激光雷达测量结果确定的 80-300 公里范围内 N2 密度的第一个距离分辨剖面之外，还可以根据该方程确定 [O2 ]、[NO ] 和 [NO] 的数密度。 这些 N2 离子数据提供了比单独从非相干散射雷达 (ISR) 体离子信息中提取的更准确的 E 区电离率估计，并且 NO 数据用于研究极光 NO 的生命周期。 该研究利用新的仪器技术实现了极光E区二维离子形态的前所未有的采样（使用AMISR的电子束控制），并使用391纳米的N2共振对N2高度剖面进行了前所未有的测量。

The Arctic thermosphere and E-region ionosphere is sampled with three instruments, a novel nitrogen-ion (N2+) resonant lidar, the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter radar (AMISR), and a meridian scanning photometer at Poker Flat Alaska. The measurements are assimilated and modeled with the United States Air Force multispecies ionospheric chemistry model to produce a closed set of E-region continuity equations from which the number densities of [O2+], [NO+], and [NO] are determined in addition to the first range-resolved profile of N2+ density from 80-300 kilometer that is determined directly from the lidar measurements. These N2+ ion data provide more accurate E-region ionization rate estimates than can be extracted from the incoherent scatter radar (ISR) bulk ion information alone, and the NO data are used to investigate the life cycle of auroral NO. The research uses new instrument technology to achieve unprecedented sampling of two-dimensional ion morphology in the auroral E-region (using the electronic beam steering of AMISR), and unprecedented measurements of the N2+ altitude profile using an N2+ resonance at 391 nanometer.