Antarctic Auroral Imaging

南极极光成像

• 批准号: 0636899
• 负责人: Stephen Mende
• 金额: $ 24.47万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-06-01 至 2011-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0636899&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Antarctic; Auroral; Imaging

The proposed work would modify an existing 4-channel all-sky camera at South Pole in order to observe several types of auroras, and to distinguish the cusp reconnection aurora from the normal plasma sheet precipitation. The camera will simultaneously operate in four wavelength regions that allow a distinction between auroras that are created by higher energy electrons ( 1 keV) and those created by low energy (500 eV) precipitation. The cusp is the location where plasma enters the magnetosphere through the process of magnetic reconnection. This reconnection occurs where the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) and the terrestrial magnetic field are oriented in opposite directions. Using the IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration) satellite ultraviolet optical data it has been shown that cusp precipitation can be seen in different regions, which depend on the orientation of the IMF. South Pole station is uniquely located for optical observations of the aurora because of the 24 hours of darkness during austral winter and the appearance of the auroral oval within the field of view of all-sky cameras.

拟议的工作将修改南极现有的4通道全天空相机，以观察几种类型的极光，并将尖点重联极光与正常等离子体片沉淀区分开来。 该相机将在四个波长区域同时工作，从而可以区分高能电子（1 keV）产生的极光和低能（500 eV）降水产生的极光。 尖点是等离子体通过磁场重联过程进入磁层的位置。这种重连发生在行星际磁场（IMF）和地球磁场方向相反的地方。利用IMAGE（磁层顶至极光全球探测成像仪）卫星的紫外光学数据表明，在不同的区域可以看到尖点降水，这取决于IMF的方向。南极站的位置独特，适合光学观测极光，因为南极冬季24小时无光，而且在全天空照相机的视野内出现极光椭圆。