Collaborative Research: CEDAR: Mid-Latitude and Equatorial Electrodynamics and Severe Space Weather during the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) Era

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The investigators will operate an all-sky imager at the Huancayo Observatory in Peru to observe two-dimensional airglow emissions during the Air Force C/NOFS (Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System) mission. The instrument comprises a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera with an all-sky lens, telecentric optics, and a five-position filter wheel. The observatory also includes an interferometer called SOFDI, the Second-Generation Optimized Fabry-Perot Doppler Imager, which has been developed and is currently being tested in upstate New York. It will eventually be moved to Huancayo, where it will provide daytime and nighttime zonal, meridional, and vertical wind measurements. These data will be crucial for understanding the development and timing of the F-region dynamo, which subsequently controls the formation of pre-midnight plasma irregularities commonly referred to as equatorial spread F (ESF). The observations will be coordinated with interferometric and imaging radar systems such as those at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, which provides crucial backscatter measurements of the dynamic properties of the irregularities. The incoherent scatter radar at Jicamarca will measure ionospheric parameters crucial for understanding the preconditioning of the plasma for instability. The ground-based observations will enhance the scientific and operation mission of C/NOFS, which is to understand and predict ionosphere irregularities and scintillations. These scintillations cause disruption of communication and navigation systems, so the results of this study are important for space weather operational forecasting.