Large- and Small-scale Dynamics and Meteor Studies in the MLT with a New-generation Meteor Radar on King George Island

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。该项目将在乔治王岛的巴西南极站Comandante Ferraz使用一台先进的流星雷达，进行国际航空界高度关注的若干协同研究工作。雷达的位置将位于南极半岛的顶端--关键的南纬62度--以填补目前从南纬54度到68度的测量空白。该雷达将在南极和半球间中性大气动力学研究中发挥关键作用，确定全球中间层和较低热层的结构和可变性(80至105公里)，并指导考虑这一高海拔区域动力学的模型的进展，包括大气环流模型、气候和数值天气预报模型。独特的雷达测量灵敏度将能够研究：(1)大尺度环流和行星波，(2)潮汐结构和变率，(3)小尺度重力波的动量输送，(4)重要但未量化的重力波-潮汐相互作用，(5)极地中间层夏季回波，以及(6)流星通量、头部回波和非镜面轨迹，其中一些在这些纬度显示出高纬度梯度。该雷达将支持与美国和其他在南极和北极交界处进行测量的科学家的广泛合作，包括C.Ferraz的巴西科学家和在南极、北极和南美洲拥有其他仪器的美国和国际同事。与美国科罗拉多大学、巴西国立大学(INPE)和阿根廷拉普拉塔国立大学的联系将为美国和南美洲的研究生和本科生提供独特的研究机会。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The project will employ a sophisticated meteor radar at the Brazilian Antarctic station Comandante Ferraz on King George Island for a number of synergetic research efforts of high interest to the international aeronomical community. The location of the radar will be at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula - at a critical southern latitude of 62 degrees - to fill a current measurement gap from 54 to 68 degrees south. The radar will play a key role in Antarctic and inter-hemispheric studies of neutral atmosphere dynamics, defining global mesosphere and lower thermosphere structure and variability (from 80 to 105 km) and guiding advances of models accounting for the dynamics of this high-altitude region, including general circulation models, and climate and numerical weather prediction models. The unique radar measurement sensitivity will enable studies of: (1) the large-scale circulation and planetary waves, (2) the tidal structure and variability, (3) the momentum transport by small-scale gravity waves, (4) important, but unquantified, gravity wave - tidal interactions, (5) polar mesosphere summer echoes, and (6) meteor fluxes, head echoes, and non-specular trails, a number of which exhibit high latitudinal gradients at these latitudes. This radar will support extensive collaborations with U.S. and other scientists making measurements at other Antarctic and Arctic conjugate sites, including Brazilian scientists at C. Ferraz and U.S. and international colleagues having other instrumentation in the Antarctic, Arctic, and within South America. Links to the University of Colorado in the U.S., Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) in Brazil and Universidad Nacional de La Plata in Argentina will provide unique research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students in the U.S. and South America.