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）资助的。该项目将在位于乔治王岛的巴西南极考察站Comandante Ferraz使用一台精密的流星雷达，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尖端--位于南纬62度的关键位置--以填补南纬54度至68度之间的一个当前测量空白。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，确定全球中层和低热层结构和可变性（80至105公里），并指导说明这一高海拔地区动力学的模型的进展，包括大气环流模型以及气候和数值天气预测模型。独特的雷达测量灵敏度将使研究：（1）大尺度环流和行星波，（2）潮汐结构和变化，（3）小尺度重力波的动量传输，（4）重要但未量化的重力波-潮汐相互作用，（5）极地中层夏季回波，以及（6）流星通量、头部回波和非镜面尾迹，其中一些在这些纬度上表现出高纬度梯度。该雷达将支持与美国和其他科学家的广泛合作，这些科学家在其他南极和北极共轭地点进行测量，包括在C。Ferraz和美国及国际同事在南极、北极和南美洲拥有其他仪器。链接到美国的科罗拉多大学，巴西的Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais（INPE）和阿根廷的Universidad Nacional de拉普拉塔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.