MRI: Acquisition of Advanced Scientific GPS Receivers for Magnetospheric and Ionospheric Research

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。这是一个为期2年的项目，将采购并部署10台先进的GPS接收机。成对的接收器将安装在加拿大北极地区用于尖角和裂口研究的磁力计阵列（MACCS）的三个地点，以及明尼苏达州奥格斯堡学院、明尼阿波利斯、明尼苏达州州立大学摩尔黑德的两个低纬度地点。与磁力计阵列的共同定位提供了在一个共同区域同时覆盖磁和电离层现象，这将产生重要的新结果，例如电离层对流和闪烁。这些仪器也位于超级雷达、THEMIS等卫星和电离层探空仪覆盖的区域内，为广泛的多仪器研究提供了机会，这些研究被证明对揭示太阳风-磁层-电离层耦合的复杂性至关重要。GPS接收机将填补高纬度地区GPS数据收集的关键空白。此次收购将提供唯一已知的连续运行的闪烁监测接收器网络，使公众可以从至少一个北极站点获得近乎实时的数据。该项目的更广泛影响包括大大扩展全世界许多空间科学家使用的地面观测基础设施；广泛的数据传播，建立在一个完善的MACCS网络服务器，包括本科生在研究企业。与此项目相关的数据减少和分析工作非常适合本科生的研究。因此，该项目将提供额外的机会，让本科生接触空间物理、无线电科学、卫星导航科学与工程，以及信号传播与处理，特别是通过将其纳入高级实验课程。此外，该项目将加强奥格斯堡学院、明尼苏达州立大学穆尔黑德分校和遥感中心（一家专注于科学仪器的小企业）之间的合作关系。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This is a 2 year project to purchase and deploy 10 advanced GPS receivers. Pairs of receivers will be installed at three sites of the Magnetometer Array for Cusp and Cleft studies (MACCS) in Arctic Canada and at two lower latitude sites in Minnesota at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota State University Moorhead. Co-location with the magnetometer array provides simultaneous coverage of magnetic and ionospheric phenomena over a common region which will yield important new results on, for example, ionospheric convection and scintillation. The instruments are also located within the region covered by SuperDARN, satellites such as THEMIS, and ionosondes, providing opportunities for extensive, multi-instrument studies which are proving essential for unraveling the complexities of solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. The GPS receivers will fill critical gaps in GPS data collection at high latitudes. The acquisition will provide the only known network of continuously operating scintillation monitoring receivers that will make data available to the public and available in near-real-time from at least one Arctic site.The broader impacts of this project include significant extension of the ground-based observational infrastructure used by many space scientists worldwide; broad data dissemination that builds on a well-developed MACCS web server, and including undergraduate students in the research enterprise. The data reduction and analysis efforts associated with this project are highly suitable for undergraduate student research. Thus, the project will provide additional opportunities to expose undergraduate students to space physics, radio science, satellite navigation science and engineering, and signal propagation and processing, in particular via incorporation into senior-level advanced laboratory courses. Further, the project will strengthen a collaborative relationship between Augsburg College, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and the Center for Remote Sensing Inc, a small business focused on scientific instrumentation.