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

该奖项根据 2009 年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法 111-5）提供资金。这是一个为期 2 年的项目，旨在购买和部署 10 个先进的 GPS 接收器。成对的接收器将安装在加拿大北极地区用于尖端和裂隙研究（MACCS）的磁力计阵列的三个地点以及明尼苏达州明尼苏达州立大学莫尔黑德分校明尼阿波利斯奥格斯堡学院的两个低纬度地点。与磁力计阵列共定位可同时覆盖公共区域上的磁和电离层现象，这将产生关于电离层对流和闪烁等重要的新结果。这些仪器也位于 SuperDARN、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，这对于揭示太阳风-磁层-电离层耦合的复杂性至关重要。 GPS 接收器将填补高纬度地区 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闪烁监测接收器网络，该网络将向公众提供数据，并从至少一个北极站点近乎实时地获取数据。该项目的更广泛影响包括显着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完善的 MACCS 网络服务器上，包括研究企业中的本科生。与该项目相关的数据缩减和分析工作非常适合本科生研究。因此，该项目将为本科生提供更多机会接触空间物理学、无线电科学、卫星导航科学与工程以及信号传播和处理，特别是通过纳入高级高级实验室课程。此外，该项目还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公司（一家专注于科学仪器的小型企业）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.