Collaborative Research: The SuperDARN Upper Atmosphere Facility - Operations, Community Support, and Science from the Polar Cap to Mid-latitudes

合作研究：SuperDARN 高层大气设施 - 从极地帽到中纬度地区的运营、社区支持和科学

• 批准号: 0946900
• 负责人: J Michael Ruohoniemi
• 金额: $ 234.99万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-15 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0946900&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; SuperDARN; Upper; Atmosphere

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is a network of HF radars that provide global-scale and continuous measurements of the high latitude ionosphere and upper atmosphere in both the northern (14 radars) and southern (7 radars) hemispheres. SuperDARN utilizes coherent radar backscatter techniques to track the ExB drift of ionospheric plasma. The observations can be combined to generate patterns of plasma circulation that express fundamental aspects of the coupling of energy from the solar wind into the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere system. Information on electric field dynamics and plasma structuring is routinely available on spatial scales of a few tens of kilometers and temporal scales of seconds. The radar data also generate information on the occurrence and characteristics of ionospheric irregularities, atmospheric gravity waves and TIDs, and neutral winds near the mesopause.SuperDARN is an international collaboration involving the funding agencies of a dozen countries. The SuperDARN Upper Atmosphere Facility (UAF) operates four of the radars and provides essential technical support to the collaboration in the areas of radar operating software, web data access, and data distribution. U.S. researchers gain access to the entire dataset through association with SuperDARN researchers and are supported with interpretive analysis and collaboration. Significant scientific findings have been reported in areas as diverse as ionospheric convection, M-I coupling, ULF pulsations, plasma structuring, and atmospheric tides and planetary waves.The project is a collaboration between Virginia Tech and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). Virgina Tech maintains and upgrades the radars and explores technical innovation while JHU/APL oversees software and data distribution functions. The group at Virginia Tech is student-centered activity with an emphasis on education and training while JHU/APL provides key software and web services. The project research and data products take advantage of the recent expansion of the network to polar and mid-latitudes and the development of enabling technologies. The research program is directed towards an improved understanding of the coupling of energy from the solar wind to Earth's upper atmosphere and the impacts on the space environment.Earth is buffeted by the solar wind, which interacts in complicated ways with the geomagnetic field to produce large-scale plasma motions within the upper atmosphere. These motions are a key source of information on the coupling processes. SuperDARN is a system of HF radars that image these motions, producing large scale maps of the plasma circulation that are widely used by the research community for both research and applications. This project supports the operation of four radars and the roles performed by the groups at Virginia Tech and JHU/APL in the international SuperDARN collaboration. The overall research goal is to increase our understanding of disturbance effects in Earth space environment from the polar cap to mid-latitudes and to furnish critical measurements of conditions in the upper atmosphere to the U.S. research community. The project activities will also engage students in training for space science research and engineering.

超级双极光雷达网（SuperDARN）是一个高频雷达网络，提供全球范围内连续测量北方（14部雷达）和南半球（7部雷达）的高纬度电离层和高层大气。SuperDARN利用相干雷达反向散射技术来跟踪电离层等离子体的ExB漂移。这些观测结果可以结合起来产生等离子体环流的模式，这些模式表达了太阳风能量耦合到磁层-电离层-大气层系统的基本方面。关于电场动力学和等离子体结构的信息通常可以在几十公里的空间尺度和秒的时间尺度上获得。雷达数据还产生关于电离层不规则性、大气重力波和TID以及中层顶附近中性风的发生和特征的信息。SuperDARN是一个涉及十几个国家资助机构的国际合作项目。SuperDARN高层大气设施（UAF）负责运行四部雷达，并为雷达操作软件、网络数据访问和数据分发领域的合作提供必要的技术支持。美国研究人员通过与SuperDARN研究人员的联系获得了整个数据集的访问权，并得到了解释性分析和协作的支持。在电离层对流、M-I耦合、ULF脉动、等离子体结构以及大气潮汐和行星波等不同领域都报告了重要的科学发现。该项目是弗吉尼亚理工大学和约翰·霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室（JHU/APL）之间的合作项目。JHU/APL负责维护和升级雷达并探索技术创新，而JHU/APL负责监督软件和数据分发功能。弗吉尼亚理工大学的小组是以学生为中心的活动，重点是教育和培训，而JHU/APL提供关键的软件和网络服务。该项目的研究和数据产品利用了最近将网络扩展到极地和中纬度地区以及开发使能技术的情况。该研究方案旨在更好地了解太阳风与地球高层大气的能量耦合及其对空间环境的影响，地球受到太阳风的冲击，太阳风以复杂的方式与地磁场相互作用，在高层大气中产生大规模等离子体运动。这些运动是耦合过程的重要信息来源。SuperDARN是一个高频雷达系统，可以对这些运动进行成像，产生等离子体循环的大比例尺地图，被研究界广泛用于研究和应用。该项目支持四个雷达的运行，以及弗吉尼亚理工大学和JHU/APL在国际SuperDARN合作中的角色。总体研究目标是增加我们对从极冠到中纬度的地球空间环境扰动效应的了解，并为美国研究界提供高层大气条件的关键测量。项目活动还将使学生参加空间科学研究和工程方面的培训。