CEDAR: Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) Measurements of Flow Bursts and Relations to Auroral Electrodynamics

本项目是利用高纬度电离层地面光学和雷达遥感与THEMIS航天器获取的内部等离子体片测量相结合的方法，研究磁层和电离层之间的电动力学耦合。本工作将绘制电离层对流电场Harang不连续区附近增强气流爆发的经验图，并评估气流爆发与极光和磁层活动的关系，特别是包括极光极向边界增强、南北极光结构、极帽对流和亚暴发生时间。将使用的地面仪器包括非相干散射雷达（Sondrestrom、AMISR和RISR）、超级雷达、磁力计和全天成像阵列。这项工作的目标是为长期存在的亚暴发生时间问题提供潜在解决方案的经验测试。

This project is to investigate the electrodynamical coupling between the magnetosphere and ionosphere using a combination of ground-based optical and radar remote sensing of the high latitude ionosphere with measurements of the inner plasma sheet acquired by the THEMIS spacecraft. This work will create empirical maps of bursts of enhanced flows, localized near the Harang discontinuity region of the ionospheric convection electric field, and assess the relationship of the flow bursts with auroral and magnetospheric activity, specifically including auroral poleward boundary intensifications, north-south auroral structuring, polar cap convection, and the timing of substorm onset. Ground-based instrumentation to be used includes incoherent scatter radars (Sondrestrom, AMISR, and RISR), SuperDARN radars, and magnetometer and all-sky imaging arrays. The goal of this effort is to provide empirical tests of a potential solution to the long-standing problem of substorm onset timing.