Auroral Precipitation Modeling Relevant to the Antarctic Upper Atmosphere

这一奖项是为了进一步发展先进的极光粒子沉淀模型，该模型的能量范围从几十电子伏特到数百千里电子伏特，其中将包括明确的季节相关性，从而能够对南极和北极电离层的行为进行单独预测。模型的参数化将通过函数拟合来实现，而不是通过少数几个具有实验数据的离散数据箱来实现。高能粒子群在不同的时间尺度上与低能粒子群在不同的时间尺度上变化，深入地球上层大气，对大气化学产生更深刻的影响。将通过对NASA‘a极地航天器UVI瞬时全球图像的分析，首次使用NORTCAST、基于KP指数和太阳风/基金组织驱动的方法对降水模型进行定量比较。这项工作将使多参数模型的研究能够结合太阳风数据和NOWCAST(或Kp被证明是合适的)，以显著提高模型的精度。其他重大进展将包括提供详细的粒子光谱，而不仅仅是特征能量，以及处理当前一代降水模型无法处理的高度扰动的地磁条件。这项模拟工作的更广泛影响是通过在NOAA/NGDC网站上实时运行高级降水模型来实现的；目前正在对该模型进行评估，以取代其旧的业务降水模型。这对地球空间科学界和监测空间天气的业务机构都很重要。本科生的参与扩大了该项目的教育组成部分。

This award is for further development of the advanced auroral particle precipitation model for the energy range from a few tens of electronvolts (eV) up to hundreds of kilioelectronvolts (keV) that will include explicit seasonal dependence permitting separate prediction of the behavior of the Southern and Northern polar ionospheres. The model's parameterization will be achieved through the functional fits rather than through a handful set of discrete bins with experimental data. The higher energy particle population, which varies on a different time scale than the lower energy particle population, penetrates deeper into the Earth's upper atmosphere, affecting atmospheric chemistry much more profoundly. For the first time the precipitation models will be quantitatively compared using the nowcast, Kp-index based, and solar wind/IMF-driven approaches through the analysis of the NASA'a Polar spacecraft UVI instantaneous global images. This work will enable investigations of the multi-parameter models that combine the solar wind data and nowcast (or Kp as proves appropriate) to improve significantly the model's accuracy. Other major advances will include providing detailed particle spectra instead of just characteristic energies, and to handle highly disturbed geomagnetic conditions that no current generation precipitation models can treat. The broader impacts of this modeling effort are achieved through the running the advanced precipitation models on the NOAA/NGDC Web site in real-time operation; this model is currently under evaluation to replace their old operational precipitation model. This is important for both the geospace scientific community and operational agencies monitoring space weather. Involvement of the undergraduate students extends the project's educational component.