GEM: Identifying Impact of the Coupling to Ionosphere-Thermosphere on the Near-Earth Electric Fields and Currents

这是一个为期三年的项目，对地球与地球之间的电磁耦合进行数据分析和建模研究。S磁层及其延伸大气的电离层-热层系统。中纬度电离层是一个复杂的高纬度和低纬度过程重叠区域，根据当前地磁活动水平和系统的预调节，每个过程在不同时间对电动力学起主导作用。这项工作的总体目标是通过解决一些具体的突出的科学问题，促进对该地区磁层-电离层耦合的物理理解：1)电离层电导和中性风如何影响环电流动力学和穿透电场；2)电离层电导和中性风如何影响驱动亚极光等离子体流动的环电流和电离层之间的电流闭合；3)等离子层中的自转滞后机制。将采用电离层-热层与内磁层和环电流自一致耦合的模型框架。这个功能是最近由提案团队开发的。通过这一努力，它将得到一个组件的补充，该组件允许与大量不同的地面和卫星测量数据进行直接比较，包括SuperDARN网络新建立的中纬度雷达站的观测数据和AMPERE项目提供的新可用的近地磁场变化全球观测数据。该项目将促进提议建模团队与许多国家科学基金会支持的社区设施之间的广泛合作，这些设施将为本研究提供大量观测数据。这将有助于展示这些测量的通用性

This is a three-year project to carry out a data analysis and modeling study of the electromagnetic coupling between the Earth?s magnetosphere and the ionosphere-thermosphere system of its extended atmosphere. The mid-latitude ionosphere is a complicated overlap region of processes initiated at high and low latitudes, with each playing a dominant role in the electrodynamics at different times depending on the current level of geomagnetic activity, as well as the pre-conditioning of the system. The overarching goal of this effort is to advance understanding of the physics of the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling in this region by addressing a number of specific outstanding science questions: 1) how ionospheric conductance and neutral winds affect ring current dynamics and penetration electric fields, 2) how ionospheric conductance and neutral winds impact current closure between the ring current and the ionosphere that drive sub-auroral plasma flows, and 3) mechanisms of corotation lag in the plasmasphere. A framework of models that self-consistently couples the ionosphere-thermosphere with the inner magnetosphere and ring current will be utilized. This capability was recently developed by the proposing team. It will be complemented through this effort by a component that allows for direct comparisons with a large, diverse set of ground-based and satellite measurements, including observations from the newly established mid-latitude radar stations of the SuperDARN network and the newly available global observations of near-Earth magnetic field variations provided by the AMPERE project. The project will foster extended collaborations between the proposing team of modelers and the many NSF supported community facilities providing the multitude of observational data that will be utilized for this study. This will help demonstrate the versatility of these measurements