Collaborative Research: Applying the AGO Network to Energy Transfer in the Radiation Belts and Remote Sensing of Auroral Plasma Processes

有了这一奖项，达特茅斯学院和斯坦福大学的研究人员将解决有关地球辐射带中的能量转移和极光等离子体物理的悬而未决的科学问题。高能等离子体与近地空间(地球空间)环境中的地磁场相互作用，在射电频谱上发射电磁波，这些波的地面测量被用作诊断工具，以研究地球空间的各种过程。这项调查利用了南极洲现有的无线电接收器网络，该网络位于地磁不变的-70度到-85度之间，工作在从极低频率到高频(ELF~300 Hz到HF~5 MHz)的频率范围内。南极大陆非常适合这些类型的自然无线电波实验，因为它基本上没有电力线谐波和射频广播传输等人为电磁干扰。该项目将重点研究三个具有重要地球物理意义的等离子体波。第一，合唱波被认为是辐射带电子加速和损失的主要驱动因素。另外两个波，极光嘶嘶声和极光公里辐射(AKR)是在极光加速区产生的，有可能用于对这一复杂且知之甚少的近地区域进行遥感。这项拟议的研究是由最近在地球表面探测到的激动人心的AKR-S表面引起的，这是意想不到的，因为目前公认的这些波的产生理论预测辐射只向外发射离开地球。本研究也有助于青年科学家和本科生的培养和教育。

With this award, researchers at Dartmouth College and Stanford University will be addressing outstanding scientific questions regarding the energy transfer in the Earth's radiation belts and auroral plasma physics. Energetic plasma interacting with the geomagnetic field in the near-Earth space (geospace) environment emits electromagnetic waves across the radio spectrum, and ground-based measurements of these waves are used as diagnostic tools to investigate various processes in geospace. This investigation takes advantage of an existing network of radio receivers located in Antarctica from -70 to -85 degrees of invariant geomagnetic latitude and operating in the frequency range from extra low to high frequencies (ELF ~300 Hz to HF ~5 MHz). The Antarctic continent is ideally suited for these types of natural radio wave experiments since it is largely devoid of anthropogenic electromagnetic interference such as power line harmonics and radio frequency broadcast transmissions. The project will focus on studies of three geophysically important plasma waves. The first, chorus wave is believed to be a major driver of radiation belt electron acceleration and loss. The other two waves, auroral hiss and auroral kilometric radiation (AKR), are generated in the auroral acceleration region and have the potential to be used for remote sensing of this complex and poorly understood near-Earth region. The proposed studies are motivated by a recent, exciting detection of AKR on the Earth?s surface which was unexpected since the currently accepted theory for these waves generation predicts beaming of the radiation only outward away from Earth. This research also contributes to the training and education of both the young scientists and undergraduate students.