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

有了这个奖项，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和极光等离子体物理中的能量转移的突出科学问题。高能等离子体在近地空间（地球空间）环境中与地磁场相互作用，在无线电频谱上发射电磁波，对这些波的地面测量被用作研究地球空间各种过程的诊断工具。这项调查利用了位于南极洲的现有无线电接收器网络，该网络位于不变地磁纬度-70至-85度之间，工作频率范围从特低到高频（ELF ~300 Hz到HF ~5 MHz）。南极大陆非常适合进行这些类型的自然无线电波实验，因为它基本上没有人为的电磁干扰，如电力线谐波和无线电频率广播传输。该项目将重点研究三种地球物理学上重要的等离子体波。第一种，合唱波被认为是辐射带电子加速和损失的主要驱动力。另外两种波，即极光嘶嘶声和极光千米辐射（AKR），是在极光加速区产生的，有可能用于对这个复杂而知之甚少的近地区域进行遥感。提议的研究是由最近在地球上发现的令人兴奋的AKR激发的。这是出乎意料的，因为目前关于这些波产生的公认理论预测，辐射只会向外发射，远离地球。这项研究也有助于培养和教育青年科学家和本科生。

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.