Collaborative Research: PFISR Ion-Neutral Observations in the Thermosphere (PINOT)

这项合作研究工作将通过利用扑克平坦非相干散射雷达、决心湾非相干散射雷达、各种光学仪器、超级双极光雷达网、霍默甚高频雷达和全球电离层-热层模型进行协调观测和建模，来研究磁层-电离层-热层耦合。在高纬度地区，电离层、热层和磁层构成一个紧密耦合的系统。在这一观点中，电离层是中介元素，有助于将太阳风-磁层耦合产生的自由能转移到中性大气的热量和整体运动中。这种调节通过电场、粒子沉淀、扩散和场对齐电流发生，这些因素共同作用于系统内的等离子体密度和组成。尽管已经对这一系统的要素进行了相当详细的研究，但它们的非线性相互作用以及这些区域进程的全球影响仍然知之甚少，也没有得到充分的观察。PFISR的电子转向能力提供了一种独特的诊断方法来填补这一空白。使用密集的束流网格，可以开发出离子-中性相互作用的三维、随时间变化的视图。这些结果与普通体积光学观测以及甚高频和高频雷达观测相结合，使人们能够获得以前无法观察到的系统动力学和系统响应。这项实验活动有来自9个机构的20名研究人员参与，将在两个冬季进行。这些结果将用于解决高层大气及其与磁层和低层大气的耦合的基本问题，由于缺乏关键数据，这些问题仍然不清楚。因此，尽管人们认识到小规模过程在这种耦合中发挥着至关重要的作用，但它们很难包括在定量模型中。新信息将在GITM模型中实施，以验证对耦合磁层、电离层和热层的新理解，从而提供增强的模拟能力。

This collaborative research effort will study magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling through a coordinated campaign of observations and modeling using the Poker Flat Incoherent-Scatter Radar (PFISR), the Resolute Bay Incoherent-Scatter Radar (RISR), a variety of optical instruments, the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), the Homer Very High Frequency (VHF) radar, and the Global Ionospheric-Thermospheric Model (GITM). The ionosphere, thermosphere, and magnetosphere comprise a tightly coupled system at high latitudes. The ionosphere is the mediating element in this view, facilitating the transfer of free energy generated by solar wind-magnetosphere coupling into heat and bulk motion of the neutral atmosphere. This mediation occurs through electric fields, particle precipitation, diffusion, and field-aligned currents, agents that act collectively to structure the plasma density and composition within the system. Although elements of this system have been studied in considerable detail, their nonlinear interactions, and the global implications of these regional processes, remains poorly understood and inadequately observed. The electronic steering capability of PFISR offers a unique diagnostic to fill this gap. Using a dense grid of beams, a three-dimensional, time dependent view of the ion-neutral interactions can be developed. These results, in coordination with observations by common volume optical, and VHF and HF radar observations, allow access to system dynamics and system responses which were previously unobservable. The experimental campaign, involving twenty researchers from nine institutions, will be carried out over two winter seasons. The results will be used to address fundamental questions of the physics of the upper atmosphere and its coupling to the magnetosphere and the lower atmosphere, which have remained obscured for lack of key data. As a result, although it is understood that small-scale processes play critically important roles in this coupling, they have been difficult to include in quantitative models. The new information will be implemented in the GITM model validating the new understanding of the coupled magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere, and thereby providing enhanced simulation capabilities.