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

这项合作研究工作将通过使用扑克平面非相干散射雷达（PFISR）、Resolute湾非相干散射雷达（RISR）、各种光学仪器、超级双极光雷达网络（SuperDARN）、荷马甚高频（VHF）雷达和全球电离层-热层模型（GITM）的协调观测和建模来研究磁层-电离层-热层耦合。电离层、热层和磁层在高纬度地区构成一个紧密耦合的系统。在这种观点中，电离层是中介因素，促进了太阳风-磁层耦合产生的自由能转化为中性大气的热量和大块运动。这种中介通过电场、粒子沉淀、扩散和场向电流发生，这些因素共同作用于系统内的等离子体密度和组成结构。尽管对这一系统的要素已经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过程的全球影响仍然知之甚少，观察不足。PFISR的电子转向功能提供了一种独特的诊断方法来填补这一空白。利用密集的光束网格，可以建立一个三维的、随时间变化的离子中性相互作用视图。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协调，使人们能够获得以前无法观测到的系统动力学和系统响应。来自9个机构的20名研究人员参与了这项实验，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耦合的基本物理问题，这些问题由于缺乏关键数据而仍然模糊不清。因此，尽管人们了解小规模过程在这种耦合中起着至关重要的作用，但它们很难包括在定量模型中。新的信息将在GITM模型中实现，验证磁层、电离层和热层耦合的新认识，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.