Collaborative Research: Coordinated Radar and Optical Analysis of Flow Channel Disturbances within the Nightside Auroral Oval/Plasma Sheet

太阳风与地球磁场的耦合在地球上产生了一系列的扰动效应。S近空间环境。通信、导航、能源生产和分配都受到这种空间天气的显著影响。预测可能影响这些技术的干扰的能力取决于对连接的太阳-地球系统的详细知识和理解，包括磁层和电离层之间复杂的耦合过程。后者在夜侧极光中的一个特殊方面是最近发现的中尺度流动通道，据信在电离层空间天气扰动的产生和动力学中起着重要作用。确定流动通道的精确性质及其与磁层-电离层系统大尺度动力学的关系是该项目的主要目标。它将通过对从各种来源同时观察到的现象进行全面和仔细协调的分析来进行尝试。由此产生的理解是朝着能够将这种影响纳入电离层空间天气规范和预报模式迈出的关键一步。该项目将结合来自北美地区极光区域的大量不同仪器和设施的观测结果，包括非相干和相干散射雷达、光谱极光成像仪和地面磁力计，以调查夜侧极光椭圆形的中尺度流动通道事件。研究工作的具体项目目标包括：1)建立流道和极光流带的相对位置；2)建立了流道和流线轨迹与大尺度对流的关系；3)确定流道事件与其他等离子体片扰动（包括亚暴和ω波段）之间的联系。

The coupling of the solar wind with Earth's magnetic field gives rise to a range of disturbance effects in Earth?s near-space environment. Communications, navigation and energy production and distribution are significantly affected by this space weather. The ability to forecast disturbances that may impact these technologies hinges upon detailed knowledge and understanding of the connected Sun-Earth system, including complicated coupling processes between the magnetosphere and ionosphere. A particular aspect of the latter within the nightside aurora are meso-scale flow channels that have been discovered recently and are believed to play a significant role in the creation and dynamics of space weather disturbances in the ionosphere. Determining the precise nature of the flow-channels and their relation to the large-scale dynamics of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system is the main objective of this project. It will be attempted through a comprehensive and carefully coordinated analysis of simultaneous observations of the phenomenon from a variety of sources. The resulting understanding constitutes a critical step towards being able to include this effect in ionospheric space weather specification and forecast models. This project will combine observations from a large and diverse set of instruments and facilities across the auroral region in the North American sector, including incoherent and coherent scatter radars, spectral auroral imagers, and ground-based magnetometers, to investigate meso-scale flow channel events in the nightside auroral oval. Specific project goals for the research effort include: 1) establishing the relative location of flow channels and auroral streamers; 2) establishing the relation between flow channel and streamer trajectories and large-scale convection; and 3) determining the connection between flow channel events and other plasma sheet disturbances, including substorms and omega bands.