Support for the Participation of U.S. Scientists and Students in the International Conference on Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation; Taipei, Taiwan; March 9-11, 2016

该奖项资助美国科学家参加在台湾台北举行的第三届全球定位系统无线电掩星国际会议(ICGPSRO)的旅费。NSF与台湾国家空间组织(NSPO)在开发天基GPS无线电掩星(GPSRO)作为一种观测大气的技术方面有着长期的合作关系。这一伙伴关系由大学大气研究公司进行，并在美国其他机构的参与下，产生了气象学、电离层和气候星座观测系统(COSMIC)。COSMIC是一个由六颗极地轨道卫星组成的星座，带有GPS接收器，于2006年发射。COSMIC任务非常成功，后续的COSMIC-2任务正在开发中，作为美国和台湾的联合项目，计划于2016年发射两次发射中的第一次。虽然COSMIC-2不是由NSF资助的任务，但将收集的观测数据将比现有的GPSRO测量质量和数量更高，并有望成为NSF资助的研究人员的资源。这次会议涵盖了一些与RO测量技术和使用GPSRO数据进行天气、气候和空间天气研究有关的主题。会议将提供一个场所，让美国与会者了解GPSRO技术及其研究应用，促进数据的最终用户和观测技术开发商之间的互动，并促进美国和台湾科学家之间的国际合作。通过该奖项提供的资金将支持多达10名美国科学家和学生参加会议的旅费。美国的参与者将是学生、早期职业科学家和资深研究人员的混合。由于GPSRO观测作为天气预报和跟踪电离层状态的输入的实用价值，该奖项具有更广泛的影响。例如，GPSRO数据已被证明在减少飓风路径预测误差方面是有效的。此外，这些观测数据是经过绝对校准的，因此有助于探测大气温度的长期趋势，并可用于帮助校准其他类型的气象卫星。除了这些更广泛的社会影响，这次会议还将为学生和早期职业科学家提供有价值的教育和指导。

This award funds the travel of US scientists to attend the Third International Conference on GPS Radio Occultation (ICGPSRO) in Taipei, Taiwan. NSF has a longstanding partnership with the Taiwanese National Space Organization (NSPO), in the development of space-based GPS radio occultation (GPSRO) as a technique for observing the atmosphere. This partnership, conducted through the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and with the participation of other US agencies, produced the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, the Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC). COSMIC is a six-satellite constellation of polar orbiting satellites with GPS receivers launched in 2006. The COSMIC mission has been highly successful, and the follow-on COSMIC-2 mission is under development as a joint US-Taiwan project with the first of two launches scheduled for 2016. While COSMIC-2 is not an NSF-funded mission, the observations to be collected will be of greater quality and quantity than existing GPSRO measurements and hold substantial promise as a resource for NSF-funded researchers.The conference covers a number of topics related to RO measurement techniques and the use of GPSRO data for weather, climate, and space weather research. The meeting will provide a venue to expose US participants to the GPSRO technique and its research applications, to foster interactions between end users of the data and developers of the observing technology, and to promote international collaborations between US and Taiwanese scientists. Funds provided through this award will support the travel of up to ten U.S. scientists and students to attend the conference. US participants will be a mix of students, early career scientists, and senior researchers.The award has broader impacts due to the practical value of GPSRO observations as an input to weather forecasts and for tracking the state of the ionosphere. GPSRO data has been demonstrated, for example, to be effective at reducing errors in forecasts of hurricane tracks. In addition, the observations are absolutely calibrated and thus useful for detecting long-term trends in atmospheric temperature, and can be used to help calibrate other kinds of weather satellites. Beyond these societal broader impacts, the meeting will provide valuable education and mentorship for students and early career scientists.