Collaborative Research: Lidar Studies of Coupling in the Arctic Atmosphere and Geospace

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This research is a three year collaborative effort between researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and G & A Technical Software Incorporated (GATS) that is aimed at extending the understanding of the dynamics of the complex Arctic atmosphere and geospace regions. Specifically, the dynamical and neutral-plasma coupling in the middle and upper atmosphere would be investigated with a new resonance lidar at Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR), Chatanika, Alaska, that is a sodium resonance wind-temperature lidar (W&T) system that was recently relocated to PFRR and made operational with observations starting in January 2018. The operations of this instrument would acquire wind and temperature profiles through the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region of 80-110 km that would be coordinated with the on-going operations of six key instruments at PFRR: namely, the volume imaging sodium lidar, the Poker Flat Rayleigh density-temperature lidar, the Poker Flat metal resonance density lidar, a three-channel all sky imager, the Poker Flat Meteor Wind Radar, and the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar. The research would have a variety of broader impacts addressing fundamental processes in fluid dynamics, aerosol and plasma science while developing new remote sensing technology. The W&T resonance lidar will be operated at the Lidar Research Laboratory at PFRR, and would support the participation of two UAF graduate students as well as visiting students in scientific investigations and engineering projects. The W&T lidar system operations would enhance the Poker Flat Rocket Range research infrastructure, extending the cluster of ground-based suite of instruments at PFRR that would in turn allow new rocket-based investigations at PFRR. The activity will advance integration of satellite and ground-based measurements and inter-comparison, calibration, and validation of remote sensing techniques. The observations, analyses and results of this activity will contribute to national and international programs, including the CAWSES, CEDAR, SEARCH, and SPARC programs. The results of the activity will be disseminated widely through both professional and public outreach programs associated with UAF and NASA. The Arctic atmosphere can be considered as a unique laboratory for investigating atmospheric coupling and understanding how terrestrial meteorology forcing (from below) and space weather activity (from above) combine to determine the overall structure and circulation of the middle and upper atmosphere. The W&T instrument would acquire measurements of sufficient accuracy and precision to allow comparative studies of temperature and wind over daily, seasonal, and yearly time scales. These measurements would provide excellent data supporting studies relating to dynamic coupling, ion-neutral coupling, and aerosol-plasma coupling. The program of lidar measurements would address these topics through observations of specific phenomena: gravity waves, tides, planetary waves, instabilities, mesospheric inversion layers, mesospheric metal layers, extended thermospheric metal layers, sporadic layers, Joule heating, ion drag, ion composition, and noctilucent clouds. The overarching aim of the series of observations would be to achieve a coherent framework for understanding these interactions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.