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

这项研究是阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯（UAF）和G A技术软件公司（GATS）的研究人员之间为期三年的合作努力，旨在扩大对复杂的北极大气和地球空间区域动态的理解。具体而言，将在阿拉斯加Chatanika的Poker Flat Research Range（PFRR）使用新的共振激光雷达研究中层和高层大气中的动力学和中性等离子体耦合，这是一个钠共振风温激光雷达（W T）系统，该系统最近被重新安置到PFRR，并于2018年1月开始观测。该仪器的运行将获得80-110公里的中间层和低热层区域的风和温度分布图，并将与太平洋辐射研究试验站六个关键仪器的持续运行相协调：即体积成像钠激光雷达、扑克牌平板瑞利密度温度激光雷达、扑克牌平板金属共振密度激光雷达、三通道全天空成像仪、扑克平台流星风雷达和扑克平台非相干散射雷达。这项研究将产生各种更广泛的影响，涉及流体动力学、气溶胶和等离子体科学的基本过程，同时开发新的遥感技术。W-T共振激光雷达将在PFRR的激光雷达研究实验室运行，并将支持两名UAF研究生以及访问学生参与科学调查和工程项目。W T激光雷达系统的运行将增强扑克牌平地火箭靶场的研究基础设施，扩展PFRR的地面仪器套件集群，从而允许PFRR进行新的基于火箭的调查。这项活动将促进卫星和地面测量的一体化以及遥感技术的相互比较、校准和验证。这一活动的观察、分析和结果将有助于国家和国际方案，包括CAWSES、CEDAR、ESTA和ESTA方案。活动的结果将通过与美国空军和美国航天局有关的专业和公众宣传方案广泛传播。北极大气可被视为一个独特的实验室，用于研究大气耦合和了解陆地气象强迫（从下方）和空间天气活动（从上方）如何结合联合收割机来确定中高层大气的总体结构和环流。W-T仪器将获得足够准确度和精度的测量结果，以便对每日、季节和年度时间尺度上的温度和风进行比较研究。这些测量结果将为动态耦合、离子-中性耦合和气溶胶-等离子体耦合研究提供良好的数据支持。激光雷达测量方案将通过观测以下具体现象来解决这些问题：重力波、潮汐、行星波、不稳定性、中间层逆温层、中间层金属层、扩展的热层金属层、零星层、焦耳加热、离子阻力、离子组成和微扰云。该系列观测的总体目标是为理解这些相互作用建立一个连贯的框架。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

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.