MRI: Development of a Tristatic Network of Ground-based Aeronomic Observatories to Operate in Synergy with the EISCAT-3D Facility

这个核磁共振项目将在斯堪的纳维亚半岛北部建立一个由三个小型观测站组成的小组，以测量海拔80公里至600公里之间称为热层的中性大气的三维风和温度。这一区域变化很大，受到来自上方的太阳能输入变化和来自下方的大气扰动的影响。了解和预测这种变化（称为空间天气）对无线电通信、卫星导航和空间探索非常重要。美国和国际地球空间和空间天气研究团体最近制作的许多规划文件都确定了这一倡议的潜在科学驱动因素。要讨论的具体题目包括：热层和电离层与上面的磁层和下面的中性大气的耦合；这种耦合造成的强迫的时空结构；由此产生的热层响应的时空结构；热层的长期变化；系统级的研究是通过同化分布式异构数据集实现的。该项目的动力还来自于与革命性的新型EISCAT 3D非相干散射雷达系统协同的及时机会，该系统目前正在斯堪的纳维亚北部的同一地区由国际社会建造。这两个系统将共同对大气的中性部分和电离部分进行全面测量，为极地地区提供急需的三维高分辨率数据，那里太阳辐射的影响特别强，产生了北极光等现象。仪器阵列将采用三个由绝缘的20英尺集装箱建造的小型天文台外壳。每个天文台将容纳：一个全天成像法布里-珀罗干涉仪，它将在直径约1000公里的圆形视场内绘制热层风和温度。2. 窄场天顶指向法布里-珀罗干涉仪，用于对天文台正上方的热层垂直风进行高节奏测量。3. 配备窄带干涉滤光片的多光谱全天空照相机，在多个光学波长监测极光活动。4. 全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）接收机监测天文台与每颗GNSS卫星之间电离层电子密度的视距积分，以及空间天气干扰引起的卫星信号的相位闪烁。5. 三分量磁通门磁强计。所有结果数据将在网上免费发布。数据延迟从几分钟到最多1-2天不等。该项目的更广泛影响将包括：与国际EISCAT-3D项目的合作；建设一个探路者项目，为后续地面仪器扩展网络的设计提供信息，以解决从地方到全球所有尺度的热层过程耦合问题；培训下一代空间物理仪器工作者，重点包括代表性不足的群体；通过不受限制地免费和及时地获取所有实时和存档数据，为国际空间气象界提供强有力的协作支持。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

This MRI project will establish a group of three mini observatories in northern Scandinavia to measure three-dimensional wind and temperature of the neutral atmosphere in a region between about 80 km to 600 km above sea level called thermosphere. This region is highly variable, influenced by changes in solar energy input from above and atmospheric disturbances from below. Understanding and predicting such variations (called Space Weather) is highly important for radio communication, satellite navigation and space exploration.The underlying science drivers for this initiative are identified in numerous recent planning documents produced by the US and international Geospace and Space Weather research communities. Specific topics to be addressed include: coupling of the thermosphere and ionosphere to the magnetosphere above and to the neutral atmosphere below; the spatial and temporal structure of forcing due to this coupling; the spatial and temporal structure of the resulting thermospheric responses; long-term changes in the thermosphere; and system-level studies enabled by assimilation of distributed heterogeneous data sets. The project is also motivated by a timely opportunity for synergy with the revolutionary new EISCAT 3D incoherent-scatter radar system that is currently being constructed by the international community in the same region of northern Scandinavia. The two systems will together make a comprehensive measurement of both the neutral and ionized part of the atmosphere, providing much needed three-dimensional high-resolution data in the polar region, where the influence of solar radiation is especially strong, creating phenomena such as the aurora borealis (northern lights).The instrument array will employ three small observatory enclosures constructed from insulated 20-foot shipping containers. Each observatory will house: 1. An all-sky imaging Fabry-Perot interferometer, which will map thermospheric winds and temperatures within a circular field-of-view around 1000-km in diameter. 2. A narrow-field zenith-pointed Fabry-Perot interferometer, dedicated to making high cadence measurements of thermospheric vertical winds directly above the observatory. 3. A multispectral all-sky camera equipped with narrow-band interference filters, monitoring auroral activity at multiple optical wavelengths. 4. A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver monitoring the line-of-sight integral of ionospheric electron density between the observatory and each GNSS satellite, as well as phase scintillations induced into the satellite signals by space weather disturbances. 5. A three-component fluxgate magnetometer. All resulting data will be freely distributed online. Data latency will vary from minutes to at most 1-2 days. The broader impacts of this project will include: Collaboration with the international EISCAT-3D project; construction of a pathfinder project to inform designs of subsequent expanded networks of ground-based instrumentation that can address coupling of thermospheric processes across all scales, from local to global; training of the next generation of space physics instrumentalists, with an emphasis on inclusion of under-represented groups; and strong collaborative support for the international space-weather community through unrestricted free and timely access to all real-time and archival data.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.