Collaborative Research: FACTs: Forcing of the upper Atmosphere from Coupling of Troposphere during extreme weather Systems

了解地球的大气层及其电离部分，电离层，作为一个综合的，耦合的系统仍然是一个巨大的挑战。该系统受到太阳耀斑等各种空间天气驱动因素的强烈影响，这种控制（从上面）得到了比较好的探索。相比之下，气象驱动因素（来自下方的强迫）的持续影响在很大程度上仍未得到探索。该项目的重点是极端天气系统或EWS，如热带风暴和飓风，它们是大气波的重要对流层源，特别是重力波，已知重力波向上传播并将对流层与中层和高层大气耦合。该项目将在波多黎各的阿雷西博天文台（AO）及其位于库莱布拉岛的远程光学设施（ROF）使用各种仪器工具，以监测中层和高层大气对向加勒比海和美国行进的EWS的响应。它将覆盖约60公里至约450公里的高度范围，包括无线电接收器、流星雷达、激光雷达、光度计、全天空成像仪、法布里-珀罗干涉仪和电离层探测仪。建议的工作将集中在（1）分析D区电离层的响应（2）EWS对F区中尺度移动电离层扰动（MSTIDS）的影响（150公里以上的高度），和（3）中性和电子密度的比较分析，在MSTID的目的是区分目前的竞争理论的起源。库莱布拉岛上的远程光学设施将被改造成一个天文台，提供重要的科学观测，并通过向学生和教师提供世界一流的研究，影响波多黎各STEM教育和文化的发展。将在库莱布拉安装一个气象站，为来自库莱布拉唯一公立学校的学生和教师提供实践经验，与代表性不足的学生接触。此外，还将为当地库莱布拉公立高中举办两个讲习班，以促进科学参与，并容纳约40名学生和10名教师，邀请来自AO附属科学家和当地大学的演讲者。该项目还将支持一名女科学家（主要研究员）、一名博士后学者以及研究生和本科生。它将支持大气科学和工程的研究生和本科生教育，几个地面仪器的现场部署，数据收集，分析和解释。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是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的支持。

Understanding the Earth's atmosphere and its ionized portion, the ionosphere, as an integrated, coupled system remains a great challenge. This system is strongly influenced by various space weather drivers such as solar flares, and this control (from above) is comparatively well explored. In contrast, the continuous influence of meteorological drivers (forcing from below) remains largely unexplored. This project focuses on extreme weather systems or EWS such as tropical storms and hurricanes which serve as an important tropospheric source of atmospheric waves especially gravity waves (GW) which are known to propagate upward and couple the troposphere to the middle and upper atmosphere. The project will employ a wide range of instrumental tools at the Arecibo Observatory (AO) in Puerto Rico and its Remote Optical Facility (ROF) in the island of Culebra to monitor the middle and upper atmosphere response to the EWS traveling towards the Caribbean and the US. It will cover a broad range of altitudes between ~60 km and ~ 450 km and will include radio receivers, a meteor radar, lidars, photometers, all-sky imagers (ASIs), Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs), and ionosondes. The proposed work will focus on (1) analysis of the response of the D-region ionosphere (60-90 km in altitude) to EWS activity, (2) investigation of EWS effects on the medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs), a manifestation of GWs in the F-region ionosphere (above 150 km in altitude), and (3) comparative analysis of the neutral and electron densities during MSTIDs with the aim of distinguishing between current competing theories on their origin. The Remote Optical Facility on the island of Culebra will be transformed into an observatory that will provide important scientific observations and impact the advance of Puerto Rico’s STEM education and culture by making world-class research accessible to students and teachers. A weather station will be installed in Culebra to provide hands-on experience to students and teachers from the Culebra’s sole public school, engaging with underrepresented students. Further, two workshops will be organized for the local Culebra public high school to promote scientific engagement and to accommodate ~40 students and 10 teachers, with invited speakers from AO-affiliated scientists as well as local universities. This project will also support a female scientist (Principal Investigator), a postdoctoral scholar, and graduate and undergraduate students. It will support graduate and undergraduate education in atmospheric sciences and engineering, field deployment of several ground-based instruments, data collection, analysis, and interpretation.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.