CEDAR: Characterization of Upper Atmospheric Effects of Hurricanes

飓风是最强大的经常性天气事件之一，在重新分配大气能量方面起着至关重要的作用。该项目将研究飓风在地球表面以上数十公里的高层大气中引起的变化。卫星观测和数学模型将以前所未有的细节量化风、温度和大气波的变化，从而描绘飓风对大气的影响。更好地了解飓风引起的大气变化对科学界和公众都有重要的好处。这项研究有助于太空飓风的预测，并为减轻这些灾难性事件对人类活动和技术系统的潜在影响提供信息。这些活动将有利于乔治梅森大学内外的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育。该项目将资助一名研究生，并为几名本科生提供暑期实习机会。在这个项目中产生的研究材料将被整合到PI教授的各种课程中，并将在一个网站上与更广泛的社区分享。PI和研究生计划访问当地的一所社区大学，以推广科学。这个项目是对飓风引起的高层大气变化的观测和模拟研究。来自COSMIC-2、ICON、GOLD和TIMED的一系列卫星观测将用于表征飓风期间热层-电离层中性温度、水平风、O/N2和电子密度的变化，并量化相关的重力波（GW）活动。为了帮助解释观测到的飓风期间大尺度大气GW活动的行为，研究小组将进行从对流层顶到热层的环流模型模拟，由MERRA-2下边界强迫驱动，并纳入亚网格尺度重力波。总的来说，这项工作旨在为飓风引起的低层和高层大气之间的垂直耦合提供有意义的见解。研究的主题包括(1)飓风对热层平均结构和变率的影响，(2)飓风期间重力波活动的特征，以及(3)飓风期间重力波的传播、耗散以及在热层中产生的动力和热效应。观测工作可以帮助改进检索GW特征的程序，作为高层大气中飓风强度演变的代理。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。

Hurricanes are among the most powerful recurring weather events and play a crucial role in redistributing atmospheric energy. This project will study hurricane-induced changes in the upper atmosphere, tens of kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Satellite observations as well as mathematical models will be used to characterize the impact of hurricanes on the atmosphere by quantifying changes in winds, temperature, and atmospheric waves in unprecedented detail. Gaining a better understanding of atmospheric changes caused by hurricanes has important benefits for both the scientific community and the general public. This research can contribute to space-born hurricane prediction and inform efforts to mitigate the potential impacts of these disastrous events on human activities and technological systems. The activities will benefit Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) education within and beyond George Mason University. This project will support a graduate student and provide summer internships to several undergraduate students. The research material produced in this project will be integrated into various courses taught by the PI and will be shared on a website with the broader community. The PI and the graduate student plan on visiting a local community college to promote science. This project is an observational and modeling study of hurricane-induced changes in the upper atmosphere. A suite of satellite observations from COSMIC-2, ICON, GOLD, and TIMED will be used to characterize variations in neutral temperature, horizontal winds, O/N2, and electron density in the thermosphere-ionosphere during hurricanes, and to quantify the associated Gravity Wave (GW) activity. To aid the interpretation of the observed behavior of the large-scale atmosphere GW activity during hurricanes, the team will perform general circulation model simulations from the tropopause to the thermosphere, driven by MERRA-2 lower boundary forcing and incorporating subgrid-scale gravity waves. Overall, this work aims to offer meaningful insight into hurricane-induced vertical coupling between the lower and upper atmosphere. Topics under study include (1) the influence of hurricanes on the mean structure and variability of the thermosphere, (2) the characterization of gravity wave activity during hurricanes, and (3) propagation, dissipation of gravity waves and the resulting dynamical and thermal effects in the thermosphere during hurricanes. The observational work could be useful in helping refine the procedure of retrieving GW signatures as a proxy for hurricane intensity evolution in the upper atmosphere.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.