Ionospheric turbulence

高纬度电离层是一个重要的区域，不仅对依赖于我们对其中发生的物理现象的透彻理解的应用，而且因为它包含起源于行星际空间的过程的足迹。本提案的主要目标是解决与物理过程有关的一些最基本的问题，这些过程很容易被定性为湍流和间歇性，并且在空间等离子体即极光电离层中遇到。我的大部分研究将致力于研究电离层湍流的发展，因为它发生在极光E区和F区，以及它对控制其与磁层耦合的反馈机制的影响。提出的研究将探讨相干非线性电离层等离子体结构是如何产生的，以及它们可能对跨越感兴趣边界的输运性质产生什么样的影响。我们建议仔细研究过去二十年来观察到的离子外流的物理机制。为了彻底理解O+向磁层的外流，我们建议考虑高度相关的碰撞效应。在一定程度上，离子-离子碰撞和O+与氧原子之间的电荷交换被忽略了，我们认为它们在大于300 Km的高度上起着重要的作用。我们还将把微观尺度的电离层物理学与中尺度和宏观尺度的磁层物理学联系起来，试图把这些谜题拼凑起来。

The high-latitude ionosphere is is an important region not only for the applications that rely upon our thorough understanding of the physical phenomena occurring in it, but also because it contains the footprints of processes which originate in the interplanetary space. The primary goal of the present proposal is to address some of the most fundamental questions related to physical processes that can easily be qualified as turbulent and intermittent and which are encountered in the space plasma that is the auroral ionosphere. A substantial fraction of my research shall be devoted to the study of the development of ionospheric turbulence as it occurs in the auroral E and F regions and on its impact on the feedback mechanisms that govern its coupling to the magnetosphere in particular. The proposed studies will investigate how coherent nonlinear ionospheric plasma structures arise, and what kind of impact they may have on the transport properties across the boundaries of interest. We propose to take a close look at the physical mechanisms responsible for the ion outflows that have been observed over the past two decades. To understand thoroughly the O+ outflows into the magnetosphere, we propose to include collisional effects which are height dependent. To a certain extent, ion-ion collisions and charge exchange between O+ and atomic Oxygen have been ignored, and we believe they play an important role at altitude greater than 300 Km. We will also try to put the pieces of puzzle together by linking the micro-scale ionospheric physics to the meso-scale and macro-scale magnetospheric physics.