Electromagnetic Waves and their Effects in near-Earth Space

近地空间的电磁波及其效应

• 批准号: 436201-2013
• 负责人: Cully, Christopher
• 金额: $ 2.33万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=648397
• 关键词: Electromagnetic; Waves; their; Effects; near

At the start of the space age, James Van Allen made a startling discovery: the space above our atmosphere is filled with high-energy radiation. That was in 1958, and the discovery soon made him Time Magazine's "Man of the Year". Much has changed since that time, and our society has come to rely on orbiting satellites. Applications such as GPS positioning and satellite weather maps are a part of our daily lives. However, the radiation that Van Allen discovered is a natural phenomenon, and modern satellites often cross through the two doughnut-shaped regions now known as the Van Allen radiation belts. The radiation in these regions comes from electrons and ions which are trapped by the Earth's magnetic field and accelerated to very high energies. These particles pose a serious threat to any satellites passing through them, mostly due to their ability to damage and disrupt on-board electronics.****Starting from the mid-1990s, it became increasingly apparent that we have only a limited understanding of how the particles in the radiation belts reach such high energies, or what processes cause them to be occasionally released into our atmosphere or into deep space. Older physical models simply could not explain their dynamic and hard-to-predict nature. There is presently a focussed international effort to remedy this and to fully understand the radiation belts, with a dedicated mission recently launched by NASA and closely related projects from several nations including Canada.** **This proposal requests funds to examine the role of a class of electromagnetic waves known as "whistler-mode" waves in both accelerating radiation belt particles and releasing them from the belts. It uses a unique combination of Canadian and international resources, both space- and ground-based, in order to maximize the Canadian scientific return from the upcoming intense period of radiation belt investigation.

在太空时代之初，詹姆斯·范艾伦有了一个惊人的发现：我们大气层上方的空间充满了高能辐射。那是在1958年，这一发现很快使他成为《时代》杂志的“年度人物”。从那时起，很多事情发生了变化，我们的社会已经开始依赖轨道卫星。GPS定位和卫星天气图等应用已经成为我们日常生活的一部分。然而，范艾伦发现的辐射是一种自然现象，现代卫星经常穿过两个甜甜圈形状的区域，现在被称为范艾伦辐射带。这些区域的辐射来自电子和离子，它们被地球磁场捕获并加速到非常高的能量。这些粒子对任何经过它们的卫星都构成严重威胁，主要是因为它们有能力破坏和扰乱机载电子设备。****从20世纪90年代中期开始，越来越明显的是，我们对辐射带中的粒子如何达到如此高的能量，或者是什么过程导致它们偶尔被释放到我们的大气或深空的理解有限。旧的物理模型根本无法解释它们的动态和难以预测的性质。目前，国际上正在集中努力纠正这一问题，并充分了解辐射带，美国国家航空航天局最近发起了一个专门的任务，包括加拿大在内的几个国家也开展了密切相关的项目。** **该提案要求资金用于研究一类被称为“哨声模式”的电磁波在加速辐射带粒子和从辐射带释放粒子方面的作用。它利用加拿大和国际资源的独特组合，包括空间和地面资源，以便从即将到来的辐射带调查的激烈时期最大限度地提高加拿大的科学回报。