Multiple Incoherent Scatter Radar, Riometer and MagnetometerInvestigations of Wave Phenomena Originating in the High-latitude Ionosphere and Magnetosphere

地球居住在一股被称为太阳风的电离和磁化气体流中。地球和它的磁场改变了超音速风的流向，地球磁场和电离气体所在的有限空间被称为磁层，它在太阳方向延伸10-12个地球半径，在反太阳方向延伸100个或更多地球半径。在磁层边界，与太阳风的相互作用产生了数百千伏的电位差，数百万安培的电流沿着磁力线流过，穿过极地电离层，回到太阳风边界。这些电流在电离层中储存了大量的能量，并在电离层本身（水磁力波）和中性大气（大气重力波）中形成了大波。利用格陵兰岛Sondestromfjord的非相干散射雷达，以及辅助磁强计和日冕仪测量和极光图像，开展水磁波和重力波及其与电离层电流、粒子降水和电离层加热关系的基础研究。这些研究将提供太阳风与极地磁层大气耦合的物理数据。

The earth resides in a flow of ionized and magnetized gases emanating from the sun called the Solar Wind. The earth and its magnetic field divert the flow of this supersonic wind, and the confined space in which the earth's magnetic field and ionized gases reside is called the magnetosphere, that extends 10-12 earth radii in the direction of the sun, and a hundred or more earth radii in the antisolar direction. At the magnetosphere boundary the interaction with the solar wind generates electric potential differences of hundreds of kilovolts, and currents of millions of amperes flow down magnetic field lines, through the polar ionosphere, and back out to the solar wind boundary. The currents deposit large amounts of energy in the ionosphere, and set up large waves in the ionosphere itself (hydromagnetic waves) and in the neutral atmosphere (atmospheric gravity waves). Using the incoherent scatter radar at Sondestromfjord, Greenland, and auxillary magnetometer and riometer measurements and auroral images, basic studies of both hydromagnetic and gravity waves and their relationship to ionospheric currents, particle precipitation and ionospheric heating will be carried out. These studies will provide data on the physics of the coupling of the solar wind to the magnetosphere-atmosphere in the polar regions.