Winter Thermospheric Weather Study

海拔约85公里以上的上层大气被称为热层，因为它比下面的中间层热得多，温度范围从夜间最小太阳活动时约500K到白天最大太阳活动时约2000K。这可以与150至200K范围内的中层温度形成对比。高热层温度有几个来源：白天太阳紫外线和X射线的吸收；粒子降水和与极光活动有关的电场造成的加热；以及从低层大气向上传播的重力波和潮汐产生的能量的消散。用光学干涉仪和非相干散射雷达测量热层温度，从赤道(秘鲁的Jicamara)到格陵兰岛(Sondelm)的四个地点现在都有纬度分布。在1986年1月的一次战役中，与其他地点的结果相比，在阿雷西博(波多黎各)观察到了异常低的温度，理论上认为潮汐(或没有潮汐)是原因。该奖项是利用米尔斯通山天文台的设施进行数值模拟，以检验该假说。

The upper atmosphere above about 85 km altitude is called the Thermosphere, because it is much hotter than the Mesosphere below, with temperatures ranging from about 500K at night at minimum solar activity to about 2000K for daytime maximum solar activity. This can be contrasted with Mesospheric temperatures in the range 150 to 200K. The high Thermospheric temperatures arise from several sources; the absorption of solar UV and X-rays during the day; the heating due to particle precipitation and electric fields associated with auroral activity; and the dissipation of the energy from gravity waves and tides that propagates up from the lower atmosphere. Measurements of the temperature of the thermosphere are made by optical interferometers and incoherent scatter radars, and latitudinal profiles are now available from a chain of four sites extending from the equator (Jicamarca in Peru) to Greenland (Sondestrom). During a January 1986 campaign anomalously low temperatures were observed at Arecibo (Puerto Rico), in comparison with results for the other sites, and it has been theorized that tides (or the absence thereof) are the cause. This award is to perform numerical modelling using the facilities of Millstone Hill Observatory to test the hypothesis.