U.S.-Western Europe Cooperative Study of the Solar Wind Acceleration

该奖项支持W博士。A.科尔斯和两名研究生 位于圣地亚哥的加州大学在太空中合作 与Ruth Esser和Auroral的其他人一起进行物理学研究 挪威特罗姆瑟大学天文台，奥斯陆的Egil Leer， 芬兰的尤西·马尔卡宁和马克斯·普朗克的埃卡特·马施 德国林道大气层研究所。 许多领先的 太阳风加速的理论工作现在在欧洲进行 （特别是在挪威和这家德国研究所。 美国PI和 他的学生将从工作中受益匪浅 与这些顶尖的理论家直接交流 他们一起提议 继续观测太阳风的速度， 欧洲非相干散射雷达设施（EISCAT） 1990年夏天，在斯堪的纳维亚半岛的北方， 正在休假 尽管观测时间有限， 数据允许第一次定量比较的理论 径向加速度曲线和测量值。 更多的时间将是 在未来的几个夏天，这将使他们能够 他们进行更多的观察，并大大减少 速度估计误差 这额外的观察时间确实需要 更多的工作，研究生以及一些 欧洲合作者是其成功的必要条件。 这项建议的基本目的是增进对 地球的等离子体环境 等离子体是通过电离 大气层受到太阳辐射。 这个“电离层”与 太阳的外层大气，“太阳风”，在一个 被称为“磁层”的磁控制区域。“那 建议的合作研究旨在了解 产生和加速太阳风的机制， 其速度的突然变化，这是负责电离层 干扰. 这种干扰有一些重要的 地球物理和实际症状，包括极光显示， 高频通信中断，卫星信号衰减 通信链路和长距离电力线扰乱。

This award supports Dr. W. A. Coles and two graduate students of the University of California at San Diego to collaborate in space physics research with Ruth Esser and others of the Auroral Observatory, University of Tromso, Norway, Egil Leer of Oslo, Jussi Markkanen of Finland, and Eckart Marsch of the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy, Lindau, Germany. Much of the leading theoretical work on solar wind acceleration is now done in Europe (notably in Norway and at this German institute.) The U.S. PI and his students will benefit substantially from the opportunity to work directly with these leading theorists. Together they propose to continue observations of the solar wind velocity that were begun at the European Incoherent Scatter Radar Facility (EISCAT) in northern Scandinavia during the summer of 1990, when Dr. Coles was on sabbatical. Despite limits on the observing time, the 1990 data have permitted the first quantitative comparison of theoretical radial acceleration profiles with measurements. More time will be available to them in the coming few summers, which will enable them to make many more observations and drastically decrease the velocity estimation errors. This extra observing time does require much more work, and the graduate students as well as several European collaborators are necessary for its success. The basic aim of this proposal is to improve understanding of the earth's plasma environment. The plasma is formed by ionization of the atmosphere by solar radiation. This "ionosphere" interacts with the outer atmosphere of the sun, the "solar wind", in a magnetically controlled region called the "magnetosphere." The proposed collaborative research is directed at understanding the mechanisms which create and accelerate the solar wind, causing the sudden changes in its velocity which are responsible for ionospheric disturbances. Such disturbances have a number of important geophysical and practical symptoms, including auroral displays, high frequency communications blackouts, fading on satellite communication links, and long distance power line upsets.