M-I Coupling: Ground-based Observations of Ion Dispersion, Electron Energy, and Convection in the Dayside Aurora

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The objective of this research is to map the spatial and temporal variations of the proton and electron energy deposition in Earth's atmosphere observed from two stations under the dayside aurora. This map of ion and electron energy deposition would be combined with the convection pattern observed by the SuperDARN radar network to provide a relatively complete dynamic picture of the ionospheric signatures of dayside magnetospheric processes. Previous studies have indicated a strong relationship between the discrete aurora and the magnetospheric boundary layer processes associated with the transfer of energy from the solar wind to the ionosphere. Auroral hydrogen emission Doppler spectral profiles obtained in the magnetic zenith at Longyearbyen, Svalbard have been shown to be a direct measure of the incoming ion energy, which is correlated with changes in the interplanetary magnetic field. The observations will be made by aiming two large-aperture spectrometers in different directions (initially in the zenith) under the dayside aurora at Longyearbyen and Ny Aalesund, Svalbard to measure the H emission spectral profile simultaneously in different regions of the ionospheric signature of a merging event at the magnetopause. From these spectra, and other supporting optical data, the investigators will deduce the dispersion of ion and electron energy in the ionospheric region of the magnetospheric cusp. From this and the associated observed convection pattern, they will deduce the location and the extent of a merging event on the dayside magnetopause. Governed by Norway, Svalbard is unique in its relation to international scientific investigations of polar phenomena. Students and investigators from many countries carry out research throughout the year. Auroral research is generally restricted to the months around the solstice when it is dark enough to carry out observations of the daytime aurora unique in the northern hemisphere. During each observing season, at least one public popular science lecture is given in Longyearbyen. Visits by the local school classes occur frequently, and the observatory is used as a training laboratory by the local University Courses on Svalbard (UNIS). Svalbard is also the center of an NSF/Polar Programs program of cooperative research between Norway and the US. Advances in the study of Space Weather have led to more accurate descriptions of the production of disturbances in the solar wind due to events on the Sun. Indeed, satellites upwind of Earth continuously observe these changes, but scientists are at a loss to predict, with any accuracy, the extent of these disturbances on the ionosphere. To do so would allow the preparation of contingency plans for radio communications blackouts, electric power grid failures, and satellite subsystem demise. The two most important unknowns in the relationship between the solar wind and the Earth's ionosphere are the magnetospheric processes involved in the transfer of solar wind power to the ionosphere from the dayside magnetopause and the nightside magnetospheric tail.