Collaborative Research: Imaging, Estimation, and Analysis of Density Distributions in the Conjugate Polar Ionospheres

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。该项目的总体目标是增加对极地电离层共轭性质的了解，这在一定程度上有助于了解多尺度的全球太阳风、磁层和电离层系统。该项目利用多种类型的电离层遥感仪器，包括地面全球定位系统接收器、全球定位系统卫星掩星接收器、全天成像仪、测力计和目前部署在北极和南极的磁强计，以估计电离层电子密度的三维时间历史，并估计这些极地地区的极风。此外，将在南极洲部署更多的GPS仪器，以增加该地区GPS接收器的数量并改善其空间分布。这项调查的重要方面是：(1)利用北极和南极地区的大量仪器提供最大数量的电离层测量数据，(2)在南极偏远地区改装和部署商用现成的全球定位系统接收器，以改善全球定位系统测量值的空间分布，(3)开发一种新的估计极地风的算法，以及(4)估计共轭极地电离层的三维电子密度时间历史和电导。与该项目相关的田野调查和分析工作非常适合研究生和本科生的参与和研究培训。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The overall goal of this project is to increase understanding of the conjugate nature of the polar ionospheres, which in part helps understanding the multi-scale global solar wind, magnetosphere, and ionosphere system. The project utilizes numerous types of ionospheric remote sensing instrumentation, including: terrestrial GPS receivers, GPS satellite occultation receivers, all-sky imagers, riometers, and magnetometers currently deployed in the Arctic and Antarctic to estimate the 3-D time histories of the ionospheric electron density and also to estimate the polar wind in these polar regions. Furthermore, additional GPS instrumentation will be deployed in Antarctica to increase the number and improve the spatial distribution of GPS receivers in this region. Import aspects of this investigation are: (1) utilization of a large array of instrumentation in the Arctic and Antarctic regions to provide the maximum number of measurements of the ionosphere, (2) the modification and deployment of commercial-off-the-shelf GPS receivers in remote Antarctic locations to improve spatial distribution of GPS measurements, (3) development of a new estimation algorithm for estimating the polar wind, and (4) estimation of 3-D electron density time histories and conductances in conjugate polar ionospheres. The fieldwork and analysis efforts associated with this project are highly suitable for involvement and research training of graduate and undergraduate students.