New Frontiers at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory: The Beginning of Solar Cycle 24

该项目是国家科学基金会和康奈尔大学之间的合作协定的五年延续，该协定支持基卡马卡射电天文台的高层大气研究。由秘鲁地球物理研究所运营。Jicamara是上层大气设施雷达链的赤道锚，是科学界关于赤道电离层和高层大气的主要信息来源。根据这一奖项，康奈尔大学和基卡马卡大学将明确开展多种新的科学研究。其广泛目标是利用雷达和光学观测来量化赤道电离层中的化学、输运、能量学和动力学，并将结果与主流和新兴的理论和模型进行比较。我们的研究分为两个优先领域--了解稳定的电离层和了解不稳定的电离层。它们是由以下具体的基本问题驱动的：1)顶部成分和热结构，2)F区光电子，3)E区热力学，4)D区物理，5)预报赤道扩散F，6)理解白天和黄昏在山谷地区发现的异常等离子体异常，7)理解异常的“150公里回波”，8)研究与流星有关的现象。这项研究将通过实施新的雷达遥感模式和开发利用Jicamara独特能力的使能技术来进行。在这一项目过程中，Jicamara的主要雷达及其一些外围系统将进行升级和现代化，以促进上述研究。新的NSF高层大气设施综合计划确定了设施的十个实验要求，我们的升级计划是按照这些要求来组织的。我们将改进发射器、接收器、天线、数据采集系统、集群仪器和数据库。Jicamara最重要的活动是为科学界提供服务。这需要为访问或远程用户开发通用或按需的观察模式，提供观察时间并收集和存档由此产生的数据，通过一个直观和可访问的数据库提供对数据的访问，并允许最大限度地实时访问数据。Jicamara正在采取步骤改善社区服务，计划1)实施标准非相干散射数据采集模式的共同计划，2)简化调度过程，3)统一用于分发Jicamara数据的众多数据库，4)改进和扩大实时分析和诊断能力，5)提高设施的可见度和透明度。就更广泛的意义而言，对地球电离层，特别是赤道电离层的研究，旨在更好地了解它对我们的技术社会日益依赖的系统的不利影响。其影响包括扰乱GPS等基于卫星的通信和导航系统，干扰地面高频通信和超视距(OTH)雷达系统，以及在合成孔径(SAR)和其他类型的雷达图像中产生伪影。在Jicamara观测到的大小流星体也可能对航天器和栖息地构成威胁。赤道扩展F(ESF)是自然界试图释放束缚在赤道附近电离层构型中的自由能量的尝试，这种自由能量在黄昏变得不稳定地分层。此次释放涉及尺度从厘米到数百公里的等离子体动力学，产生快速流动和深度等离子体枯竭；这些等离子体不规则性充当通过它的无线电信号的衍射屏。Jicamara的任务也补充了康奈尔大学的主要任务，即教育。康奈尔大学和其他本科生、研究生和专业学生通过直接参与高级研究项目以及增加工程课程，从天文台的研究中受益。社会影响主要来自雷达遥感战略领域的教育和职业发展，也来自对航空学、空间物理、无线电科学和天文学等其他学科的技术和数学贡献。

This project represents a five-year continuation of the Cooperative Agreement between the National Science Foundation and Cornell University that supports upper atmospheric research at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory. Operated by the Geophysical Institute of Peru. Jicamarca is the equatorial anchor of the Upper Atmospheric Facilities radar chain and is the scientific community's main source of information about the equatorial ionosphere and upper atmosphere. Multiple new lines of scientific inquiry will be pursued at Cornell and Jicamarca expressly under this award. The broad goal is to quantify chemistry, transport, energetics, and dynamics in the equatorial ionosphere with radar and optical observations and compare the results with prevailing and emerging theories and models. Our investigations are organized into two priority areas -understanding the stable ionosphere and understanding the unstable ionosphere. They are driven by specific, fundamental questions pertaining to 1) topside composition and thermal structure, 2) F region photoelectrons, 3) E region thermodynamics, 4) D region physics, 5) forecasting equatorial spread F, 6) understanding anomalous plasma irregularities found in the valley region during the day and at twilight, 7) understanding the anomalous "150-km echoes", and 8) investigating meteor-related phenomena. This research will be carried out with the implementation of novel radar remote sensing modesand the development of enabling technologies which exploit Jicamarca's unique capabilities.In the course of this project, the main radar at Jicamarca and some of its peripheral systems are to undergo upgrades and modernization to facilitate the research outlined above. The new Integrated Plan for the NSF Upper Atmospheric Facilities identified ten experimental requirements for facilities, and our upgrade plans are organized along the lines of these requirements. Improvements to our transmitters, receivers, antennas, data acquisition system, cluster instruments, and databases will be made. Jicamarca's most important activity is providing service to the scientific community. This entails developing observing modes of general use or on demand for visiting or remote users, providing observing time and collecting and archiving the data that result, providing access to the data through an intuitive and accessible database, and allowing real-time access to the data to the greatest extent possible. Jicamarca is taking steps to improve community service with plans to 1) implement common programs for standard incoherent scatter data acquisition modes, 2) streamline the scheduling process, 3) unify the numerous databases used to distribute Jicamarca data, 4) improve and expand real-time analysis and diagnostic capabilities, and 5) improve facility visibility and transparency.In terms of broader significance, the study of the Earth's ionosphere in general and the equatorial ionosphere in particular, aims to better understand the adverse effects it has on systems on which our technological society increasingly depends. The effects include the disruption of satellite-based communication and navigation systems like GPS, interference with terrestrial HF communication and over-the-horizon (OTH) radar systems, and the production of artifacts in synthetic aperture (SAR) and other kinds of radar imagery. Meteoroids of the size observed at Jicamarca could also pose a threat to space vehicles and habitats. Equatorial spread F (ESF) is nature's attempt to release free energy bound up in the ionospheric configuration near the equator, which becomes unstably stratified at twilight. The release involves plasma dynamics occurring over scale sizes ranging from centimeters to hundreds of kilometers, producing rapid flows and deep plasma depletions; these plasma irregularities function as a diffraction screen for radio signals passing through it.Jicamarca's mission also complements the primary mission of Cornell University, which is education. Cornell and other undergraduate, graduate, and professional students benefit from research at the observatory through direct participation in advanced research projects as well as through additions to the engineering curriculum. Societal impact comes largely through education and career development in the strategic area of radar remote sensing and also through technological and mathematical contributions to other disciplines in aeronomy, space physics, radio science, and astronomy.