EAGER: Investigation of High Precision Spaced GPS Measurement of Ionospheric Drift at Polar Latitudes

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该项目将研究使用间隔全球定位系统（GPS）接收器测量极帽和极光带电离层上空漂移的可能性。四个高灵敏度和高数据速率的GPS接收器将被放置在阿拉斯加费尔班克斯附近的Poker Flat Rocket靶场，并运行一年。选择该地点是为了基础设施的可用性，并与Poker Flat非相干散射雷达的观测相协调，这将允许对推断的漂移进行测试和验证。该项目的主要目标是研究不同的接收器空间配置和操作模式。这将允许在每个接收器之间的测量信号的小波动相互关联，以便得出架空电离层流矢量。将要解决的科学问题是：1)电离层结构和不规则性主要出现在极光和极帽电离层中的尺度和频率是什么；2)这种结构如何与GPS相位、振幅和总电子含量的测量相关联；3)这些数据在多大程度上可以用于间隔接收器配置，不仅可以得到总电子含量和闪烁，还可以得到电离层等离子体漂移矢量。该项目的一个更广泛的影响是，如果它成功了，它将提供一种新的方法来测量高纬度地区的电离层矢量漂移，这种方法易于部署，成本相对较低。电离层漂移是与磁层对流和磁层-电离层耦合直接相关的基本空间天气参数。第二个更广泛的影响是，在实验期间获得的GPS接收器数据将免费提供给社区，接收器将作为社区资源留在Poker Flat。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project will investigate the possibility of using spaced Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to measure overhead ionospheric drifts in the polar cap and auroral zone. Four high sensitivity and high data rate GPS receivers will be placed at the Poker Flat Rocket Range near Fairbanks, Alaska, and operated for one year. This site was selected for the availability of infrastructure and for coordination with observations from the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar, which will allow testing and validation of the inferred drifts. The primary goal of the project is to investigate different receiver spatial configurations and operating modes. This will allow cross-correlation of small fluctuations in the measured signal between each receiver in order to derive the overhead ionospheric flow vector. The scientific questions that will be addressed are: 1) At what scale sizes and frequencies are ionospheric structuring and irregularities primarily present in the auroral and polar cap ionosphere, 2) how does this structure relate to measurements of GPS phase, amplitude, and total electron content, and 3) to what extent can these data be used in a spaced receiver configuration to derive not only total electron content and scintillations but ionospheric plasma drift vectors. One broader impact of the project is that, if it's successful, it would provide a new method to measure vector ionospheric drifts at high latitudes that is easily deployable and relatively low cost. Ionospheric drifts are a fundamental space weather parameter directly related to magnetospheric convection and to magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. A second broader impact is that the GPS receiver data obtained during the experiment will be made freely available to the community and the receivers will be left at Poker Flat as a community resource.