Collaborative Research: The SuperDARN Upper Atmosphere Facility - Operations, Community Support, and Science from the Polar Cap to Mid-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。超级双极光雷达网络（SuperDARN）是一个高频雷达网络，提供北半球（14个雷达）和南半球（7个雷达）高纬度电离层和高层大气的全球尺度连续测量。superdamn利用相干雷达反向散射技术来跟踪电离层等离子体的ExB漂移。这些观测结果可以结合起来产生等离子体循环的模式，这些模式表达了太阳风能量耦合到磁层-电离层-大气系统的基本方面。关于电场动力学和等离子体结构的信息通常可以在几十公里的空间尺度和秒的时间尺度上获得。雷达数据还提供了关于电离层不规则现象、大气重力波和TIDs以及中层顶附近中性风的发生和特征的信息。superdam是一项国际合作，涉及十几个国家的资助机构。超级大气设施（UAF）操作四台雷达，并为雷达操作软件、网络数据访问和数据分发领域的合作提供必要的技术支持。美国研究人员通过与superdams研究人员的联系获得了整个数据集的访问权，并得到了解释性分析和协作的支持。在电离层对流、M-I耦合、超低频脉冲、等离子体结构、大气潮汐和行星波等不同领域都有重要的科学发现。该项目是弗吉尼亚理工大学和约翰霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室（JHU/APL）的合作项目。弗吉尼亚理工大学维护和升级雷达并探索技术创新，而JHU/APL负责监督软件和数据分发功能。弗吉尼亚理工大学的小组以学生为中心，强调教育和培训，而JHU/APL提供关键的软件和网络服务。项目研究和数据产品利用了最近向极地和中纬度地区扩展的网络以及使能技术的发展。该研究项目旨在进一步了解太阳风与地球上层大气的能量耦合及其对空间环境的影响。地球受到太阳风的冲击，太阳风以复杂的方式与地磁场相互作用，在高层大气中产生大规模的等离子体运动。这些运动是耦合过程信息的关键来源。superdam是一个高频雷达系统，它可以对这些运动进行成像，生成等离子体循环的大比额地图，这些地图被研究团体广泛用于研究和应用。该项目支持四个雷达的运行，并由弗吉尼亚理工大学和JHU/APL的小组在国际超级雷达合作中发挥作用。总的研究目标是增加我们对从极帽到中纬度的地球空间环境扰动效应的理解，并为美国研究界提供高层大气条件的关键测量数据。项目活动还将使学生参加空间科学研究和工程方面的培训。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is a network of HF radars that provide global-scale and continuous measurements of the high latitude ionosphere and upper atmosphere in both the northern (14 radars) and southern (7 radars) hemispheres. SuperDARN utilizes coherent radar backscatter techniques to track the ExB drift of ionospheric plasma. The observations can be combined to generate patterns of plasma circulation that express fundamental aspects of the coupling of energy from the solar wind into the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere system. Information on electric field dynamics and plasma structuring is routinely available on spatial scales of a few tens of kilometers and temporal scales of seconds. The radar data also generate information on the occurrence and characteristics of ionospheric irregularities, atmospheric gravity waves and TIDs, and neutral winds near the mesopause.SuperDARN is an international collaboration involving the funding agencies of a dozen countries. The SuperDARN Upper Atmosphere Facility (UAF) operates four of the radars and provides essential technical support to the collaboration in the areas of radar operating software, web data access, and data distribution. U.S. researchers gain access to the entire dataset through association with SuperDARN researchers and are supported with interpretive analysis and collaboration. Significant scientific findings have been reported in areas as diverse as ionospheric convection, M-I coupling, ULF pulsations, plasma structuring, and atmospheric tides and planetary waves.The project is a collaboration between Virginia Tech and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). Virgina Tech maintains and upgrades the radars and explores technical innovation while JHU/APL oversees software and data distribution functions. The group at Virginia Tech is student-centered activity with an emphasis on education and training while JHU/APL provides key software and web services. The project research and data products take advantage of the recent expansion of the network to polar and mid-latitudes and the development of enabling technologies. The research program is directed towards an improved understanding of the coupling of energy from the solar wind to Earth's upper atmosphere and the impacts on the space environment.Earth is buffeted by the solar wind, which interacts in complicated ways with the geomagnetic field to produce large-scale plasma motions within the upper atmosphere. These motions are a key source of information on the coupling processes. SuperDARN is a system of HF radars that image these motions, producing large scale maps of the plasma circulation that are widely used by the research community for both research and applications. This project supports the operation of four radars and the roles performed by the groups at Virginia Tech and JHU/APL in the international SuperDARN collaboration. The overall research goal is to increase our understanding of disturbance effects in Earth space environment from the polar cap to mid-latitudes and to furnish critical measurements of conditions in the upper atmosphere to the U.S. research community. The project activities will also engage students in training for space science research and engineering.