FESD Type-1: Electrical Connections and Consequences Within the Earth System

地球上每天发生数百万次闪电，将巨大的能量从电云中以电流的形式传递到地球表面。闪电也发生在云层和太空边缘之间，产生被称为精灵和精灵的发光显示。这些事件之所以会发生，是因为来自其他星系的宇宙射线和来自太阳的x射线使太空的边缘导电。对于闪电如何改变影响通信和导航（例如GPS）系统的电离层条件，或者空间环境的变化如何影响与天气和气候相关的极区云层中的电过程，或者如何通过地球-大气-地球空间系统内的电连接以其他方式影响社会，目前还不清楚。这个广泛的话题是“地球系统内的电气连接和后果”项目的主题。这项为期5年的多机构基础研究调查的目的是更好地了解将地球系统的大气、固体地球和地球空间组成部分联系在一起的电过程。该方法是为了更好地理解控制带电云的充放电过程、大气和电离层之间的电耦合以及整个系统的电流流动。该项目最终将创建一个全球模型，该模型能够复制迄今为止积累的大部分实验数据，并与美国国家大气研究中心（NCAR）的全大气群落气候模型（WACCM）中的其余大气-电离层系统相连接。该项目的其他关键目标是教育公众了解这一研究领域，并激励和教育下一代科学家干部了解地球-大气-地球空间系统的全球观点。

Millions of lightning flashes occur per day over the Earth, transferring tremendous power from electrical clouds to Earth's surface in the form of electric current. Lightning discharges also occur between the clouds and the edge of space, producing luminous displays called sprites and elves. These events can occur because cosmic rays from other galaxies and x-rays from the Sun make the edge of space electrically-conducting. It is not well understood how lightning might modify ionospheric conditions that affect communications and navigation (e.g., GPS) systems, or how changes in the space environment might affect electrical processes in polar-region clouds relevant to weather and climate, or how society would be impacted in other ways through electrical connections within the Earth-atmosphere-geospace system. This Broad topic is the subject of the project "Electrical Connections and Consequences Within the Earth System".It is the purpose of this 5-year multi-institutional basic research investigation to better understand the electrical processes that link together the atmosphere, solid earth and geospace components of the Earth system. The approach is to develop improved understanding of processes controlling the charge and discharge of electrified clouds, the electrical coupling between the atmosphere and ionosphere, and the flow of current throughout the system. The project will culminate in creation of a global model that is capable of replicating much of the experimental data accumulated to date, and that Interfaces with the rest of the atmosphere-ionosphere system within the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Other key goals of this project are to educate the public about this field of study, and to motivate and educate a cadre of next-generation scientists on this global view of the Earth-atmosphere-geospace system.