Collaborative Research: CEDAR--The Sources of Gravity Waves Observed in the Thermosphere at the Arecibo Observatory

这是一个为期3年的观测和模拟项目，将作为大气区域耦合、能量和动力学(Cedar)计划的一部分进行。大气重力波被认为在大气层之间的能量和动量传输中起着至关重要的作用。该项目涉及低纬阿雷西博天文台(AO)站点热层中普遍存在的波场。使用新开发和测试的创新测量技术的阿雷西博非相干散射雷达的观测活动将与光线跟踪和第一原理模型一起使用。其目标是自洽地确定在AO观测到的重力波的反向射线追踪所需的所有参数，为数十个这样的重力波事件确定最有可能的低层大气和热层源，确定F区中性风的时间演变，并确定由选定的源引起的中性风加速。重力波是中层和低热层动力的重要强迫源，其影响强烈影响大气环流和气候模式。此外，尽管数值天气预报模式的焦点是对流层，但事实证明，当对高层大气动力学进行更准确的模拟时，数值天气预报模式可以做出更好的预测。该项目是西北研究协会的一名女性PI和SRI国际的一名早期职业科学家之间的合作，NSF AO设施的科学家也参与了该项目。

This is a 3-year observation and modeling project to be undertaken as part of the Coupling, Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) program. Atmospheric gravity waves are believed to play a vital role in the transport of energy and momentum between atmospheric layers. This project concerns the ubiquitous wave field in the thermosphere at the low latitude Arecibo Observatory (AO) site. Observing campaigns with the Arecibo incoherent scatter radar that employ a newly developed and tested innovative measurement technique will be used together with ray tracing, and first principles models. The goal is to self-consistently determine all of the parameters needed for reverse ray tracing for the gravity waves observed at the AO, to identify the most likely lower atmospheric and thermospheric sources for dozens of these gravity wave events, to determine the temporal evolution of the F region neutral wind, and to determine the neutral wind acceleration caused by select sources. Gravity waves are a significant forcing source on mesosphere and lower thermosphere dynamics and their effects strongly impact general circulation and climate models. In addition, numerical weather prediction models, despite their tropospheric focus, have been shown to make better predictions when the upper-atmospheric dynamics are more accurately modeled. The project is collaboration between a female PI at North West Research Associates and an early career scientist at SRI International and also involves scientists at the NSF AO facility.