Collaborative Research: PFISR Ion-Neutral Observations in the Thermosphere (PINOT)

这项合作研究工作将通过使用扑克牌平板非相干散射雷达（PFISR）、雷索卢特湾非相干散射雷达（RISR）、各种光学仪器、超级双极光雷达网（SuperDARN）、荷马甚高频（VHF）雷达和全球电离层-热层模型（GITM）进行协调的观测和建模活动，研究磁层-电离层-热层耦合。 在高纬度地区，电离层、热层和磁层构成一个紧密耦合的系统。在这一观点中，电离层是一个中介因素，它促进了太阳风-磁层耦合产生的自由能转化为中性大气的热量和整体运动。这种介导通过电场、粒子沉淀、扩散和场向电流发生，这些介质共同作用以结构化系统内的等离子体密度和组成。虽然这一系统的元素已被研究得相当详细，他们的非线性相互作用，以及这些区域过程的全球影响，仍然知之甚少，观察不足。PFISR的电子转向功能提供了一种独特的诊断方法来填补这一空白。使用密集的网格的光束，一个三维的，依赖于时间的离子中性相互作用的视图可以开发。这些结果，与共同的体积光学观测，VHF和HF雷达观测协调，允许访问系统动力学和系统响应，这是以前无法观察到的。这项实验活动涉及来自9个机构的20名研究人员，将在两个冬季进行。研究结果将用于解决高层大气及其与磁层和低层大气的耦合等基本物理问题，这些问题由于缺乏关键数据而一直不甚清楚。因此，尽管人们理解小规模过程在这种耦合中发挥着至关重要的作用，但它们一直难以纳入定量模型。新的信息将在GITM模型中得到应用，以验证对磁层、电离层和热层耦合的新认识，从而提供更强的模拟能力。

This collaborative research effort will study magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling through a coordinated campaign of observations and modeling using the Poker Flat Incoherent-Scatter Radar (PFISR), the Resolute Bay Incoherent-Scatter Radar (RISR), a variety of optical instruments, the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), the Homer Very High Frequency (VHF) radar, and the Global Ionospheric-Thermospheric Model (GITM). The ionosphere, thermosphere, and magnetosphere comprise a tightly coupled system at high latitudes. The ionosphere is the mediating element in this view, facilitating the transfer of free energy generated by solar wind-magnetosphere coupling into heat and bulk motion of the neutral atmosphere. This mediation occurs through electric fields, particle precipitation, diffusion, and field-aligned currents, agents that act collectively to structure the plasma density and composition within the system. Although elements of this system have been studied in considerable detail, their nonlinear interactions, and the global implications of these regional processes, remains poorly understood and inadequately observed. The electronic steering capability of PFISR offers a unique diagnostic to fill this gap. Using a dense grid of beams, a three-dimensional, time dependent view of the ion-neutral interactions can be developed. These results, in coordination with observations by common volume optical, and VHF and HF radar observations, allow access to system dynamics and system responses which were previously unobservable. The experimental campaign, involving twenty researchers from nine institutions, will be carried out over two winter seasons. The results will be used to address fundamental questions of the physics of the upper atmosphere and its coupling to the magnetosphere and the lower atmosphere, which have remained obscured for lack of key data. As a result, although it is understood that small-scale processes play critically important roles in this coupling, they have been difficult to include in quantitative models. The new information will be implemented in the GITM model validating the new understanding of the coupled magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere, and thereby providing enhanced simulation capabilities.