Study of Sub-auroral Processes in the Antarctic Peninsula and Conjugate Observations

该奖项的主要目标是通过对地磁共轭的两个地点(马萨诸塞州的米尔斯通山天文台和位于南极半岛的不列颠站Rothera)对稳定极光红弧的地面观测进行调查，研究亚极光电离层对地磁活动周期的反应。来自南美磁强计B场阵列(Samba，从智利延伸到南极半岛)和Millstone Hill非相干散射雷达和其他地球物理仪器的更多数据将被用来了解合成孔径雷达弧的共轭行为，并回答空间物理学的一些悬而未决的问题：(A)南北半球的亚极光电离层对磁层强迫的响应具有什么对称性(或缺乏对称性)；(B)合成孔径雷达弧亮度的纵向变化如何与地球的环流特性相关；(C)如何解释弧内的动态结构和将它们与漫射极光连接的指状特征；(D)对两个半球的合成孔径雷达弧线特征进行建模如何有助于处理电离层响应的季节性变化，以及(E)夜间热层重力波和中等尺度的电离层行进扰动有什么共同之处，从而促进对磁层-电离层耦合的理解。国防气象卫星计划(DMSP)和NASA的辐射带风暴探测器(RBSP)将为这项研究提供电离层参数和环电流中高能离子的关键信息。该项目涉及国际合作，并培养一名研究生。

The overarching goal of this award is to study responses of the sub-auroral ionosphere to the active geomagnetic periods via investigations of the ground-based observations of stable auroral red (SAR) arcs from two geomagnetically conjugate locations: the Millstone Hill Observatory in Massachusetts and British station Rothera located at the Antarctic Peninsula. Additional data from the South American Magnetometer B-field array (SAMBA, extended from Chile to the Antarctic Peninsula) and the Millstone Hill Incoherent Scatter Radar and other geophysical instruments will be utilized to understand the SAR arcs' conjugate behavior and answer some outstanding questions of space physics: (a) what is the symmetry (or lack of) for the sub-auroral ionosphere responses in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres to the magnetospheric forcing; (b) how longitudinal variations in the SAR arc brightness correlated with the Earth's ring current properties; (c) how to interpret dynamic structures inside the arcs and finger-like features connecting them to the diffuse aurora; (d) how the modeling of SAR arc features at both hemispheres can help addressing seasonal changes in the ionospheric responses, and (e) what nighttime thermospheric gravity waves (GWs) and medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances have in common, thus advancing the understanding of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. The Defense Meteorological Satellites Program (DMSP) and the NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) will provide key information of ionospheric parameters and energetic ions in the ring current for this study. The project involves international collaboration and trains a graduate student.