AGS-PRF: High-Order Simulations of E-region Turbulence and Large Scale Structuring

该奖项支持PI在Meers Oppenheim博士的监督下在波士顿大学担任博士后研究员。该项目的目标是通过模拟增进对E区电离层湍流过程的了解。这项工作将产生3-D动力学模拟等离子体湍流在E区。湍流影响跨电离层通信和超视距雷达。将利用该项目的成果改进空间气象模型，在主办方和研究所先前工作的基础上，开发一个新的代码，模拟E区Farley-Buneman和梯度漂移波的耦合。耦合Farley-Buneman/梯度漂移波的模拟将确定从大尺度到小尺度与湍流级联能量相关的频谱和机制，将测试这种耦合是否解释了火箭的“平方”电场测量，将确定E区湍流如何从赤道区变化到变化极大的极光区，将看到是否有任何基本的E-区域不稳定过程被忽视，特别是在“中等尺度”，并将确定如何异常电子加热与全三维湍流随高度和纬度的变化。模拟结果将直接与雷达、火箭和航天器的观测结果相比较，其结果也将指导未来的实验。另一个目标是利用这些模拟来确定几十年来雷达观测到的150公里回波的物理机制。

This award supports the PI as a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University under the supervision of Dr. Meers Oppenheim. The objective of this project is to improve understanding of turbulent processes in the E-region ionosphere through simulation. This work will produce 3-D kinetic simulations of plasma turbulence in the E-region. Turbulence affects trans-ionospheric communication and over-the-horizon radars. Models of space weather will be improved using the project results.Based on earlier work by both the host and the PI, a new code will be developed to simulate the coupling of Farley-Buneman and gradient drift waves in the E-region. The simulation of coupled Farley-Buneman/gradient drift waves will determine the spectrum and mechanism associated with the turbulent cascade of energy from large to small scales, will test if this coupling explains "squared-off" electric field measurements by rockets, will determine how E-region turbulence changes from the equatorial region to the enormously varying auroral region, will see if there are any fundamental E-region instability processes that have been overlooked, particularly in the "medium-scale", and will determine how anomalous electron heating associated with fully 3-D turbulence changes with altitude and latitude. Simulation results will be directly comparable to observations by radars, rockets, and spacecraft and the results will also guide future experiments. Another goal is to use these simulations to determine a physical mechanism responsible for the 150 km echoes that have been observed by radars for decades.