CEDAR: Plasma Altitude Distributions Associated with Storm Enhanced Densities (SEDs) Caused by Competing Mechanisms

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This project is focused on determining the causes of Storm Enhanced Density (SED) plumes resulting from strong plasma mass coupling between ionosphere and magnetosphere. It will improve our scientific understanding of the coupling between ionosphere and plasmasphere by effectively combining state-of-the-art models and measurements. The major outcome will be improved physics-based models of the Earth?s upper atmosphere and improved predictive capabilities of the storm time response of the ionosphere and plasmasphere. The main goal of this research will be to determine the relative roles of the background neutral density, neutral wind and electric field in the plasma altitude variation and observed variations in the magnitudes of total electron content (TEC) in different SEDs. This study will utilize a combination of the state of the art first principles models of the ionosphere-plasmasphere, a suite of neutral atmosphere models, and the coupled Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere model, in order to describe the various drivers and response/feedback. The specific questions to be answered are: 1) How do the plasma height distributions within SEDs evolve depending on the magnitude, duration, and phase of the storms?; 2) What is the relative contribution of the in-situ chemical vs. dynamical processes in determining the evolution of the plasma height distributions associated with SEDs and its local time dependence?; 3) How do the plasma height distributions within SEDs depend on the longitude, season and hemispheric asymmetry? Data from the NSF-funded SuperDARN and incoherent scatter radar projects with GPS-TEC and spacecraft data will be combined with advanced modeling to maximize scientific return. The project will involve participation of a summer REU students.