MRI: Development of Monitors for Alaskan and Canadian Auroral Weather in Space (MACAWS)

这一重大研究仪器发展奖是为了表彰创建了一个地面接收器网络，该网络可以使用卫星导航信号来提供关于地球电离层的关键信息。该网络将包括阿拉斯加和加拿大的35个站点，为数据稀疏的地区带来额外的测量结果。开发活动还包括使系统具有动态化、适应性和自主性。提高数据的数量和质量将有助于回答有关基本电离层过程的许多问题，这可能会改善卫星导航系统的稳健性。这一发展奖的目标是提供一个陆基传感器网络，提供实时和历史的全球导航卫星系统电离层数据产品，用于北美目前未采样或采样不足的极光/极地区域的地球空间科学和空间气象监测。传感器网络是一个动态、自适应和自主的传感器网络，可以使用人工智能对来自其仪器的信息做出实时反应。将在阿拉斯加和加拿大部署35个全球导航卫星系统接收器，以获取总电子含量(TEC)和闪烁统计数据。该项目将创建一个统一的北美TEC地图，开发和部署高度动态时段的触发算法，并向用户分发实时TEC数据。将讨论四个具体的科学问题：1)极地冰盖斑块的形成机制是什么？极地冰帽补丁是如何离开夜间极地冰帽的？电离舌与极冠斑块有什么关系？2)低层大气对高纬度电离层的变率有什么贡献？3)是什么原因造成了夜间极地电离层电离舌前部的不规则性？是什么导致了SuperDARN观测到的SED羽状物形成的不规则性？4)产生GPS闪烁的特定极光和亚极光机制是什么？

This Major Research Instrumentation development award is for the creation of a network of ground-based receivers that can use satellite navigation signals to provide crucial information about the Earth's ionosphere. This network will include 35 sites in Alaska and Canada, bringing additional measurements to a data-sparse region. The development activities also include making the system dynamic, adaptable, and autonomous. Improving the amount and quality of data will help to answer many questions about the basic ionospheric processes, which could lead to improvements in the robustness of satellite navigation systems. Many of the receivers will also be placed at schools, providing an educational benefit to the students.The goal of this development award is to provide a ground-based sensor web network that provides both real-time and historical Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) ionospheric data products for use in geospace science and space weather monitoring in currently unsampled or under-sampled auroral/polar regions in North America. A sensor web is a dynamic, adaptable, and autonomous network of sensors that can use artificial intelligence to react in real time to information from its instruments. Thirty-five GNSS receivers will be deployed in Alaska and Canada to retrieve Total Electron Content (TEC) and scintillation statistics. The project will result in the creation of a unified North American TEC map, development and deployment of triggering algorithms for highly dynamic periods, and the distribution of real-time TEC data to users. Four specific scientific topics would be addressed: 1) What mechanism is responsible for the formation of polar cap patches? And how do polar cap patches exit the night-side polar cap? What is the relationship of the tongue of ionization to polar cap patches? 2) What contribution does the lower atmosphere make to variability in the high-latitude ionosphere? 3) What causes the irregularities that form at the front of the tongue of ionization in the nightside polar ionosphere? What causes the irregularities that form with the SED plume as observed by SuperDarn? 4) What are the specific auroral and sub-auroral mechanisms that produce GPS scintillations?