Collaborative Research: DASI Track 2: An Optical Network to Study the Vertical Propagation Resulting in Spatio-temporal Variability in the Thermosphere

这个分布式小型仪器阵列项目将支持中层大气的观测。学术机构和一家私人公司之间的合作将在美国西南部部署仪器。这些仪器将用于测量热层和电离层相互耦合并与中性大气耦合的中层大气复杂区域的动态。这些数据最终将有助于我们了解大气中的空间天气事件，并为改进全球整体大气模型提供信息。该项目利用了以前NSF支持的努力，成功地将仪器放置在全国各地的高中。该项目包括计划中的公开研讨会，并支持本科生。该项目的目的是通过在美国西南部部署法布里-珀罗干涉仪（FPI）阵列和全天空相机来研究热层-电离层耦合，从而能够在中纬度地区的一系列空间和时间尺度上研究由低层大气和磁层强迫引起的等离子体中性动力学。10个OI 557.7nm气辉成像仪将形成一个横跨15-20度纬度/经度的连续视场，以及三个具有OI 630.0nm和557.7nm能力的FPI。这扩大了现有的覆盖美国和墨西哥部分地区的630.0nm成像仪网络。数据将通过几个网站和NSF资助的Madrigal数据库公开提供。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Distributed Arrays of Small Instruments (DASI) project will support observations of the middle atmosphere. This collaboration between academic institutions and a private company will deploy instruments across the Southwestern US. These instruments will be used to measure the dynamics of a complex region of the middle atmosphere where the thermosphere and ionosphere are coupled to each other and to the neutral atmosphere. The data will ultimately help inform our understanding of the space weather events in the atmosphere and inform improvements to global whole atmosphere models. The project leverages a previous NSF-supported effort which successfully placed instruments at high schools across the nation. This project includes planned public seminars and supports undergraduate students.The purpose of this project is to investigate thermosphere-ionosphere coupling by deploying an array of Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) and all-sky cameras across the Southwestern U.S to enable investigations of plasma-neutral dynamics caused both by lower atmospheric and magnetospheric forcing across a range of spatial and temporal scales in the mid-latitude region. Ten OI 557.7nm airglow imagers will form a contiguous field of view spanning 15-20 degrees in latitude/longitude and three FPIs with OI 630.0nm and 557.7nm capabilities. This augments an existing network of 630.0nm imagers that covers some portion of the US and Mexico. Data will be made publicly available through several websites and the NSF funded Madrigal database. Software products will be made available through GitHub.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.