European Incoherent Scatter Radar Facility (EISCAT) - UK Support

EISCAT_3D是一项国际合作，将在欧洲提供一个新的世界领先的雷达，以监测和提高对大气和空间天气的了解。它还将为目前正在开发的整个大气模型和空间天气预报提供必要的验证。太空天气是用来描述由太阳能量驱动的高层大气和近空间环境的自然变化的术语。随着技术的进步，科学、工业和社会越来越依赖卫星技术，因此我们对空间天气的脆弱性也在增加。极端空间天气是英国政府2015年国家风险登记册上的特色，可能对卫星及其相关服务以及电网和航空等其他关键基础设施造成严重损害。空间天气的长期趋势也影响到保护卫星免受空间碎片碰撞危险所需的战略和政策。然而，目前还不能可靠地预测太空天气。要做到这一点，需要科学研究来提高认识，开发改进的预测模型，并需要更好的数据来为研究提供信息并验证模型。高层大气的空间天气受低层大气的影响，越来越多的证据表明，空间天气也影响低层大气的“普通”天气。大气层的不同层，从地面到空间边缘，形成了一个复杂的耦合系统，由各种各样的化学和动力过程连接起来，因此不可能孤立地了解大气层的任何一层。目前正在开发整个大气的模型，但是对层与层之间的许多过程和反馈的了解还不够充分，无法准确地解释或预测它们的影响。因此，为了了解空间天气并预测其危害，并在整个大气系统的背景下理解它，需要一种敏感和通用的仪器，能够在广泛的空间区域内尽可能多地测量大气，具有良好的高度和时间分辨率，以便在影响单个卫星、飞机和国家电网的尺度上研究大气层之间的垂直耦合和水平结构。EISCAT_3D的新雷达技术与最新的数字信号处理相结合，将实现比它将取代的雷达高十倍的空间和时间分辨率，同时首次提供连续测量能力和3d成像。基于英国在空间天气研究方面世界领先的专业知识及其在过去30年中的EISCAT科学协会会员资格，这种新的能力将有助于解决三个关键的科学挑战（见目标）：了解在观测到的高层大气变化和趋势背后的自然过程。开发和验证可与气象学相媲美的空间天气预报模型。改进和验证整个大气的计算机模型。

EISCAT_3D is an international collaboration that will deliver a new world-leading radar in Europe to monitor and improve understanding of the atmosphere and space weather. It will also provide essential validation for models of the whole atmosphere and for forecasting space weather, which are currently under development.Space weather is the term used to describe natural changes in the upper atmosphere and near-space environment driven by energy from the Sun. As our technology advances and science, industry, and society rely more and more on satellite technology, so our vulnerability to space weather increases. Extreme space weather, which features on the UK Government's 2015 National Risk Register, can cause serious damage to satellites and their associated services, as well as to other critical infrastructures such as power grids and aviation. Long-term trends in space weather also affect the strategies and policies required to protect satellites from the hazards of collision with space debris. However, space weather cannot yet be reliably forecast. To do so requires scientific research to improve understanding and develop improved forecasting models, and better data to inform the research and validate the models.Space weather in the upper atmosphere is influenced by the atmosphere below and there is increasing evidence that space weather also affects "ordinary" weather in the lower atmosphere. The different layers of the atmosphere, from the ground to the edge of space, form a complex coupled system, connected by a wide variety of chemical and dynamical processes, such that it is impossible to understand any one layer of the atmosphere in isolation. Models of the whole atmosphere are now being developed, but there are many processes and feedbacks between layers that are not yet well enough understood to accurately explain or predict their effects. Thus to understand space weather and predict its hazards, and to understand it in the context of the whole atmospheric system, requires a sensitive and versatile instrument that can measure as much of the atmosphere as possible, with good altitude and time resolution over a broad spatial area, in order to study both vertical coupling between atmospheric layers and horizontal structure on the scales affecting individual satellites, planes, and national power grids. EISCAT_3D's new radar technology, combined with the latest digital signal processing, will achieve ten times higher spatial and temporal resolution than the radars it will replace while simultaneously offering, for the first time, continuous measurement capabilities and 3-D imaging. Building on the UK's world-leading expertise in space weather research and its membership of the EISCAT Scientific Association over the last 30 years, this new capability will help address three key scientific challenges (see Objectives):1. To understand the natural processes behind observed variabilities and trends in the upper atmosphere.2. To develop and validate space weather forecasting models comparable to those in meteorology.3. To improve and validate computer models of the whole atmosphere.