Space weather at mid-latitudes: climatology, dynamics and drivers of atmospheric Joule heating

地球经历了以各种方式影响行星环境的“太空天气”。这些影响是公认的环境危害，详见《英国国家风险登记册》。产生重大影响的原因是焦耳加热在大气中沉积了能量，带电粒子在太阳风和磁层动力学的电磁强迫下与大气的中性成分相撞。这可能导致大气抬升(影响卫星阻力、位置控制和寿命)，激发热层风(可以耦合到低层大气，影响天气和气候)，并触发大气重力波(可以在大气层的不同层和全球范围内传输能量和动量)。该项目利用一系列国际空间物理设施来研究焦耳加热的特征、可变性、动力学和驱动因素。特别是，它将使用电离层等离子体测量和计算模型来确定电离层电场在我们为焦耳加热建模的努力中的重要性。该项目的最终目标是制作一种最先进的模型，以预测焦耳加热对太阳风和地磁活动变化的响应。

The Earth experiences 'space weather' that impacts the planetary environment in a variety of ways. These impacts are a recognised environmental hazard, as detailed in the UK National Risk Register. A major impact arises due to the deposition of energy in the atmosphere by Joule heating whereby charged particles, under electromagnetic forcing from the solar wind and magnetospheric dynamics, collide with the neutral constituents of the atmosphere. This can lead to atmospheric uplift (which affects satellite drag, position control and lifetime), excitation of thermospheric winds (which can couple to the lower atmosphere, affecting weather and climate) and triggering of atmospheric gravity waves (which can transport energy and momentum throughout different layers of the atmosphere and across the globe).This project utilises a range of international space physics facilities to study the characteristics, variability, dynamics, and drivers of Joule heating. In particular, it will employ ionospheric plasma measurements and computational models to determine the importance of ionospheric electric fields in our efforts to model Joule heating. The ultimate goal of the project is to produce a state-of-the-art model to forecast the Joule heating response to changes in the solar wind and geomagnetic activity.