High-Latitude Ionospheric Structures and Dynamics - Physics, Modeling, and Applications

加拿大作为一个北极国家和一个严重依赖现代技术的社会，从科学和经济角度向我们提出了许多挑战。在依赖技术的现代社会，可靠的通信和导航系统是经济发展和公民安全的最重要工具之一。电离层是地球上层大气的电离部分，可以在许多方面(反射、折射、绕射、法拉第旋转、幅度和相位波动)显著影响无线电波的传播(从而影响通信和导航系统)；因此，在规划和建立远程、高频(HF)系统和通信链路以及导航系统时，了解电离层的状态并了解其特性至关重要。北极电离层与太阳风和磁层(“空间天气”)的直接相互作用造成北极电离层的时空变化，这使在这一偏远地区规划和运营高频和导航系统的任何尝试变得更加复杂，因为那里可能没有替代系统；因此，增进我们对北极电离层的了解对于这些系统的成功运作和确保该区域有通信和导航能力也是至关重要的。通过拟议的研究，我们试图利用扩展的加拿大高北极电离层网络(ECHAIN)和卫星测量来理解不同尺度(时间和空间)的极冠电离结构的产生、动力学和衰减。这种理解将有助于模拟/减轻电离层对这些系统的影响，并使我们能够为高频和导航系统的应用开发一个可靠的电离层模型。

Canada, as an Arctic nation and a society heavily dependent on modern technology, presents us with many challenges from scientific and economic points of view. In the modern, technologically-dependent society, one of the most important tools for economic development and the safety and security of citizens is reliable communication and navigation systems. The ionosphere, the ionized part of Earth's upper atmosphere, can significantly affect radiowave propagation (thus communication and navigation systems) in many ways (reflection, refraction, diffraction, Faraday rotation, and amplitude and phase fluctuations); therefore, knowledge of the state of the ionosphere and understanding its properties becomes critical when planning and setting up long-range, high-frequency (HF) systems and communication links, as well as navigation systems. Temporal and spatial variations of the Arctic ionosphere, caused by its direct interaction with the solar wind and magnetosphere ("space weather"), further complicates any attempt to plan and operate HF and navigation systems in this remote region, where alternative systems may not be available; therefore, improving our knowledge of the Arctic ionosphere is also crucial for the successful operation of these systems and ensuring communications and navigation capacities are available in this region. Through the proposed research, we seek to understand the generation, dynamics, and decay of polar cap ionization structures of varying scale sizes (both temporal and spatial) using the Expanded Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network (ECHAIN) and satellite measurements. This understanding will help to model/mitigate ionospheric effects on these systems and enable us to develop a reliable ionospheric model for HF and navigation systems' application.