CAREER: Quantification of Ionosphere/Thermosphere System Drivers, State Parameters, and Fundamental Coupling Mechanisms

GSTDTAP

项目编号	1454839
	CAREER: Quantification of Ionosphere/Thermosphere System Drivers, State Parameters, and Fundamental Coupling Mechanisms
	Lara Waldrop
主持机构	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
项目开始年	2015
	2015-09-01
项目结束日期	2020-08-31
资助机构	US-NSF
项目类别	Continuing grant
项目经费	99974(USD)
国家	美国
语种	英语
英文摘要	The goal of this project is to obtain the first unambiguous quantification of the temperature-dependent cross section for charge exchange between neutral and ionized atomic oxygen which mediates momentum and energy exchange between the terrestrial ionosphere and thermosphere (IT system). Historical uncertainty in these parameters has limited the quantitative accuracy of numerous aeronomical calculations, such as ionospheric temperatures and density distributions, diffusion coefficients, and plasma drift speeds, effectively precluding reliable prediction of both steady-state and dynamic behavior of the coupled IT system. The research program will involve hardware development and deployment, inverse and tomographic analysis development, physics-based model development, and scientific data analysis and interpretation. The methodology to obtain the crucial quantification of these parameters will utilize a nested configuration of passive optical and incoherent scatter radar (ISR) instrumentation at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, including a novel photometric imaging system (Photometer Array for Tomographic Hydrogen Sensing; PATHS) that will be designed and built by undergraduate students at the University of Illinois through a capstone project course. The resulting data, together with the development of realistic radiative transport models of optical emissions and advances in the estimation of light ion velocity from ISR spectra, will enable the height- and time-dependent quantification of neutral, ion, and electron temperatures; distinct proton and oxygen ion velocities; neutral meridional wind speed; ionized oxygen, hydrogen, and helium density; and, for the first time, the neutral oxygen and hydrogen density distributions throughout the upper thermosphere. Quantification of the charge exchange coupling between the ionosphere and thermosphere (via parametric momentum balance) as well as between the exosphere and plasmasphere (via parametric continuity balance) will enable advances in understanding how mass, energy and momentum are transported throughout the coupled regions. The project will involve graduate and undergraduate students, and include outreach activities targeting pre-college girls in order to promote the future gender diversity in this discipline.
来源学科分类	Geosciences - Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
文献类型	项目
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/68679
专题	环境与发展全球科技态势
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Lara Waldrop.CAREER: Quantification of Ionosphere/Thermosphere System Drivers, State Parameters, and Fundamental Coupling Mechanisms.2015.