Physics
Scientific paper
May 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agusmsa13b..01k&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #SA13B-01
Physics
2435 Ionospheric Disturbances, 2437 Ionospheric Dynamics, 2439 Ionospheric Irregularities, 2443 Midlatitude Ionosphere
Scientific paper
The Geospace Mission Definition Team report made a persuasive case for investigating the ionosphere-thermosphere system with both LEO in situ instruments and GEO ionospheric imaging. The GMDT science objectives were derived from the Living With a Star Science Architecture Team's consideration of space weather effects that concern society. The two highest priority ionospheric objectives are "Determine the effects of the long and short term variability of the Sun on the global-scale behavior of the ionospheric electron density" and "Determine the solar and geospace causes of small scale density irregularities in the 100-1000 km altitude range". These general objectives were then focused on specific science questions such as "How does the ionosphere-thermosphere system vary in response to changing fluxes of solar extreme ultraviolet radiation?", How does the mid- and low-latitude ionosphere-thermosphere system respond to geomagnetic storms?", and "What are the sources and characteristics of ionospheric irregularities at mid-latitudes?". Since the submission of the GMDT report to NASA, the case for investigating the disturbed mid-latitude ionosphere has become even more compelling. Society has become more vulnerable to ionospheric storms through augmented GPS systems for aviation. The ionospheric response to geomagnetic storms has been shown to extend from the equator through mid-latitudes and across the polar caps and from the F region to the equatorial plane. The total electron content from the peak of the positive-phase to the minima of the negative phase varies by up to one order of magnitude. Simulations have demonstrated that thermospheric transport can carry disturbed O/N2 ratios from the auroral zone to the equator. Density irregularities have been discovered with scale lengths of 100 km to the GPS signal Fresnel length (~ 400m). The GMDT developed a strategy to characterize and understand these phenomena. At low altitudes, within the thermosphere, two Ionospheric-Thermospheric Storm Probes were proposed with in situ instruments. The two ITSP will enable the separation of temporal from spatial phenomena and the investigation of temporal phenomena with time scales less than the orbital period. At high altitude a GEO ionospheric imager will yield context by providing global picture of the ionospheric-thermospheric response and evolution during solar disturbances and geomagnetic storms.
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