High Altitude Observatory
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DR ASTRID MAUTE Vews from the top An expert n the scence of the upper atmosphere, Dr Astrd Maute outlnes her research on atmospherc tdes and descrbes how t wll help mprove space weather predcton capablty an you ntroduce yourself and your academc the mddle atmosphere durng SSWs wth atmosphere It s necessary to brng together background How have your research numercal models s challengng, snce the researchers from the dfferent domans (the nvestgatons evolved snce you frst oned the models cannot resolve all spatal scales and magnetosphere and upper, mddle and lower Hgh Alttude Observatory n olorado, USA therefore depend on parametersaton of atmosphere) to work on the problem as a smaller scale waves olleagues at the Natonal whole In addton, observers and numercal When I frst started workng at the Observatory enter for Atmospherc Research developed modellers must collaborate to nterpret – part of the Natonal enter for Atmospherc a scheme to correct the mddle atmosphere, observatons and smulatons fully, generate Research – Dr Arthur Rchmond, who s whch makes t possble to examne SSW deas about possble underlyng physcal one of the leadng experts on onospherc effects n the onosphere We could reproduce mechansms and hghlght mportant factors electrodynamcs, ntroduced me to the these events and analyse the model for the nfluencng the system These can then be scence of the upper atmosphere Together mportant tdal components responsble tested by models and verfed by observatons we worked on dfferent aspects of smulatng for the electrodynamc changes n the low onospherc electrodynamc effects, ncludng lattude onosphere How do you see your work progressng n the plasma pressure gradent and gravty drven comng years current, observed by the hallengng Mn- What s the purpose of the NASA Ionospherc Satellte Payload satellte Several years ago, onnecton (ION) explorer msson Progress n understandng the TI system I was fortunate to begn workng wth Dr depends very much on avalable observatons, Maura Hagan, whose research focuses on The ION explorer msson, led by Prncpal whch are sparse compared wth meteorologcal the generaton and propagaton of tdal and Investgator Dr Thomas Immel and scheduled observatons The NASA ION proect has planetary waves and ther mpact on the upper to launch n , s dedcated to explorng the the potental to advance the feld, not only by atmosphere The focus of my research s stll thermosphere-onosphere (TI) system and ts solvng the questons we can formulate now, reflected by these collaboratons, wth an boundary between Earth and space One aspect but also by dscoverng new phenomena and nterest n usng numercal models to explore of the proect s to shed lght on the couplng possble mechansms not yet magned by the the effects, couplng mechansms and the mechansm between Earth’s weather and space research communty mportance of atmospherc tdes and global weather ION s focused on the low-lattude scale waves on the onosphere regon, where neutral wnds n the onosphere In general, numercal modellng tends to can push plasma around and establsh electrc go n the drecton of ncreased resoluton You partcpate n NASA’s Lvng Wth a Star felds that map along the geomagnetc feld and novel couplng of dfferent regmes – Targeted Research & Technology (LWS-TR&T) lne of the Earth and can lead to changes of the the plasmasphere, magnetosphere and programme about ‘Atmosphere-Ionosphere onospherc plasma dstrbuton In addton, the troposphere, for example As models become ouplng Durng Stratospherc Sudden onospherc varablty depends on the neutral more sophstcated, the ncreasng complexty Warmngs’ What are ts central goals composton that wll be measured by ION The necesstates larger multdscplnary msson was confrmed n October by NASA collaboratons to elucdate the physcs fully Its overarchng am s to further our headquarters and s proceedng as scheduled and nterpret the results accurately It wll be understandng of vertcal couplng and ts Exctngly, t ncludes a strong numercal exctng for me to contrbute and collaborate mportance for space weather varablty, whle modellng component, and comparsons wth on the numercal modellng effort and use ts mprovng our forecast capabltes by focusng the observatons to examne the mportant results for observatonal nterpretaton on atmosphere-onosphere couplng durng vertcal couplng mechansms stratospherc sudden warmngs (SSWs) Are large collaboratve proects such as ION In recent years, Hagan and her colleagues have and LWS-TR&T necessary for achevng real made progress by gong from clmatologcal nsghts nto the Earth’s TI system specfcaton of a lmted subset of solar tdes to the mplementaton of daly varyng Ths system s strongly nfluenced by the solar global perturbatons orrectly representng wnd condtons as well as those from the lower INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION Space weather The long-range outlook Scentsts at the Hgh Alttude Observatory of the Natonal enter for Atmospherc Research, USA, are attemptng to understand the complex Sun-Earth connecton and thus reduce damage to terrestral technologcal systems ALTHOUH IT IS rarely broadcast to the on Earth, but also long-term trends and ther general publc, space weather can have a huge prmary trggers Despte sgnfcant recent effect on human lfe Frst used n the s, developments n research tools and equpment, the term s defned by NASA as the dynamc such as observng systems and quanttatve and often fast-developng condtons wthn the models, fundamental questons about solar- solar system – on the Sun and n the solar wnd, terrestral scence reman unanswered magnetosphere, thermosphere and onosphere – that can nfluence the performance and Snce , t has been the msson of scentsts relablty of space-borne and ground-based at the Hgh Alttude Observatory of the Natonal technologcal systems and endanger human lfe enter for Atmospherc Research (NAR) n or health It has long been known that the Sun’s olorado, USA, to explore the coupled Sun- energy output determnes these nterplanetary Earth system They are currently focused on condtons, although recent NASA mssons determnng the structure and dynamcs of have shown that weather on Earth can also Earth’s upper atmosphere, ts response to nfluence condtons n the upper atmosphere the effects of the solar wnd and the Sun’s The ablty of space weather to affect terrestral radaton, and the couplng between regons, systems – ncludng communcatons, ncludng wth the lower atmosphere Dr Astrd transportaton and electrcal power networks Maute s one such proect scentst She s – can lead to sgnfcant envronmental, socal usng numercal modellng to study the upper and economc costs and dsrupton atmospherc effects due to geospace and meteorologcal forcng Human exstence has become ncreasngly relant on technology that s susceptble to A SINIFIANT SYSTEM damage from space weather For socety to The thermosphere-onosphere (TI) system lmt the mpact of such damage, natural s a prorty area of research at the Hgh hazards such as geomagnetc storms need to Alttude Observatory The thermosphere become more predctable Upper atmosphere s the workng envronment of numerous scentsts face the challenge of evaluatng not satelltes, ncludng the Internatonal Space only the short-term mpacts of space weather Staton, and t s where the maorty of urrently, the precson of space forecastng s comparable to terrestral weather predctons approxmately years ago wwwnternatonalnnovatoncom space-based human actvtes occur “Due geospace condtons s crucal for predctng the to the low denstes n the thermosphere, onospherc varablty t s hghly varable and easly nfluenced by confoundng factors, for example, solar NAR s utlsng the Thermosphere- radaton, solar wnd and lower atmospherc Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Electrodynamcs forcng,” Maute elaborates hanges n densty eneral rculaton Model (TIME-M) to INTELLIENE could affect the orbtal routes and lfetmes smulate SSW events “Smulatng these events of satelltes, and varatons n the onospherc can help allude to the orgn of onospherc HIH ALTITUDE OBSERVATORY envronment could dsrupt global postonng dsturbances and uncover possble couplng OBJETIVES systems (PS) and rado communcatons mechansms that can then be tested aganst • To examne and understand how lower “The thermosphere and onosphere nfluence observatons,” Maute expounds “Despte ths, atmospherc dsturbances affect space each other through on-neutral collsons, comprehensve observatons are stll lackng, weather and the thermosphere-onosphere advecton and composton changes,” Maute but the NASA Ionospherc onnecton (ION) (TI) system at dfferent lattudes by dentfyng explans “Therefore, understandng the explorer msson wll provde the necessary the mportant couplng mechansms processes and ther nteracton s mportant measurements to enhance our understandng for predctng space weather Even on the of the vertcal couplng mechansms” • To analyse the mportance of the lower atmosphere ground, changes n the onospherc currents varablty on the TI system over the solar cycle that are part of the TI system can be measured IONI INVESTIATIONS and under varyng geomagnetc condtons n magnetc perturbatons” The proposed space-based ION msson, due KEY OLLABORATORS to launch n , wll examne the extreme Dr Arthur Rchmond Dr Maura Hagan, Natonal INTRINSIALLY TIED TOETHER varablty of Earth’s onosphere by measurng enter for Atmospherc Research (NAR), USA Lvng Wth a Star s a NASA scentfc the thermospherc wnds, n stu electrc felds, programme amed at advancng our thermospherc composton and F-regon Dr Larsa oncharenko, Massachusetts understandng of the ntegral system plasma dstrbuton Its goals are to