(alaSka Arctic Bottomside IoNosphEre) SABINE Measurements and Models
Abstract
Under the program umbrella, Polar Regional Ionosphere Sensing and Modeling (PRISM), ONR is seeking observational and modeling effort to support a polar, regional implementation of the NextGenIonospheric Model for Operations (NIMO), which is essentially the SAMI3 model working with IDA4D.ONR is specifically interested in the reconstruction of the bottom-side ionosphere (the density structure up to the altitude of peak density) in the polar regions.MIT Haystack is proposing a project - SABINE - alaSka Arctic Bottomside IoNsopherE: Measurementsand Models - to address many specific PRISM challenges. This includes providing access to ionospheric observations from polar and auroral regions, with a specific focus on Alaska, but extending to global observations. These data resources include GNSS line of sight total electron content data (TEC), incoherent scatter radar data, observations from All-Sky cameras and ionosondes.To quantitatively describe the main climatological features of ionosphere over Alaska, we will work to construct new and improved local empirical models of NmF2, the electron density at the peak of the ionospheric F2 layer, and hmF2, the height of the F2-layer peak, based on available ionosonde data. The goal is to accurately capture NmF2 and hmF2 variations resulting from solar EUV, season, and local time.Finally, we propose to use the TEC-based Data Assimilation System (TIDAS) recently developed at MIT Haystack [Aa et al., 2022] to reconstruct high-fidelity polar ionospheric variations in 3-D space and time. TIDAS is designed to generate regional electron density variations as a function of time and height, latitude, and longitude. Originally, it was designed to resolve highly dynamic plasma density structures in the mid-latitudes such as storm-enhanced density (SED) and midlatitude trough [Zhang and Aa,2021].The objectives for MIT Haystack SABINE effort will be to collect selected TEC, incoherent scatter, ionosonde and all-sky camera data to: 1) provide inputs for assimilation into models (SAMI3/IDA4D and TIDAS) and to 2) establish a set of benchmarks for simulation with the development of the improved NmF2/HmF2 models. The overall goal is to improve the state of the art in modeling space weather effects for operations.Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 24, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312160
Entities
People
- Anthea J. Coster
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy