Scheduling the Upper Atmospheric Facilities for World Day Coordinated Experiments (Final Report)

Convener:
Wes Swartz (wes@ece.cornell.edu)

2005 Thursday 30 June 0400 - 0600 PM

Establishing "World Day" (WD) schedules to coordinate experiments at all the incoherent scatter radars and associated instrumentation is one of the activities of the URSI Incoherent Scatter Working Group (ISWG).

The CEDAR meeting provided a timely forum for working on the schedule for the following year. The link to the current schedule (as well as those for previous years) may be found at:

Objectives of the current year were reviewed and included the following:

  1. LTCS (Lower Thermosphere Coupling Study): Tidal Variability
    With a number of years of ISR data from the lower thermosphere under the LTCS program, the basic structure of tides seems to be relatively well understood with the most striking single property of atmospheric tides being the very large variability of tidal amplitudes. Possible sources for this variability include non-migrating tides, planetary waves, and geomagnetic influences. Now efforts must focus on the sources of this tidal variability.
    LTCS Contact: Larisa P. Goncharenko
  2. M-I Coupling (Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling): Storm and Substorm Effects on the Middle- and Low-Latitude Ionosphere
    Magnetic storms and substorms are fundamental disturbances in the magnetosphere and can significantly increase, or decrease ionospheric electron densities. Outstanding questions concerning the effects of storms and substorms on the middle- and low-latitude ionosphere include MI-Coupling Contact: Chaosong Huang
  3. GPS-Radar (Global Plasma Structuring-Radar Experiment): Thermal plasma coupling between low, mid, and high latitudes
    Recent multi-technique observations have shown that the equatorial ionosphere and inner plasmasphere are coupled from low to auroral latitudes by electric fields and plumes of storm enhanced electron densities which feed tongues of ionization into the polar caps. This global mechanism carries low-latitude dayside plasma into the nightside auroral ionosphere and can cause significant space weather effects during major magnetic storms, as well as during less-disturbed conditions. Wide latitude coverage is used to study these events and include GPS-Radar Contact: John Foster
  4. Meteoric Ions (Global observations of ionization created by the Perseids and Leonids)
    During the 2002 Leonids, the EISCAT UHF radar detected enhanced ionization between 90 and 180 km with densities up to 3.3 x 10^11 m-3. Systematic studies of these enhancements are planned during three-day runs for the Perseids (starting on August 10 at 0900 UT) and for the Leonids (starting on November 17 at 1600 UT) are suggested.
    Meteoric Ions Contact: Ingemar Haggstrom
  5. Synoptic
    Synoptic experiments are intended to emphasize wide coverage of the F-region, with some augmented coverage of the topside or E-region to fill in areas of the databases that have relatively little data.
    Synoptic Contact: Wes Swartz
  6. C/NOFS (Communications / Navigation Outage Forecasting System)
    The primary purpose of C/NOFS is to forecast the presence of ionospheric irregularities that adversely impact communication and navigation systems. The satellite launch has been delayed until next year and the UAF component will be rescheduled.
    C/NOFS Contacts: Odile de La Bedaujardiere, David Hysell, Wes Swartz
  7. CPEA (Coupling Processes in the Equatorial Atmosphere)
    This is an initiative for studying the coupling of dynamical coupling processes in the equatorial atmosphere from the troposphere up through the thermosphere and ionosphere centered around the Indonesian Equatorial Atmospheric Radar (EAR). The original plans have been refocused and the UAF component deleted for this year.
    CPEA Contacts: Shoichiro Fukao, Project Leader, Sunanda Basu, Janet Kozyra
  8. MST (Studies of the Mesosphere, Stratosphere, and Troposphere)
    Coordinated D- and E-region campaigns focus the ISR's and supporting instrument capabilities on the lower altitudes. JRO uses a high resolution MST mode, while Arecibo uses a dual mode of D- and E-region drifts (with accompanying lidar & imaging measurements). The main interest is in obtaining gravity wave momentum fluxes. Data for these studies may also be obtained during the LTCS World Day periods.
    MST Contacts: Gerald Lehmacher, Erhan Kudeki, Jorge L. Chau
  9. World Month (Searching for Long Period Effects)
    Studies of long period waves and tides require measurements over many sequential days. The 30-day run in September should provide an unprecedented data set for such studies. Not all of the ISRs will provide data for the full 30-day period and only a "best effort" is asked for. The Arecibo Observatory is to observe for about 10 of the 30 days. Labor or power saving modes were to be adapted at some sites.
    WM Contacts: Larisa P. Goncharenko, and Wes Swartz

The "World Month" scheduled for September 2005 was discussed with some fervor and anticipated by many as a prime resource of data for very long period waves of the LTCS program and for driving and verifying assimilative models of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Although a concern was expressed that having a second "World Month" would limit the number of separate World Days that could be scattered throughout out the calendar year, and that perhaps a second should not be scheduled in 2006, the consensus from the modeling community has consistently been that short runs just are not useful to them. We were informed that the ESR would run for a month in 2006 even independently of the other UAFs if necessary. After concerns were expressed about the resources required for that many days, Bob Robinson of the Facilities Program at NSF said that some accommodation should be possible and that a lack of incremental resources should not be the reason for not doing the long runs. It was decided to again schedule the second "World Month" in the March-April time frame and do so on a "best effort" within available resources at each of the UAFs.

Two other World Day periods were placed on the 2006 schedule available at the above URL.