NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Japan

Thomas Evan G, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Evan Thomas of Virginia Tech to conduct a research project in Geosciences during the summer of 2013 at the University of Electro-Communications in Chôfu, Tokyo. The project title is "Dynamics of Ionospheric Plasma Irregularities as Measured by Global Positioning System (GPS) Receivers and the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN)." The host scientist is Dr. Keisuke Hosokawa. Many critical technologies relied upon by both commercial and military users around the world are directly impacted by events occurring in the charged component of Earth's upper atmosphere, known as the ionosphere. Strong geomagnetic storms are responsible for causing ionospheric clutter in over-the-horizon radar systems; degradation of GPS signals (scintillations); and induced electrical currents in power distribution networks. This project analyzes simultaneous ionospheric total electron content (TEC) observations of plasma structures with data collected from SuperDARN space weather radars for two main purposes. The first objective is to examine the extent to which small-scale plasma irregularities occur in the gradients of large-scale ionospheric features such as subauroral polarization stream (SAPS), storm enhanced density (SED), and tongue of ionization (TOI). The second objective is to gain a better understanding of the methods used to study travelling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) with the dense networks of instrumentation in Japan and apply them to the similarly well-covered North American sector. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, this project plays an important role in forging new collaborative research activities between the Japanese and American space science communities as we continue to expand the global mapping capabilities of GPS networks and SuperDARN. The scientific findings achieved as a result of this project will be presented at scientific meetings and then submitted for publication to appropriate peer-reviewed journals. Upon return to the United States, a presentation will be made to the students and faculty of the Space@VT department describing the Fellow's experiences in the program.