Support for the Participation of U.S. Scientists and Students in the International Conference on Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation; Taipei, Taiwan; March 9-11, 2016

University Corporation For Atmospheric Res, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds the travel of US scientists to attend the Third International Conference on GPS Radio Occultation (ICGPSRO) in Taipei, Taiwan. NSF has a longstanding partnership with the Taiwanese National Space Organization (NSPO), in the development of space-based GPS radio occultation (GPSRO) as a technique for observing the atmosphere. This partnership, conducted through the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and with the participation of other US agencies, produced the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, the Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC). COSMIC is a six-satellite constellation of polar orbiting satellites with GPS receivers launched in 2006. The COSMIC mission has been highly successful, and the follow-on COSMIC-2 mission is under development as a joint US-Taiwan project with the first of two launches scheduled for 2016. While COSMIC-2 is not an NSF-funded mission, the observations to be collected will be of greater quality and quantity than existing GPSRO measurements and hold substantial promise as a resource for NSF-funded researchers. The conference covers a number of topics related to RO measurement techniques and the use of GPSRO data for weather, climate, and space weather research. The meeting will provide a venue to expose US participants to the GPSRO technique and its research applications, to foster interactions between end users of the data and developers of the observing technology, and to promote international collaborations between US and Taiwanese scientists. Funds provided through this award will support the travel of up to ten U.S. scientists and students to attend the conference. US participants will be a mix of students, early career scientists, and senior researchers. The award has broader impacts due to the practical value of GPSRO observations as an input to weather forecasts and for tracking the state of the ionosphere. GPSRO data has been demonstrated, for example, to be effective at reducing errors in forecasts of hurricane tracks. In addition, the observations are absolutely calibrated and thus useful for detecting long-term trends in atmospheric temperature, and can be used to help calibrate other kinds of weather satellites. Beyond these societal broader impacts, the meeting will provide valuable education and mentorship for students and early career scientists.