A Next Generation Geospace Facility at Millstone Hill

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award will fund continued operation and discovery science with the incoherent scatter radar (ISR) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Millstone Hill (MH) Observatory (MHO). The ISR measures backscatter from ionospheric electrons, that is used to recover ion and electron temperatures, densities, winds and constituent abundances 100-1000 km above earth's surface. MHO has a very strong science education and community outreach component, and also curates and distributes an NSF community database. Research activities under this award include sub-auroral magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling; ionosphere-thermosphere coupling during geospace storms; long-term change in the ionosphere and thermosphere; whole atmosphere coupling; and meteoroid studies using software radar methods. The ISR is in the process of transitioning to a new, low cost digital architecture that will uniquely provide continuous, long-term, vertical profiles of ionospheric parameters. This new capability will substantially increase observations of ionospheric and thermospheric disturbances, and will be showcased over the period of performance of the award. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.