ULTRA-LOW FREQUENCY (ULF) WAVES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED IN GEOSPACE AND ON THE GROUND FOR DECADES. THEY PLAY IMPORTANT ROLES IN TRANSPORTING AND COUPLING ENERGY THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM AND ACCELERATING MAGNETOSPHERIC PARTICLES INCLUDING THOSE IN THE VAN ALLEN RADIATION BELTS. ULF WAVE SIGNATURES IN THE IONOSPHERE CAN BE DETECTED IN THE IONOSPHERIC AND GROUND SCATTER ECHOS FROM THE SUPER DUAL AURORAL RADAR NETWORK (SUPERDARN). THIS RADAR NETWORK HAS THE ADVANTAGE OF WIDE GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE AT THE MID- HIGH- AND POLAR LATITUDES IN BOTH HEMISPHERES CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENTS OVER SEVERAL SOLAR CYCLES AND HIGH TIME RESOLUTION DATA AVAILABILITY DURING SPECIAL MODES (E.G. ~ 6 S FOR THEMIS MODE DATA). SUPERDARN RADARS ARE THUS IDEAL FOR ANALYZING THE SPATIAL TEMPORAL AND FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS OF IONOSPHERIC ULF WAVE SIGNATURES. WE PROPOSE TO IMPLEMENT THE LOMB-SCARGLE PERIODOGRAM METHOD FOR AUTOMATED DETECTION OF ULF WAVE SIGNATURES IN SUPERDARN HIGH TIME RESOLUTION DATA FROM 2010 TO 2016 AND THUS BUILD A ULF WAVE EVENT DATABASE ORDERED BY MAGNETIC LATITUDE MLT AND FREQUENCY. DEPENDENCIES OF THESE WAVES ON SOLAR WIND CONDITION GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY AND SEASON WILL BE EXAMINED. PROCEEDING FROM THIS DATABASE WE WILL FOCUS ON ULF WAVES OBSERVED IN THE POLAR CAP WHERE THE OPEN CONDITION OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD LINES WOULD SEEM TO RULE OUT THE USUAL MECHANISMS FOR STIMULATING AND SUSTAINING ULF WAVES. COORDINATED OBSERVATIONS OF ULF WAVES FROM SUPERDARN RADARS NEARBY GROUND MAGNETOMETERS AND SPACECRAFT IN THE MAGNETOSPHERE AND SOLAR WIND WILL HELP TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLE DRIVING SOURCES FOR THE POLAR ULF WAVES. IN SUMMARY THE PROPOSED RESEARCH OF ULF WAVES WILL ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ULF WAVE GENERATION MECHANISMS AND THE ROLE OF ULF WAVES IN COUPLING THE SOLAR WIND MAGNETOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE.
$89,905FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University