Project Title: Statistical analysis of the propagation parameters of traveling ionospheric disturbances and atmospheric gravity waves
Acronym: SATA
Project ID: PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2016-1918
Funding Programme: Postdoctoral Research Programme (PD)
Funding Agency: Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)
Project Coordinator: Institute of Space Science (ISS)
Project Director: Dr. Catalin Negrea (Researcher ID: A-4321-2017)
Project Duration: 30 months (01.05.2018 – 30.10.2020)
Contract Number: 109/2018
Website: www.spacescience.ro/projects/sata
Contact: negreacatalin [at] spacescience [dot] ro
ABSTRACT
This project will address the topic of Atmospheric Gravity Waves (AGWs) and associated Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs). AGWs are one of the main mechanisms for transferring energy and momenta from the lower atmosphere into the thermosphere, as well as between different thermospheric regions. Using Dynasonde-derived ionospheric tilts and electron density data, the wavevector components will be determined for all wave-packets detected during two month-long datasets obtained with the Wallops Island Dynasonde. The statistical distributions of the TID propagation parameters will be obtained, referred to as the Raw Height Stratified Statistical Distribution (RHSSD). Since this result is not necessarily indicative of AGW activity, the agreement with the theoretical AGW dispersion relation will be verified. This requires the use of neutral atmosphere parameters provided by the NRLMSIS and HWM empirical models. The TID events for which there is agreement with the theoretical dispersion relation will be selected and used to compile a second set of statistics, the Filtered Height Stratified Statistical Distributions (FHSSD). These FHSSDs will be indicative of the underlying AGW activity. Finally, the RHSSDs and the FHSSDs will be compared to identify the altitude ranges and frequency bands where we will observe similarities (or discrepancies) between the two statistical distributions. The potential impact of the project is quite broad, since it addresses key scientific problems in the area of AGWs, TIDs and the thermosphere-ionosphere in general. In addition to this, the intended results would be entirely new and original, but with a high degree of applicability for numerous other existing datasets.
Dr. Catalin Negrea, ISS Talks, Magurele, 30.10.2018
Short video presentation of the Planeterrella experiment for European Researchers Night 2020 by Dr. Catalin Negrea, ISS
Last update: October 29, 2020