Loading organization details...
Loading organization details...
Source: IRS Form 990 via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
Total Revenue
▼$274.4K
Total Contributions
$179.1K
Total Expenses
▼$126.5K
Total Assets
$2.2M
Total Liabilities
▼$739.5K
Net Assets
$1.5M
Officer Compensation
→$0
Other Salaries
$0
Investment Income
▼$0
Fundraising
▼$0
Source: USAspending.gov · Searched by organization name
VA/DoD Awards
$7.7M
VA/DoD Award Count
16
Funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs and/or Department of Defense.
Total Federal Funding (partial)
$73M
Awards Found
200+
Additional awards may exist. View all on USAspending.gov →
| Awarding Agency | Description | Amount | Fiscal Year | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FRAMEWORK: IMPROVING THE UNDERSTANDING AND REPRESENTATION OF ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVES USING HIGH-RESOLUTION OBSERVATIONS AND MACHINE LEARNING | $1.1M | FY2021 | Oct 2020 – Sep 2025 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | PREDICTING THE TURBULENT AIR-SEA SURFACE FLUXES, INCLUDING SPRAY EFFECTS, FROM WEAK TO STRONG WINDS | $1M | FY2011 | Dec 2010 – Sep 2016 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL IMPACTS OF EDDIES ON INERTIAL OSCILLATIONS OF THE MIXED LAYER | $1M | FY2011 | Oct 2010 – Sep 2014 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL ESTIMATES OF ENERGY PATHWAYS AND STIRRING BY INTERNAL WAVES AND VORTICAL MODE | $981.6K | FY2021 | Sep 2021 – Aug 2025 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | A FINE-WIRE SENSOR ARRAY FOR GROUND-BASED AND AIRBORNE IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS OF OPTICAL TURBULENCE IN THE ATMOSPHERE | $970.6K | FY2023 | Sep 2023 – Sep 2028 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A CONSORTIUM OF RESONANCE AND RAYLEIGH LIDARS | $958.2K | FY2006 | Aug 2006 – Jul 2012 |
| National Science Foundation | TURBULENCE GENERATION IN COMMON NEAR-CALM CONDITIONS | $853.7K | FY2012 | Oct 2011 – Sep 2016 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | ACTIVE REGION DYNAMICS AND THE VARIABILITY OF MERIDIONAL AND ZONAL FLOWS | $828.9K | FY2020 | Dec 2019 – Nov 2023 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | INVESTIGATION OF THE SOURCES AND EFFECTS OF THE LARGE SCALE GRAVITY WAVES OBSERVED BY ICON MIGHTI IN THE QUIET TIME THERMOSPHERE | $824.9K | FY2024 | Dec 2023 – Dec 2026 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | CHICKEN VS. EGG, AGAIN: THE EARLY CHROMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS OF SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS | $792.5K | FY2023 | Sep 2023 – Aug 2027 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL ESTIMATION OF LAGRANGIAN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OCEAN CIRCULATION | $773.9K | FY2017 | Apr 2017 – Mar 2021 |
| National Science Foundation | STRATEOLE-2: ATMOSPHERIC WAVE INFLUENCES ON CIRRUS, WATER VAPOR, AND GLOBAL CIRCULATION NEAR THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE -THIS AWARD SUPPORTS ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS COLLECTED IN THE FIRST TWO DEPLOYMENTS OF THE STRATEOLE-2 FIELD CAMPAIGN, WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE WINTERS OF 2019/2020 (8 FLIGHTS) AND 2021/2022 (17 FLIGHTS). STRATEOLE-2 IS A LONG-DURATION BALLOONING CAMPAIGN ORGANIZED BY THE CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES (CNES), THE FRENCH NATIONAL SPACE AGENCY. THE BALLOONS WERE LAUNCHED FROM THE SEYCHELLES AND DRIFTED AROUND THE EQUATOR FOR UP TO TWO MONTHS FOLLOWING THE WINDS OF THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE. THE CAMPAIGN USED A VARIETY OF INSTRUMENTS TO OBSERVE THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE LAYER (TTL), THE TRANSITION ZONE BETWEEN THE TROPOSPHERE (THE DOMAIN OF CLOUDS, PRECIPITATION, AND WEATHER SYSTEMS) AND THE STRATOSPHERE (THE COLD AND DRY REGION ABOVE IT WHICH CONTAINS THE OZONE LAYER). A PRIMARY FOCUS OF STRATEOLE-2 IS GRAVITY WAVES, MEANING WAVE MOTIONS IN THE ATMOSPHERE FOR WHICH THE PRIMARY RESTORING FORCE IS GRAVITY. SUCH WAVES ARE GENERATED BY VERTICAL MOTIONS OCCURRING IN THE DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS OVER TROPICAL OCEANS BUT THEY CAN HAVE HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS MUCH LARGER THAN CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS, WITH SUFFICIENT EXTENT IN LATITUDE TO BE AFFECTED BY THE CORIOLIS FORCE AND ITS VARIATION WITH LATITUDE. THESE WAVES ARE OF INTEREST BECAUSE THEY PROVIDE THE VERTICAL TRANSPORT OF HORIZONTAL MOMENTUM WHICH DRIVES THE QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATION (QBO), A REVERSAL OF THE WINDS IN THE EQUATORIAL STRATOSPHERE THAT STARTS AT HIGH LEVELS AND DESCENDS OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS. THE UP-AND-DOWN MOTIONS IN THE WAVES ALSO AFFECT THE TEMPERATURE OF THE TTL, AND THE COLDER TEMPERATURES OCCURRING IN THE UPWARD DISPLACEMENTS PROMOTE THE CONDENSATION OF AMBIENT WATER VAPOR, PROMOTING THE FORMATION OF THIN CIRRUS CLOUDS WHICH BLOCK OUTGOING INFRARED RADIATION AND THUS HAVE AN EFFECT ON EARTH'S ENERGY BALANCE. THE FORMATION OF ICE PARTICLES IN CIRRUS CLOUDS ALSO REDUCES THE AMOUNT OF WATER VAPOR ENTERING THE STRATOSPHERE, WHERE IT HAS ADDITIONAL EFFECTS ON THE PLANETARY ENERGY BALANCE. WORK PERFORMED HERE FOCUSES SPECIFICALLY ON WAVES WHICH ARE LONG, WITH HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS OF PERHAPS 1,000KM, BUT SHALLOW, WITH VERTICAL WAVELENGTHS LESS THAN A KILOMETER, AND PERIODS OF A FEW DAYS. THE PROJECT TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE NSF-FUNDED SUITE OF INSTRUMENTS FLOWN IN THE DEPLOYMENTS, INCLUDING THE RADIO OCCULTATION RECEIVER (ROC) SUPPORTED UNDER AGS-1642650, THE FIBER OPTIC TEMPERATURE PROFILER (FLOATS) DEVELOPED UNDER AGS-1642277, AND THE REEL-DOWN INSTRUMENT PACKAGE (RACHUTS) DEVELOPED UNDER AGS-1643022. IT ALSO USES DATA FROM INSTRUMENTS DEVELOPED BY RESEARCHERS IN FRANCE, INCLUDING A BALLOON-BORNE LIDAR (BECOOL) AND AN INFRARED WATER VAPOR SENSOR (PICOSTRAT), AS WELL AS ONBOARD THERMOMETERS, BAROMETERS, AND GPS RECEIVERS. THESE DATA SOURCES ARE USED IN COMBINATION WITH SATELLITE DATA AND REANALYSIS PRODUCTS, AND SPECIALIZED SIMULATIONS WITH ENHANCED VERTICAL RESOLUTION ARE PERFORMED BY UNFUNDED COLLABORATORS AT THE EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS. ONE ISSUE TO BE ADDRESSED IS THE GENERATION OF THESE PANCAKE-LIKE WAVES, WHICH MUST SOMEHOW BE GENERATED BY LOCALIZED CONVECTION DESPITE THEIR LONG HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS. WORK ON MOMENTUM TRANSPORT CONSIDERS WAVE BREAKING AND SUBSEQUENT GENERATION OF TURBULENCE AS WELL AS THE CALCULATION OF WAVE MOMENTUM FLUX. THE WORK HAS BROADER IMPACTS THROUGH ITS POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVING THE REPRESENTATION OF THE QBO IN MODELS USED FOR LONG-RANGE WEATHER PREDICTION. MODELS HAVE DIFFICULTY REPRESENTING THE QBO, IN PART DUE TO THE DIFFICULTY OF REPRESENTING THE EFFECT OF GRAVITY WAVE MOMENTUM TRANSPORT, AND THE QBO PLAYS IMPORTANT ROLES IN MODULATING THE POTENTIALLY PREDICTABLE FORMS OF SUBSEASONAL WEATHER VARIATIONS. IN ADDITION, THE RADIATIVE EFFECTS OF CIRRUS CLOUDS AND STRATOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR ARE AMONG THE FACTORS THAT MATTER FOR UNDERSTANDING AND ANTICIPATING ANTHROPOGENIC CLIMATE CHANGE. IN ADDITION, THE PIS CONDUCT PUBLIC OUTREACH AND EDUCATION BY PARTICIPATING IN AN EFFORT TO CORRECT SCIENTIFIC MISUNDERSTANDING IN SOCIAL MEDIA, WORKING WITH COLLEAGUES TO DEVELOP EASY-TO-USE TUTORIALS THAT GIVE USERS ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC DATA AND INFORMATION. THE PROJECT PROVIDES SUPPORT AND TRAINING TO A POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, THEREBY PROMOTING THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE IN THIS RESEARCH AREA. 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. | $768.9K | FY2023 | Sep 2023 – Aug 2026 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | MOUNTAIN WAVES (MWS) ARE CREATED FROM WIND FLOW OVER OROGRAPHY. BECAUSE THEY HAVE NEAR-ZERO PHASE SPEEDS AND BREAK/ATTENUATE BELOW THE TURBOPAUSE AT Z~107 KM THEY DO NOT PROPAGATE INTO THE THERMOSPHERE. YET THE LARGEST QUIET-TIME ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVE (GW) WINTERTIME HOTSPOT OBSERVED BY GOCE AT Z=250-300 KM AND BY CHAMP AT Z=280-450 KM OCCURS OVER THE SOUTHERN ANDES. THE SOURCE OF THESE HOTSPOT GWS IS CURRENTLY UNKNOWN. HOWEVER RECENT MODELING STUDIES OF THE SOUTHERN ANDES AND MCMURDO STATION DURING THE WINTER FIND THAT MW BREAKING/ATTENUATION CREATES LOCAL BODY FORCES (I.E. HORIZONTAL ACCELERATIONS OF THE FLUID) THAT EXCITE SPECTRA OF LARGER-SCALE SECONDARY GWS SOME OF WHICH PROPAGATE INTO THE THERMOSPHERE. ALSO A RECENT GOCE CASE STUDY ON 5 JULY 2010 FOUND THAT BOTH OF THE ANALYZED GWS OVER THE SOUTHERN ANDES AT Z~280 KM HAD HORIZONTAL INTRINSIC PHASE SPEEDS LARGER THAN THE SOUND SPEED BELOW THE TURBOPAUSE; THEREFORE THESE GWS MUST HAVE BEEN CREATED IN THE THERMOSPHERE. FINALLY THEORY AS WELL AS A RECENT MODEL STUDY SHOW THAT IT IS PROBABLE THAT THE DISSIPATION OF THESE SECONDARY GWS IN THE THERMOSPHERE CREATES BODY FORCES THAT EXCITE SPECTRA OF TERTIARY GWS SOME OF WHICH HAVE INTRINSIC HORIZONTAL PHASE SPEEDS LARGER THAN THE SOUND SPEED BELOW THE TURBOPAUSE. THE KEY SCIENCE QUESTION WE INVESTIGATE IN THIS RESEARCH PROPOSAL IS: ARE THE QUIET-TIME WINTER CHAMP HOTSPOT GWS OVER THE SOUTHERN ANDES SECONDARY AND/OR TERTIARY GWS FROM OROGRAPHIC FORCING? IN THE PROCESS OF INVESTIGATING THIS PROCESS WE WILL ALSO OBTAIN AN IMPROVED FORMULA FOR THE MOLECULAR VISCOSITY IN THE MID/UPPER THERMOSPHERE. THE METHODS/TECHNIQUES WE USE ARE: 1) EXTRACT QUIET-TIME WINTERTIME GWS OVER THE SOUTHERN ANDES AND OTHER MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS FROM CHAMP DATA. DETERMINE THEIR HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS INTRINSIC PERIODS AND PROPAGATION DIRECTIONS USING A PREVIOUSLY-DEVELOPED METHOD THAT UTILIZES THE GW DISSIPATIVE DISPERSION AND POLARIZATION RELATIONS. DETERMINE THE GW PARAMETERS AS FUNCTIONS OF ALTITUDE LATITUDE LONGITUDE AND TIME. REVERSE RAY-TRACE THE GWS TO POSSIBLE SOURCES. 2) QUANTIFY THE MWS DURING SELECT EVENTS USING AIRS AND MERRA-2 DATA. CALCULATE THE EXCITATION PROPAGATION AND DISSIPATION OF SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GWS USING THE PI'S BODY FORCE AND RAY TRACE MODELS. FORWARD RAY TRACE THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GWS TO CHAMP ALTITUDES. COMPARE THE CHAMP AND MODELED GWS. IF THERE ARE DIFFERENCES ADJUST THE MODELS OVER A REASONABLE RANGE TO SEE IF AGREEMENT IS POSSIBLE. ESTIMATE THE NEUTRAL WIND CHANGES CREATED WHERE THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GWS DISSIPATE IN THE THERMOSPHERE. 3) DETERMINE THE ALTITUDINAL PROFILE OF THE MOLECULAR VISCOSITY FROM Z=280-450 KM AS A FUNCTION OF THE BACKGROUND DENSITY USING THE ANALYZED CHAMP GWS. THIS PROPOSED WORK SATISFIES THE CRITERIA OF THIS SOLICITATION BECAUSE IT INCLUDES A) NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND MODELING AND B) THE ANALYSIS OF NASA-SPACECRAFT DATA. CHAMP AND AQUA ARE LISTED AS HISTORICAL AND CURRENT NASA MISSIONS AT HTTPS://WWW.NASA.GOV/ MISSIONS. THE DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING PROPOSED HERE ADDRESS THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY GOAL: "DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS" BECAUSE WE SEEK TO DETERMINE HOW MWS (WHICH ARE TERRESTRIAL INPUTS OF ENERGY AND MOMENTUM) VERTICALLY-COUPLE WITH GWS IN THE MID/UPPER THERMOSPHERE. A KEY FACILITATOR OF THIS COUPLING PROCESS IN THE THERMOSPHERE IS MOLECULAR VISCOSITY WHICH WE SEEK TO FURTHER QUANTIFY. THE PROPOSAL TEAM COVERS THE NECESSARY EXPERTISE THAT THE TECHNIQUES REQUIRE: PI VADAS HAS THE IN-HOUSE BODY FORCE AND RAY TRACE MODELS AND EXPERTISE ANALYZING GWS CO-I YUE HAS EXPERTISE EXTRACTING WAVES FROM SATELLITE DATA AND CO-I BOSSERT HAS EXPERTISE QUANTIFYING MWS IN AIRS DATA. THE MODELING STUDIES WILL ALSO UTILIZE PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE MERRA-2 HWM AND MSIS DATA. | $767.9K | FY2019 | Apr 2019 – Apr 2023 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 21-HSR21_2-0088 UP UP & AWAY! RELATING EARLY CME ACCELERATION TO CORONAL MAGNETIC TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES.. | $751.7K | FY2023 | Oct 2022 – Oct 2026 |
| National Science Foundation | LARGE- AND SMALL-SCALE DYNAMICS AND METEOR STUDIES IN THE MLT WITH A NEW-GENERATION METEOR RADAR ON KING GEORGE ISLAND | $750K | FY2009 | Aug 2009 – Jul 2013 |
| National Science Foundation | THE TRUE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRECURSOR PHENOMENA, MAGNETIC TOPOLOGY, AND SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS -SMALL-SCALE CHANGES OCCUR ON THE SUN PRIOR TO THE ONSET OF POWERFUL AND IMPACTFUL EVENTS LIKE SOLAR FLARES AND CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS (CMES). THESE CHANGES ARE KNOWN AS A ?PRECURSOR? AND INDICATE PROCESSES OCCURRING THAT MAY TRIGGER THE LARGER ENERGETIC EVENTS. THIS PROJECT INVESTIGATES PRECURSOR EVENTS TO DETERMINE WHICH CAN LEAD TO THESE IMPACTFUL EVENTS. POWERFUL SOLAR FLARES AND CMES CREATE MAJOR SPACE WEATHER IMPACTS THAT CAUSE DIVERSE EFFECTS FOR HUMAN TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING DAMAGE TO SATELLITES AND POWER GRID SYSTEMS. THE BROADER IMPACTS OF THE PROJECT INCLUDE UNDERSTANDING THESE IMPORTANT NATURAL PHENOMENA, TRAINING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, SUPPORTING AN EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER, AND CREATION OF TUTORIALS FOR THE PUBLIC ON SCIENCE TOPICS. THE SCIENCE GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO ESTABLISH THE UNIQUENESS AND CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP OF PRECURSOR TRANSIENT ACTIVITY TO SOLAR FLARES AND CMES IN ORDER TO BETTER UNDERSTAND MAGNETIC RECONNECTION AND THE SUBSEQUENT INITIATION OF SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS. THE OBJECTIVES TO MEET THIS GOAL ARE (1) QUANTIFY THE DIFFERENCES IN TEMPORAL, SPATIAL, AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PRECURSORS AGAINST SIMILAR PHENOMENA DURING ACTIVITY-QUIET EPOCHS, THUS SOLIDIFYING A STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION AND IDENTIFYING PHYSICAL UNIQUENESS, AND (2) INVESTIGATE THE MAGNETIC CONNECTION BETWEEN PRECURSORS AND A SUBSEQUENT EVENT?S ENERGY RELEASE AND ERUPTION DYNAMICS, THUS SOLIDIFYING A CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP. TO ACHIEVE THESE OBJECTIVES THE RESEARCHERS WILL ANALYZE ~1000 EVENTS AND MATCHED EVENT-QUIET CONTROLS (BOTH FLARE-QUIET EPOCHS AND CME-LESS FLARE EVENTS) IN COORDINATION WITH A NEWLY-FUNDED NASA EFFORT (HGI#80NSSC21K0738). THE PRE-EVENT SIGNATURES? TEMPORAL BEHAVIOR, PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC CONTEXT, CORONAL DYNAMICS, TEMPERATURE AND DENSITY WILL BE INVESTIGATED USING HIGH-ORDER MOMENT ANALYSIS OF THEIR PHOTOSPHERIC VECTOR MAGNETIC FIELD AND EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET (EUV) EMISSION APPLYING DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE (DEM) ANALYSIS. ESTABLISHED STATISTICAL CLASSIFIER CODES AND BAYESIAN COUNTING STATISTICS WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FLARE/CME-RELATED PRECURSORS AND TRANSIENTS FROM ACTIVITY-QUIET CONTROLS. MAGNETIC ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PRE-EVENT BRIGHTENINGS AND DIMMINGS AND THE INITIAL FLARE/ERUPTION SITE WILL BE ESTABLISHED USING MAGNETIC CHARGE TOPOLOGY (MCT) ANALYSIS, VALIDATED BY NONLINEAR FORCE-FREE CORONAL MODELS. 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. | $747.4K | FY2022 | Apr 2022 – Mar 2025 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE AVISO MAPPED SEA LEVEL ANOMALY (SLA) DATASET IS PROBABLY THE MOST WIDELY USED ALTIMETRIC DATA PRODUCT BY THE OCEANOGRAPHIC COMMUNITY AND THE HIGHER RESOLUTION OF FUTURE ALTIMETRIC MISSIONS (INCLUDING SENTINEL-6 AND SWOT) WILL ONLY INCREASE USE. | $745.3K | FY2021 | Sep 2021 – Aug 2025 |
| National Science Foundation | EFFECTS OF STRATOSPHERIC CHANGE ON THE ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT | $732.7K | FY2011 | Sep 2011 – Aug 2014 |
| National Science Foundation | A VORTEX CENSUS FROM LAGRANGIAN FLOATS | $720K | FY2012 | Sep 2012 – Aug 2015 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR--HIGHER-ORDER CONCENTRIC GRAVITY WAVES IN THE NORTHERN WINTER THERMOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE -THIS AWARD WILL DETERMINE HOW THE BREAKING OF MOUNTAIN WAVES AFFECTS SPACE WEATHER APPROXIMATELY 100-200 MILES ABOVE THE EARTH?S SURFACE. MOUNTAIN WAVES ARE CREATED FROM THE WIND FLOWING OVER MOUNTAINS. MOUNTAIN WAVES BREAK AND OVERTURN WHEN THEY GET HIGH ENOUGH ABOVE THE MOUNTAINS, SIMILAR TO AN OCEAN WAVE BREAKING ON A BEACH. THIS PROCESS GENERATES TURBULENCE AND LARGE-SCALE WAVES WHICH TRAVEL TO HIGHER HEIGHTS ABOVE EARTH. AT 100-200 MILES ABOVE THE EARTH?S SURFACE, THE NEUTRAL MOLECULES IN THE WAVES COLLIDE WITH IONS, WHICH CREATES WAVES IN THE PLASMA CALLED TRAVELING IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES (TIDS). SOME OF THESE TIDS LOOK LIKE CIRCULAR RINGS ON MAPS OF THE TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT FROM GPS RECEIVERS. TIDS CAN CAUSE STORMS IN THE SPACE WEATHER THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SATELLITES THAT ORBIT EARTH. UNDERSTANDING HOW ENERGY AND MOMENTUM ARE TRANSFERRED THROUGH ATMOSPHERIC REGIONS VIA SEVERAL GRAVITY WAVE GENERATION AND DISSIPATION CYCLES INCLUDING SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GRAVITY WAVE PROCESSES (MULTI-STEP VERTICAL COUPLING PROCESSES) IS IMPORTANT. THIS PROJECT INCLUDES 2 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS DURING THE SUMMERTIME FOR THE 3-YEAR DURATION OF THIS GRANT. THIS RESEARCH WILL THEREFORE FURTHER THE DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION OF A GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE STEM WORKFORCE AND WILL PROMOTE THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. THE TEAM WILL SHARE GPS/TEC SIGNAL PROCESSING ROUTINES WHICH WILL BENEFIT THE COMMUNITY. THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH ARE TO DETERMINE 1) THE GRAVITY WAVE (GW) CHARACTERISTICS AND SOURCES OF CONCENTRIC TRAVELING IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES OVER THE QUIETTIME WINTER CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES (CONUS) AND EUROPE THROUGH DETAILED OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES, AND 2) THE ?MULTI-STEP VERTICAL COUPLING? (MSVC) PROCESSES WHICH CREATE HIGHER-ORDER GWS IN THE THERMOSPHERE FROM OROGRAPHIC FORCING OVER THE WINTER CONUS AND EUROPE THROUGH DETAILED MODELING STUDIES. BECAUSE GPS/TEC OBSERVATIONS ARE DENSE OVER THE CONUS AND EUROPE, THESE LOCATIONS PROVIDE IDEAL LOCATIONS TO STUDY THESE CONCENTRIC TIDS. THE TEAM WILL IDENTIFY AND ANALYZE CONCENTRIC TID EVENTS OBSERVED BY GPS/TEC DURING QUIETTIME DECEMBER-FEBRUARY FOR 5 WINTERS DURING 2012-2023, AND WILL SIMULATE AND ANALYZE 6-9 ONE-WEEK MOUNTAIN WAVE (MW) EVENTS WITH THE GW-RESOLVING HIGH ALTITUDE MECHANISTIC GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL (HIAMCM). THEY WILL ADDRESS SQ1: WHAT ARE THE GW CHARACTERISTICS, LOCATIONS, OCCURRENCE RATES, AND SOURCES OF THE QUIETTIME CONCENTRIC TIDS OBSERVED BY GPS OVER THE WINTER CONUS AND EUROPE? AND SQ2: WHAT ARE THE SIMULATED COUPLING PROCESSES BY WHICH OROGRAPHIC FORCING OVER THE CONUS AND EUROPE CREATES HIGHER-ORDER CONCENTRIC GWS IN THE THERMOSPHERE, AND WHAT ARE THE LARGE-SCALE CHANGES THAT RESULT IN THE THERMOSPHERE? THE METHODOLOGY INCLUDES HIAMCM, A RAY TRACE MODEL (THE MODEL FOR GRAVITY WAVE SOURCE, RAY TRACING AND RECONSTRUCTION (MESORAC)), AND PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE NRLMSISE-00 AND HWM14 MODELS, MERRA-2 REANALYSIS DATA, GOES AND EUMETSAT SATELLITE DATA AND GPS/TEC DATA. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD. | $720K | FY2025 | Nov 2024 – Oct 2026 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MODELING INTERNAL WAVES FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE | $700.5K | FY2021 | Mar 2021 – Feb 2026 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | PARAMETERIZATION OF SUBGRID CONDENSATION IN CUMULUS CONVECTION FOR MESOSCALE FORECAST MODELS | $687.9K | FY2016 | May 2016 – Sep 2019 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE GEOMETRY CONNECTIVITY AND TOPOLOGY OF THE LARGE-SCALE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD PLAY A KEY ROLE IN DETERMINING WHETHER A SOLAR RECONNECTION EVENT WILL RESULT IN AN ERUPTION EITHER BY INFLUENCING THE LOCATION WHERE MAGNETIC RECONNECTION RELEASES ENERGY FOR AN EVENT OR BY DETERMINING THE PATHWAYS AND ACCESS TO OPEN FIELD THAT ALLOW AN ERUPTION TO PROCEED. THE RESEARCH PROPOSED HERE INVOLVES STUDYING A LARGE SAMPLE OF FLARING ACTIVE REGIONS TO DETERMINE WHICH TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES ARE MOST CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH ERUPTIVE AND NON-ERUPTIVE EVENTS. KNOWLEDGE OF TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES THAT AFFECT THE ERUPTIVITY OF ACTIVE REGIONS WILL PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THEIR CAUSE EITHER IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TYPE OF RECONNECTION GENERATING THE EVENT (E.G. WHETHER CORONAL NULL POINTS ARE MOST STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH ERUPTIONS AS IN THE BREAKOUT MODEL) OR IN THE CONTEXT OF UNDERSTANDING WHY SOME FLARES LEAD TO ERUPTIONS BUT OTHERS DON'T (E.G. WHETHER ACCESS TO OPEN MAGNETIC FLUX FACILITATES OR ENHANCES THE CHANCES OF AN ERUPTION). BY DETERMINING HOW OFTEN BALD PATCHES EXIST THE QUESTION OF WHETHER A FLUX ROPE MUST BE PRESENT PRIOR TO AN ERUPTION OR IF IT CAN FORM DURING THE ERUPTION WILL BE ADDRESSED. ESTIMATING THE RATE AT WHICH ERUPTIONS OCCUR WITH AND WITHOUT PARTICULAR TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES WILL YIELD PROBABILISTIC FORECASTS OF WHETHER THE CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR AN ERUPTION SHOULD A FLARE OCCUR. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST WOULD BE A TOPOLOGICAL FEATURE ASSOCIATED WITH VERY LOW ERUPTION RATES AS THIS CAN BE USED TO IMPROVE THE ABILITY TO ISSUE ALL-CLEAR FORECASTS. | $682.3K | FY2019 | Jan 2019 – Dec 2023 |
| National Science Foundation | DYNAMICS AND METEOR STUDIES USING A NOVEL RADAR AT A CRITICAL SOUTHERN LATITUDE | $663.4K | FY2007 | Jun 2007 – May 2011 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NUMERICAL MODELING OF THE INTERNAL-WAVE CASCADE AND SUBMESOSCALE LATERAL DISPERSION IN THE OCEAN | $659K | FY2016 | Dec 2015 – Nov 2018 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | IMPROVEMENT, COUPLING, AND VALIDATION OF THE MESORAC-HIAMCM FOR SIMULATING ACCURATE THERMOSPHERIC GWS FROM THE MOST COMMON TROPOSPHERIC/STRATOSPHERIC GW SOURCES | $651.5K | FY2024 | Jul 2024 – Aug 2027 |
| National Science Foundation | A GLOBAL GEOGRAPHY OF INTERNAL-WAVE STRAIN AND MIXING FROM WOCE CTD HYDROGRAPHY | $638.4K | FY2015 | Nov 2014 – Mar 2016 |
| National Science Foundation | HELIOSEISMIC ANALYSES OF SUBSURFACE FLOWS ASSOCIATED WITH FLARING AND QUIESCENT ACTIVE REGIONS | $638.4K | FY2012 | Oct 2011 – Sep 2015 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | LATERAL STIRRING BY INTERNAL WAVES | $637.6K | FY2015 | Jun 2015 – Sep 2017 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | SATELLITE-BASED OBSERVATIONS OF SEA SURFACE HEIGHT OCEAN COLOR AND SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE HAVE PROVIDED A WEALTH OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPERTIES OF NONLINEAR MESOSCALE EDDIES AT THE OCEAN SURFACE. RECENT STUDIES ALSO NOW INCLUDE IN SITU MEASUREMENTS FROM CO-LOCATED ARGO FLOAT PROFILES REVEALING THE RICH INTERNAL STRUCTURES OF THESE EDDIES BOTH NEAR THE SURFACE AND AT DEPTH. THESE ADVANCES ALLOW ESTIMATES OF GLOBAL AND LOCAL TRANSPORT BY INFERRING THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURES FROM A FEW SIMPLE OCEAN SURFACE OBSERVATIONS. DESPITE THIS PROGRESS THE DYNAMICAL PROPERTIES AND STABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE EDDY STRUCTURES ARE ALMOST COMPLETELY UNEXPLORED. FURTHERMORE IT IS NOT EVEN KNOWN WHETHER THE IMPLIED EDDY SOLUTIONS ARE DYNAMICALLY CONSISTENT CALLING INTO QUESTION THE ACCURACY OF ANY ESTIMATES OF THEIR IMPACT. IN ORDER TO RESOLVE THESE OUTSTANDING ISSUES AND FACILITATE FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS WE PROPOSE A RESEARCH PLAN WITH THE FOLLOWING PRIMARY OBJECTS. | $636.4K | FY2018 | Oct 2017 – Feb 2022 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DEVELOPMENT OF AIRBORNE LIDAR AND TEMPERATURE MAPPER "FACILITY" INSTRUMENTS FOR THE NSF GV AND MEASUREMENTS DURING SAANGRIA | $619.7K | FY2011 | Oct 2010 – Oct 2012 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | EFFECTS OF OROGRAPHY ON REGIONAL GRAVITY WAVE BREAKING MIXING CHEMICAL TRACERS TRANSPORT AND CIRCULATION | $618.1K | FY2020 | Apr 2020 – Apr 2025 |
| National Science Foundation | SECONDARY CIRCULATIONS ON THE POTENTIAL VORTICITY STAIRCASE: A THEORY OF ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT | $611.6K | FY2014 | Dec 2013 – Dec 2018 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | PARAMETERIZATION OF SUB-GRID LATENT HEAT RELEASE IN TRADE WIND CUMULUS CLOUDS | $607K | FY2020 | Dec 2019 – Nov 2022 |
| National Science Foundation | FREQUENT WEAK-WIND BOUNDARY LAYERS USING NEW ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES IN THE SPACE-TIME DOMAIN | $603.1K | FY2017 | Oct 2016 – Sep 2019 |
| National Science Foundation | PASSIVE OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING OF WIND VELOCITIES AND TURBULENCE BY SPATIOTEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF IMAGE DISTORTIONS OF RANDOM SCENES | $600K | FY2016 | Feb 2016 – Jan 2019 |
| National Science Foundation | STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE COUPLING STUDIES | $599.3K | FY2009 | Nov 2008 – Oct 2011 |
| National Science Foundation | OPTICAL TOMOGRAPHY OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SURFACE LAYER | $594.1K | FY2012 | Apr 2012 – Mar 2015 |
| National Science Foundation | GRAVITY WAVE SOURCES AND PARAMETERIZATION | $592.9K | FY2010 | Jul 2010 – Jun 2013 |
| National Science Foundation | LAGRANGIAN FLOW BOUNDARIES, TRANSPORT, AND VORTEX CORES IN PRE-GENESIS DISTURBANCES | $589.8K | FY2014 | Aug 2014 – Jul 2018 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | WE PROPOSE A FOCUSED STUDY OF HIGH-RESOLUTION GODDARD EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM (GEOS) MODELING VALIDATION AND ANALYSIS TO INVESTIGATE ATMOSPHERIC WAVES AND THEIR INFLUENCES ON WINDS IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERE AND STRATOSPHERE. WINDS AT THESE LEVELS GUIDE ROSSBY WAVE PROPAGATION AND TELECONNECTION PATTERNS THAT STRONGLY INFLUENCE THE SIMULATION OF REGIONAL-SCALE CLIMATE PATTERNS AND SKILL OF LONG-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS. MOST CLIMATE AND WEATHER FORECASTING CENTERS HAVE RAISED THEIR MODEL LIDS IN RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE UPPER LEVEL WINDS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SIMULATING THE PROCESSES THAT CONTROL THEM. AT SEASONAL FORECAST MODEL RESOLUTIONS SMALL-SCALE WAVES REMAIN SEVERELY UNDER-RESOLVED YET THE INFLUENCE OF THEIR DRAG FORCES ON THE CIRCULATION IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERE AND STRATOSPHERE MAKE THEM A KEY PLAYER IN PREDICTABILITY. GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PARAMETERIZATIONS THAT TREAT OROGRAPHIC AND NON-OROGRAPHIC WAVES ARE USED TO TUNE BOTH CLIMATE AND FORECAST MODELS WITH DEMONSTRATED EFFECTS ON BIAS REDUCTION AND FORECAST SKILL. THIS PROJECT WILL INFORM IMPROVED METHODS FOR SIMULATING SMALL-SCALE WAVE EFFECTS ON TWO IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE CIRCULATION WITH DEMONSTRATED INFLUENCE ON SEASONAL PREDICTABILITY: THE TROPICAL LOWER STRATOSPHERE AND THE WINTER SEASON STRATOSPHERIC VORTEX. THIS PUTS OUR FOCUS ON OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVES AND THOSE GENERATED BY LOCALIZED INTENSE RAIN EVENTS. THE NASA GLOBAL MODELING AND ASSIMILATION OFFICE S (GMAO S) GEOS-5 MODEL IS DESIGNED FOR SIMULATION AT A WIDE RANGE OF ATMOSPHERIC RESOLUTIONS: FOR EXAMPLE IT IS CURRENTLY CONFIGURED FOR CLIMATE SIMULATIONS WITH ~100 KM RESOLUTION AND SPECIALIZED HINDCASTING EXPERIMENTS ARE ROUTINELY RUN IN THE GRAY ZONE (FOR BOTH DEEP CONVECTION AND GRAVITY WAVES) AT ~6 KM. VERTICAL RESOLUTION IS CURRENTLY 72 LEVELS WITH EFFORTS TO DOUBLE THAT UNDERWAY. ATMOSPHERIC WAVES AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CIRCULATION ARE QUITE SENSITIVE TO THESE RESOLUTION CHOICES BUT ALSO SENSITIVE TO MOIST PROCESSES SURFACE DRAG DIVERGENCE DAMPING AND OTHER DISSIPATION MECHANISMS. AS A RESULT RESOLUTION ALONE DICTATES NEITHER THE SCALES OF THE WAVES THAT CAN BE RESOLVED NOR OTHER WAVE PROPERTIES INCLUDING THEIR SOURCES GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS AND DRAG ON THE CIRCULATION. FOR EXAMPLE PREVIOUS HIGHRESOLUTION EXPERIMENTS LIKE THE 7-KM RESOLUTION NATURE RUN NEEDED STRONG PARAMETERIZED GRAVITY WAVES TO COUNTERACT THE EFFECTS OF EXPLICIT PLUS IMPLICIT DISSIPATION ON WAVES RESOLVED IN THE MODEL. THE PROJECT APPROACH INCLUDES (I) OBSERVATIONAL VALIDATION OF GRAVITY WAVES AND SMALL-SCALE HEAVY PRECIPITATION EVENTS IN EXISTING AND FUTURE HIGH-RESOLUTION SIMULATIONS WITH DIFFERENT DISSIPATION SETTINGS (II) EXPLORATORY LIMITED-AREA HIGH-RESOLUTION GEOS EXPERIMENTS TO PROBE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT PHYSICS DISSIPATION AND RESOLUTION SETTINGS ON SMALL-SCALE RESOLVED GRAVITY WAVES AND LATENT HEATING SOURCES (III) AN UPDATE TO THE EXISTING OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PARAMETERIZATION TO INCLUDE EFFECTS OF ANISOTROPY AND LOW-LEVEL WAVE TRAPPING AND (IV) ANALYSIS OF VALIDATED GLOBAL MODEL EXPERIMENTS TO INFER THE ROLES OF SMALL-SCALE WAVES ON MAJOR MODES OF VARIABILITY AND ON WIND BIASES. THE WORK IS EXPECTED TO RESULT IN A DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT IN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRECISE ROLES OF SMALL-SCALE WAVES ON CIRCULATION AND WILL ALSO INFORM THE GMAO S PLANNED FY 2019 TESTS OF A NEW PROTOTYPE GEOS MODEL THROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF A VARIETY OF MODEL SETTING CHOICES ON SMALL-SCALE WAVES AND GRID-SCALE PRECIPITATION. | $584.8K | FY2017 | Jul 2017 – Jul 2022 |
| National Science Foundation | AGS-FIRP TRACK 2: UNDERSTANDING VERTICAL VARIATION OF ENERGY DISSIPATION NEAR THE SURFACE FOR SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF THE OBSERVED SURFACE ENERGY IMBALANCE -THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS AND THE VERTICAL VARIATION OF ENERGY DISSIPATION NEAR THE SURFACE. UNDERSTANDING ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS, ESPECIALLY THE LINKAGE BETWEEN KINETIC AND THERMAL ENERGY, IS CRITICAL FOR COMPREHENDING EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE. SCIENTISTS HAVE TRACKED HEAT EXCHANGE AT THE SURFACE, WHICH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WARMING/COOLING THE SOIL BENEATH AND THE ATMOSPHERE ABOVE FOR OVER 80 YEARS. WITH CONSIDERATION OF ALL POSSIBLE HEAT SOURCES AND SINKS, THEY HAVE FOUND THAT HEAT SOURCES DO NOT MATCH ALL THE HEAT USAGES BY THE SOIL AND THE ATMOSPHERE AND THAT THERE IS A MISSING LINK IN THE ENERGY BALANCE EQUATION. BASED ON LATEST UNDERSTANDING OF HOW HEAT IS TRANSFERRED, THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR SUGGESTS A NEW THEORY FOR EXPLAINING THE MISSING PIECE IN THE ENERGY BALANCE EQUATION. RESULTS FROM THIS STUDY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW HEAT AND AIR MOVEMENTS ARE CONNECTED, AND THEREBY IMPROVE WEATHER AND CLIMATE MODELS, AND SEVERE WEATHER FORECASTS. AS PART OF THIS PROJECT, THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR WILL ENGAGE IN EDUCATION AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES WITH STUDENT PARTICIPANTS FROM A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION, LOCAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, AND PUBLIC OUTREACH EVENTS. THIS AWARD PROVIDES FUNDING TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT OF HYDROSTATIC IMBALANCE ON ENERGY TRANSFER AND VALIDATING THE CONTRIBUTION OF ENERGY DISSIPATION TO THE SURFACE ENERGY IMBALANCE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT IS THREEFOLD: 1) TO CONDUCT A FIELD EXPERIMENT TO DIRECTLY OBSERVE THE NON-HYDROSTATIC ENERGY TRANSFER AND ENERGY DISSIPATION, 2) TO INVESTIGATE THE HYDROSTATIC IMBALANCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY PARTITION BETWEEN KINETIC AND THERMAL ENERGY AS WELL AS ENERGY DISSIPATION AS A FUNCTION OF HEIGHT AND ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY, AND 3) TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING A SIMPLE ONE DIMENSIONAL MODEL TO VALIDATE THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING OF ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS AS WELL AS MOMENTUM AND MASS CONSERVATION IN COMPARISON TO OBSERVATIONS. DATA COLLECTED FROM FIELD OBSERVATIONS WILL BE USED TO MEASURE HOW MUCH ENERGY FROM AIR MOTIONS IS REDUCED DUE TO SURFACE FRICTION TO SEE WHETHER THE DIURNAL PATTERN OF THIS ENERGY DISSIPATION MATCHES THE OBSERVED IMBALANCE CYCLE. RESULTS FROM THE FIELD STUDY WILL BE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ONE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL AND FOR IMPROVING UNDERSTANDING OF TOTAL ENERGY CONSERVATION. 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. | $562.1K | FY2023 | Jan 2023 – Dec 2025 |
| National Science Foundation | COMMON VARIABILITY IN THE STABLE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER ON SMALL SPACE AND TIME SCALES | $550.7K | FY2020 | Jan 2020 – Dec 2022 |
| National Science Foundation | TROPICAL GRAVITY WAVES AND LATENT HEATING: MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE | $547.1K | FY2018 | Aug 2018 – Jul 2021 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | WE PROPOSE SATELLITE OBSERVATIONAL ANALYSIS AND MODELING STUDIES TO INFORM THE ROLES OF GRAVITY WAVE DYNAMICS ON CHEMICAL TRANSPORT WHICH HAVE IMPACTS ON STRATOSPHERIC CHEMICAL LIFETIMES STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE VARIABILITY IN RADIATIVELY ACTIVE GASES AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON CLIMATE. WHILE THE TRADITIONAL VIEW OF STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT PRIMARILY HIGHLIGHTS THE ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVES IN DRIVING THE MESOSPHERIC CIRCULATION RECENT RESEARCH HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVE DRAG DIRECTLY IN THE STRATOSPHERE AND ADDITIONAL RESEARCH SUGGESTS IMPORTANT ROLES IN FINE-SCALE STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE PROCESSES. THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL UTILIZE A VARIETY OF NASA SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS INCLUDING RECORDS LONGER THAN A DECADE TO ADDRESS PROCESSES WITHIN LOCAL EVENTS AS WELL AS LONG-TERM GLOBAL VARIABILITY. OUR WORK VERY DIRECTLY ADDRESSES ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS FOR THE COMING DECADE REPORTED FOLLOWING THE 2014 WORKSHOP ON ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION CHEMISTRY DYNAMICS AND RADIATION AT NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER NAMELY WHAT ROLE DO GRAVITY WAVES PLAY IN DRIVING THE LARGE-SCALE CIRCULATION? SPECIFIC TO THE AURA SCIENCE TEAM/ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION MODELING AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM (AST/ACMAP) ANNOUNCEMENT THE WORK FOCUSES ON MEASUREMENTS FROM THE HIGH RESOLUTION DYNAMICS LIMB SOUNDER (HIRDLS) AND MICROWAVE LIMB SOUNDER (MLS) INSTRUMENTS ON AURA TOGETHER WITH OTHER SATELLITE-BASED PRODUCTS AND PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED IDEALIZED MODEL TOOLS TO CONSTRAIN REGIONAL GRAVITY WAVE DRAG EVENTS STUDY THEIR DYNAMICAL INTERACTIONS WITH ROSSBY WAVES AND ASSESS EFFECTS IN CHEMICAL TRACER MEASUREMENTS. GRAVITY WAVE DRAG IS ONE COMPONENT OF THE WAVE-DRIVEN FORCE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GLOBAL STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT CIRCULATION THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION NAMED FOR THE PIONEERING WORK OF A.W. BREWER AND G.M.B. DOBSON WHO INFERRED THIS GLOBAL EQUATOR-TOPOLE CIRCULATION FROM MEASUREMENTS OF OZONE AND WATER VAPOR. THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION HAS A RANGE OF IMPACTS ON ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND CLIMATE. TO FIRST ORDER IT EXPLAINS THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE AGE OF STRATOSPHERIC AIR WHICH HAS IMPORTANT EFFECTS ON THE LIFETIMES OF OZONE-DEPLETING SUBSTANCES AND SOME GREENHOUSE GASES. IT HAS A DOMINANT INFLUENCE ON THE TEMPERATURE OF THE VERY COLD TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE AND CORRESPONDING INFLUENCES ON TROPICAL CIRRUS CLOUDS AND GLOBAL WATER VAPOR WITH ASSOCIATED RADIATIVE EFFECTS AND ROLE IN SURFACE TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY. IN GENERAL THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION DESCRIBES THE RECIRCULATION PATHWAYS AND THE PROCESSING TIME OF CHEMICAL TRACERS THROUGH THE STRATOSPHERE AND THEIR EVENTUAL RETURN TO THE TROPOSPHERE THEREBY ALSO COMPRISING A MAJOR COMPONENT OF STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE. THE CURRENT PARADIGM REPRESENTED IN THE WAY SMALL-SCALE GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PROCESSES ARE TREATED IN GLOBAL MODELS SUGGESTS THAT ONLY OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG AFFECTS THE STRATOSPHERE WHILE WAVES FROM OTHER SOURCES LIKE CONVECTION PRIMARILY ONLY AFFECT THE MESOSPHERE DIRECTLY. RECENT OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE TELLS A VERY DIFFERENT STORY: INFREQUENT BUT VERY LARGE AMPLITUDE NON-OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVES CARRY A LARGE FRACTION OF THE CIRCULATION-DRIVING FLUX UPWARD ACROSS THE TROPOPAUSE. HENCE THESE LARGE EVENTS VERY LIKELY FORCE THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE DIRECTLY WITH LOCALIZED INTERMITTENT DRAG FORCES. SUCH REALISTIC GRAVITY WAVE-DRIVEN FORCES IN THE STRATOSPHERE ARE NOT CURRENTLY REPRESENTED IN GLOBAL MODELS. OUR WORK WILL QUANTIFY THESE EVENTS USING AURA AND OTHER SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS EXAMINE THEIR INTERACTION WITH LARGER-SCALE SYNOPTIC AND PLANETARY WAVES AND INVESTIGATE THEIR EFFECTS ON CHEMICAL TRACERS IN THE STRATOSPHERE. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT REALISTICALLY INTERMITTENT GRAVITY WAVE DRAG WILL GIVE RISE TO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE VARIABILITY IN CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELS THAN IS CURRENTLY REPRESENTED WITHIN THE CURRENT PARADIGM. | $538.9K | FY2018 | Oct 2017 – Feb 2021 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THIS PROJECT IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE NASA HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM. | $527.5K | FY2021 | Jun 2021 – May 2024 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | SOLAR FLARES ARE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR SOME ASPECTS OF SPACE WEATHER AND CAN INDICATE OTHER IMPENDING PHENOMENA (CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS AND SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE EVENTS). PREDICTING SOLAR FLARES IS CHALLENGING DUE TO THE REMOTE-SENSING NATURE | $524.8K | FY2022 | Jan 2022 – Dec 2024 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | WE PROPOSE TO STUDY THE ORIGIN OF TRANSIENT ACOUSTIC EMISSION FROM FLARES. THIS UNDERTAKING IS MOTIVATED BY RECENT NEW OBSERVATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS BY THE INVESTIGATORS REVEALING A NEW CLASS OF HIGHLY IMPULSIVE ACOUSTIC EMISSION OF ACOUSTIC WAVES | $524K | FY2020 | Mar 2020 – Mar 2025 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE INVESTIGATORS WILL USE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) ON BOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY TO CHARACTERIZE THE SUBSURFACE PROPERTIES OF SUPERGRANULAR (SG) AND ACTIVE-REGION (AR) FLOWS. THE TEAM WILL MAKE | $521.4K | FY2022 | Mar 2022 – Mar 2026 |
| National Science Foundation | THE POTENTIAL VORTICITY STAIRCASE: FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF ZONAL JETS | $519.6K | FY2008 | Sep 2008 – Aug 2011 |
| National Science Foundation | PATHWAYS TO CORONAL MAGNETIC ENERGY STORAGE AND RELEASE | $511.6K | FY2016 | Aug 2016 – Jul 2020 |
| National Science Foundation | WINDS AND THE WEATHER: EVALUATING THREE DIMENSIONAL (3D) STRATOSPHERIC / TROPOSPHERIC JET RELATIONSHIPS AND THEIR ROLES IN EXTREME COOL-SEASON WEATHER EVENTS | $509.5K | FY2020 | Jul 2020 – Jun 2023 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE ENERGY TO POWER SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS MUST ULTIMATELY ORIGINATE AT OR BELOW THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE AND IS LIKELY TO BUILD UP IN THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD BEFORE RELEASE IN AN EVENT. IN ORDER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND FLARES AND CMES IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY STORED IN THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD. ONE OF THE MAJOR CHALLENGES IN ESTIMATING THE CORONAL ENERGY IS THAT THE RESULTS CANNOT EASILY BE TESTED ON DATA FOR WHICH THE ANSWER IS KNOWN. HOWEVER BY COMPARING THE FLUX INTO AND OUT OF THE CORONA WITH ESTIMATES OF THE ENERGY AT SPECIFIC TIMES OBTAINED FROM A VARIETY OF APPROACHES WE CAN CONSTRAIN THE RESULTS OF THE METHODS. FOR EXAMPLE IF THE FLUX INTO THE CORONA SUBSTANTIALLY EXCEEDS THE FLUX OUT OF THE CORONA OVER AN EXTENDED TIME INTERVAL THEN EITHER THE INPUT FLUX IS BEING OVERESTIMATED OR THE OUTPUT FLUX IS BEING UNDERESTIMATED. THE PROPOSED WORK ADDRESSES THE FIRST AND FOURTH HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY 1. "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" AND 4. "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL MODEL HOW THE ENERGY WHICH POWERS SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS IS STORED IN THE CORONA AND MAY LEAD TO NEW TOOLS FOR PREDICTING THE VARIATIONS IN THE X-RAY FLUX IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT. INSOFAR AS OTHER STARS ALSO HAVE MAGNETIZED CORONAE IT MAY CHARACTERIZE A PROCESS OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. TO TRACK THE FLOW OF FREE ENERGY THROUGH THE PHOTOSPHERE WE WILL USE DAVE4VM TO ESTIMATE THE PHOTOSPHERIC FLOWS AND FROM THESE COMPUTE THE POYNTING FLUX INTO THE CORONA. TO ESTIMATE THE ENERGY IN THE CORONA AT A GIVEN TIME WE WILL USE NONLINEAR FORCE-FREE FIELD (NLFFF) EXTRAPOLATIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL MAGNETOGRAMS. IN ADDITION WE WILL MODEL THE EVOLUTION OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD USING A SEQUENCE OF MAGNETOGRAMS AS THE BOUNDARY CONDITION FOR AN MHD SIMULATION AND A TOPOLOGICAL METHOD; THE CORONAL ENERGY FROM THESE INDEPENDENT METHODS CAN BE EVALUATED AT THE SAME TIMES AS THE NLFFF EXTRAPOLATIONS. FINALLY WE WILL ESTIMATE THE ENERGY LOST FROM THE CORONA. THE RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE LOSSES FOR EXAMPLE CAN BE ESTIMATED BASED ON DOING A DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE ANALYSIS TO EXTRACT CORONAL TEMPERATURE AND DENSITY ESTIMATES AND USING THESE TO ESTIMATE RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE LOSSES. FOR THIS INVESTIGATION WE WILL CONSIDER A SMALL SAMPLE OF ACTIVE REGIONS ON THE ORDER OF TEN AND FOCUS ON REGIONS WHICH ARE NOT THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLICATED TO MAXIMIZE THE CHANCES OF SUCCESSFULLY MODELING THEM. WE WILL FOLLOW EACH REGION FOR AT LEAST A WEEK TRACKING THE FLUX OF ENERGY INTO THE CORONA AND THE ENERGY RELEASED FROM THE CORONA AS WELL AS ESTIMATING THE ENERGY CONTENT OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD AT SPECIFIC TIMES. OUR INVESTIGATION WILL PRIMARILY UTILIZE DATA FROM NASA'S SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY BOTH SEQUENCES OF MAGNETOGRAMS FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) AND CORONAL IMAGES FROM THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY (AIA). THESE WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED BY MAGNETOGRAMS FROM THE SOLAR OPTICAL TELESCOPE (SOT) ON THE JOINT JAXA/NASA HINODE MISSION AND BY CORONAL IMAGES FROM HINODE'S X-RAY TELESCOPE (XRT). | $508.4K | FY2018 | Oct 2017 – Feb 2021 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: TROPICAL WAVES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CIRCULATION FROM 3D GPS RADIO OCCULTATION SAMPLING FROM STRATOSPHERIC BALLOONS IN STRATEOLE-2 | $507.1K | FY2017 | Feb 2017 – Jan 2023 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IMPROVING THE REPRESENTATION OF THE QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATION AND ITS SURFACE IMPACTS IN NCAR CLIMATE MODELS | $499K | FY2021 | Sep 2021 – Aug 2025 |
| National Science Foundation | THE ROLE OF INERTIAL INSTABILITY AND BOUNDARY-LAYER PROCESSES IN EQUATORIAL MONSOON REGIONS | $498.7K | FY2008 | Jan 2008 – Dec 2011 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE MEAN MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION OF THE STRATOSPHERE, KNOWN AS THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION, WAS NAMED FOR THE PIONEERING DEDUCTIONS OF A. M. BREWER | $494.6K | FY2014 | Mar 2014 – Jul 2017 |
| National Science Foundation | EXAMINING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN OBSERVED ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVES AND CONVECTIVE CLOUDS FOR IMPROVED CLIMATE SIMULATIONS | $489.8K | FY2015 | Jul 2015 – Jun 2018 |
| National Science Foundation | FUNDAMENTAL STUDIES OF DISTURBED TROPICAL CYCLONES: A DEEPER LOOK INTO THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF ASYMMETRIC STRUCTURE UNDER VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTA | $486.7K | FY2011 | Jul 2011 – Jun 2014 |
| National Science Foundation | MESOSCALE VORTEX INTERACTIONS IN TROPICAL SYSTEMS | $479.5K | FY2013 | Feb 2013 – Jan 2016 |
| National Science Foundation | MICROFRONTS AND OTHER NOCTURNAL SUBMESO MOTIONS OVER MICROTOPOGRAPHY -THIS AWARD EXAMINES THE BOUNDARY LAYER OF AIR ADJACENT TO THE GROUND SURFACE THAT COOLS AT NIGHT. STRONGEST COOLING OCCURS WITH CLEAR SKIES AND LOW WIND SPEEDS. THIS SITUATION IS POORLY UNDERSTOOD COMPARED TO OTHER BOUNDARY LAYERS WITH MORE SIGNIFICANT WINDS OR DAYTIME HEATING. THE STRONG COOLING LEADS TO PRACTICAL ISSUES INCLUDING FREEZING STREET SURFACES AND FROST DAMAGE TO SENSITIVE CROPS. THE STRONG SURFACE COOLING ALSO REDUCES VERTICAL MIXING AND THUS INCREASES THE PROBABILITY OF HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF POLLUTANTS. THE WEAK WINDS CORRESPOND TO LARGE VARIABILITY OF WIND DIRECTION THAT SPREADS THE POLLUTANTS OVER A VARIETY OF WIND DIRECTIONS. THIS PROCESS IS CURRENTLY HARD TO PREDICT. FORMATION OF DENSE FOG IS ANOTHER OUTCOME OF THE STRONG COOLING AND WEAK VERTICAL MIXING. LOCAL SPATIAL VARIATION OF THE SURFACE COOLING IS AN IMPORTANT FEATURE REQUIRING MORE ATTENTION. THIS PROJECT WILL INCREASE UNDERSTANDING THROUGH ANALYSIS OF INTENSE MEASUREMENTS FROM DIFFERENT SITES. EACH SITE CONTAINS A NETWORK OF CLUSTERED STATIONS. THE ABOVE ANALYSES WILL IMPROVE THE BOUNDARY-LAYER PART OF FORECAST COMPUTER MODELS. THE GENERAL ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT SUBCLASSES OF VERY STABLE NOCTURNAL BOUNDARY LAYERS, AND THE RELATION OF SUBMESO MOTIONS TO THESE SUBCLASSES, WILL BE INVESTIGATED. VERY STABLE NOCTURNAL BOUNDARY LAYERS MOST OFTEN OCCUR WITH STRONG STABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH LOW WIND SPEEDS AND CLEAR SKIES. SUBMESO MOTIONS OCCUR ON SCALES JUST LARGER THAN THE LARGEST TURBULENT EDDIES BUT SMALLER THAN THE MESOSCALE MOTIONS. SUBMESO MOTIONS INCLUDE MICROFRONTS, WAVE MOTIONS, MEANDERING MOTIONS, AND MORE COMPLEX STRUCTURES. THESE MOTIONS DENSELY POPULATE THE VERY STABLE BOUNDARY LAYER. THE ANALYSES WILL BE BASED ON TIME SERIES, SPATIAL INFORMATION ACROSS NETWORKS, AND COMBINED TIME-SPACE DOMAINS FROM DIFFERENT DATASETS. THE ANALYSIS WILL FIRST CONCENTRATE ON MICROFRONTS. THE FIRST STAGE FOCUSSES ON INCREASING HORIZONTAL GRADIENTS OF TEMPERATURE. THE SECOND STAGE INCLUDES HORIZONTAL CONVERGENCE THAT CONCENTRATES HORIZONTAL GRADIENTS INTO MICROFRONTS. ANALYSIS OF OTHER SUBMESO MOTIONS WILL FOLLOW WITH BOTH INDIVIDUAL ANALYSES OF EACH TYPE OF SUBMESO MOTION AND COLLECTIVE ANALYSIS OF ALL SUBMESO MOTIONS. EXAMINATION OF THE LARGE WIND-DIRECTION VARIABILITY CAUSED BY SUBMESO MOTIONS WILL BE EXAMINED IN DETAIL. ADDITIONAL DATA SETS WILL BE EVALUATED WITH POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION OF A NEW TAILORED FIELD PROGRAM. 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. | $473K | FY2023 | Aug 2023 – Jul 2026 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: LEE WAVES AND TURBULENCE FORCED BY THE KUROSHIO | $466.9K | FY2019 | Jan 2019 – Dec 2023 |
| National Science Foundation | GRAVITY WAVES ABOVE DEEP CONVECTIVE STORMS: DYNAMICS AND IMPACTS | $464.6K | FY2013 | Aug 2013 – Jul 2016 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | VERY RECENT HELIOSEISMIC AND OTHER OBSERVATIONAL ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THAT THE CONVENTIONAL PICTURE OF LARGE-SCALE TURBULENT MOTIONS IN THE SUN IS COMPLICATED BY THE PRESENCE OF ROSSBY WAVES. | $450K | FY2020 | Mar 2020 – Mar 2024 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | JOAN ALEXANDER AND THE POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER WILL COLLABORATE WITH GMAO SCIENTISTS ON A VARIETY OF ISSUES RELATED TO GRAVITY WAVE DYNAMICS AND GENE | $449.8K | FY2014 | Sep 2014 – — |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CHARACTERIZING ATMOSPHERIC TROPICAL-WAVES OF THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE WITH REEL-DOWN ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE SENSING FOR STRATEOLE-2--RATS CHASING CATS! -THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE CONTINUED PARTICIPATION OF THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS (PIS) IN THE STRATEOLE-2 FIELD CAMPAIGN, ORGANIZED BY THE FRENCH SPACE AGENCY (CNES, FOR CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES) AND THE LABORATORY FOR DYNAMIC METEOROLOGY (LMD) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS-SACLAY. THE CAMPAIGN MAKES OBSERVATIONS OF THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE LAYER (TTL), THE LAYER OF THE ATMOSPHERE FROM ROUGHLY 14KM TO 18KM BETWEEN THE TROPICAL TROPOSPHERE AND STRATOSPHERE, USING BALLOONS DESIGNED TO FLOAT AT A CONSTANT ALTITUDE FOR FLIGHTS OF UP TO 3 MONTHS. THE BALLOONS ARE LAUNCHED FROM THE SEYCHELLES AND FLOAT AROUND THE EQUATOR JUST ABOVE THE TOP OF THE TTL OR IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE AT AN ALTITUDE NEAR 20KM. STRATEOLE-2 WAS PLANNED AS A SET OF THREE DEPLOYMENTS, A PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING DEPLOYMENT WITH 8 BALLOON FLIGHTS FOLLOWED BY TWO SCIENCE DEPLOYMENTS WITH 20 FLIGHTS EACH. THE FIRST TWO DEPLOYMENTS TOOK PLACE IN 2019 AND 2021 AND FUNDS FOR THE PIS' PARTICIPATION IN THESE DEPLOYMENTS WERE PROVIDED THROUGH AGS-1642277. THE THIRD DEPLOYMENT IS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN OCTOBER 2025. FUNDS PROVIDED HERE SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF A NEW INSTRUMENT WITH THE ACRONYM RATS, FOR REEL-DOWN ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE SENSOR. ROUGHLY SPEAKING RATS IS A THERMOMETER LOWERED ON A LONG TETHER BELOW A BALLOON GONDOLA WHICH CONTAINS A SECOND THERMOMETER. THE DIFFERENCE IN TEMPERATURE BETWEEN THE TWO THERMOMETERS CAN BE USED TO DETECT GRAVITY WAVES, ATMOSPHERIC WAVES SIMILAR TO OCEAN SURFACE WAVES ONLY THEY CAN PROPAGATE VERTICALLY AS WELL AS HORIZONTALLY. RATS CAN DETECT GRAVITY WAVES BECAUSE THE UP AND DOWN MOTIONS OF THE WAVES CAUSE COOLING AND WARMING, THUS THE DIFFERENCE IN TEMPERATURE BETWEEN TWO APPROPRIATELY SEPARATED THERMOMETERS CAN RECORD THE PASSAGE OF A WAVE. THE TITLE OF THE PROPOSAL REFERS TO THE USE OF THE RATS THERMOMETERS FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ATMOSPHERIC TROPICAL WAVES OF THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE (CATS). MOTIVATION FOR THE WORK COMES FROM THE ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVES IN DRIVING THE QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATION (QBO), THE REVERSAL IN ZONAL WIND DIRECTION OVER THE EQUATOR THAT BEGINS IN THE UPPER STRATOSPHERE AND DESCENDS TO THE TROPOPAUSE OVER A PERIOD SLIGHTLY LONGER THAN TWO YEARS. THE QBO MATTERS FOR SUBSEASONAL WEATHER PREDICTION BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN LINKED TO MODES OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY THAT INFLUENCE WEATHER AROUND THE WORLD. MODELS USED FOR WEATHER PREDICTION HAVE DIFFICULTY CAPTURING THE QBO, IN PART BECAUSE THE WAVES THAT DRIVE IT HAVE WAVELENGTHS THAT ARE SMALLER THAN TYPICAL MODEL GRID SPACINGS, PARTICULARLY IN THE VERTICAL. RATS CAN DETECT WAVES WITH VERTICAL WAVELENGTHS BETWEEN 2 AND 30 TIMES THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE TWO THERMOMETERS, WHICH IS SET TO EITHER 200M OR 300M TO CAPTURE WAVELENGTHS FROM 400M TO 6KM OR 600M TO 9KM. THE LONGER WAVELENGTHS CAN BE RESOLVED BY OPERATIONAL MODELS AND THUS COMPARED WITH THE MODEL OUTPUT WHILE THE SHORTER ONES ARE UNRESOLVED. THE AWARD COVERS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RATS HARDWARE, WHICH INCLUDES A LOWER MEASURING UNIT (LMU) CONTAINING A THERMOMETER (DEVELOPED BY CNES) ALONG WITH AN RS41 RADIOSONDE SENSOR MODULE (FROM VAISALA) TO MEASURES TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY, AND PRESSURE, AND A GPS RECEIVER FOR DETERMINING POSITION. THE LMU IS RAISED AND LOWERED USING A SPOOL AND PULLEY SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS IT TO BE DOCKED TO THE GONDOLA FOR LAUNCH AND REELED DOWN WHEN THE BALLOON REACHES ITS FLIGHT ALTITUDE. THE GONDOLA CONTAINS A SECOND THERMOMETER ALONG WITH A BAROMETER AND GPS RECEIVER. THE WORK IS OF SOCIETAL INTEREST GIVEN THE PROSPECTS FOR BETTER LONG-RANGE WEATHER PREDICTIONS THROUGH IMPROVED REPRESENTATION OF THE WAVE DRIVING OF THE QBO. THE STRATEOLE-2 FIELD CAMPAIGN INVOLVES COLLABORATIONS WITH TWO OPERATIONAL WEATHER PREDICTION CENTERS, THEREBY PROVIDING A CONNECTION FROM RESEARCH TO OPERATIONS. ALL FIELD CAMPAIGN DATA IS MADE AVAILABLE TO THE GLOBAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY TO PURSUE ADDITIONAL RESEARCH TOPICS ON TTL PHYSICS AND DYNAMICS. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD. | $444.4K | FY2024 | Mar 2024 – Feb 2027 |
| National Science Foundation | STOKES DRIFT FLUCTUATIONS AND UPPER OCEAN DIFFUSION | $434.3K | FY2015 | Feb 2015 – Jan 2017 |
| National Science Foundation | GRAVITY WAVE SOURCES AND PARAMETERIZATION | $434.1K | FY2007 | Jan 2007 – Dec 2009 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | DIRECTLY CONSTRAINING GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PARAMETERIZATIONS IN GEOS WITH AIRS OBSERVATIONS USING OSSE METHODS | $423.3K | FY2023 | Jul 2023 – Jul 2026 |
| National Science Foundation | NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF GRAVITY WAVE INSTABILITIES, WAVE-WAVE AND WAVE MEAN FLOW INTERACTIONS, MOMENTUM TRANSPORT, AND SPECTRAL EVOLUTION IN THE MES | $420.1K | FY2009 | Jan 2009 – Oct 2012 |
| National Science Foundation | DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATIONS OF EMBEDDED SPECTRAL-ELEMENT AND FOURIER-RAY CODES FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION DYNAMICS STUDIES WITHIN WHOLE ATMOSPHERE COMMUNIT | $401.9K | FY2005 | Jan 2005 – Dec 2009 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 22-NUP2022-0102 CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT OF OROGRAPHIC AND NONOROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE PARAMETERIZATIONS AND RESOLVED GRAVITY WAVES IN GEOS | $401.7K | FY2023 | Mar 2023 – Feb 2027 |
| National Science Foundation | SCIENTIFIC, EDUCATIONAL AND LOGISTICAL PREPARATION FOR ADVANCED MODULAR INCOHERENT SCATTER RADAR (AMISR) RELOCATION TO ARGENTINA | $400K | FY2009 | Sep 2009 – Aug 2012 |
| National Science Foundation | ORBITAL STUDIES OF INTERPLANETARY AND INTERSTELLAR DUST UPGRADING A SOPHISTICATED METEOR RADAR | $400K | FY2009 | Sep 2009 – Aug 2013 |
| National Science Foundation | MODELING STUDIES OF TRANSITIONS FROM SLOW TO FAST TROPICAL CYCLONE INTENSIFICATION -THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS PART OF A BROADER EFFORT TO ADVANCE CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF HOW UNDERDEVELOPED TROPICAL CYCLONES INTENSIFY INTO POTENTIALLY DEVASTATING HURRICANES. COMPUTER MODELING STUDIES WILL BE CONDUCTED TO ADDRESS DEFICIENCIES IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATURE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTENSIFICATION PROCESS THAT OPERATES WHEN THERE EXISTS MARKEDLY ASYMMETRIC CONVECTION LINKED TO SUBSTANTIAL MISALIGNMENT OF THE MID-LEVEL AND LOW-LEVEL CYCLONIC CIRCULATIONS (TILT). CHANGES TO THE ASYMMETRIC STATE THAT ARE REQUIRED FOR A FAST INTENSIFICATION MECHANISM TO SUPERSEDE A SLOW MECHANISM, AND THE TIME SCALE FOR SUCH CHANGES TO OCCUR UNDER A VARIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS WILL BE ELUCIDATED. KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM THIS PROJECT WILL ASSIST COMPLEMENTARY EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE ACCURACY OF OPERATIONAL INTENSIFICATION FORECASTS THAT DETERMINE THE PREPARATIONS NEEDED TO ADEQUATELY MITIGATE DAMAGE TO COASTAL OR ISLAND COMMUNITIES THAT LIE IN THE PREDICTED PATH OF A TROPICAL CYCLONE. IN ADDITION TO OFFERING NEW INSIGHTS RELEVANT TO FORECASTING, THIS PROJECT WILL SUPPORT STUDENT INTERNSHIPS THAT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF ATMOSPHERIC SCIENTISTS. THE RESEARCH STRATEGY WILL ENTAIL A COMBINATION OF REDUCED AND FULL-PHYSICS MODELING STUDIES. THE REDUCED MODELING STUDIES WILL ADD PARAMETERIZED DIABATIC FORCING TO THE DRY PRIMITIVE EQUATIONS PRIMARILY TO REPRESENT THE HEATING ASSOCIATED WITH CONVECTION CONCENTRATED DOWNTILT OF THE LOWER TROPOSPHERIC VORTEX CENTER. A VARIETY OF INTENSIFICATION MECHANISMS ARE EXPECTED TO EXIST OVER THE EXPANSIVE MULTIDIMENSIONAL PARAMETER SPACE OF THE DIABATIC FORCING, THE STATE OF THE VORTEX, AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL VERTICAL WIND SHEAR. THE SPECTRUM OF POSSIBILITIES RANGES FROM VERY SLOW ASYMMETRIC MODES OF SPINUP TO A FAST MODE ASSOCIATED WITH CORE REFORMATION. THE DOMAIN OF APPLICABILITY FOR EACH DISTINCT INTENSIFICATION MECHANISM WILL BE DETERMINED THROUGH EXTENSIVE NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS. THEORETICAL FORMULAS WILL BE SOUGHT FOR THE HYPERSURFACES THAT SEPARATE REGIONS OF PARAMETER SPACE IN WHICH DIFFERENT INTENSIFICATION MECHANISMS OPERATE. THE FULL-PHYSICS SIMULATIONS WILL BE USED TO ELUCIDATE THE MOIST THERMO-FLUID DYNAMICS GOVERNING THE CONVECTION THAT DRIVES EACH INTENSIFICATION MECHANISM, AND TO ELUCIDATE THE PROCESSES THAT LEAD A TROPICAL CYCLONE TO TRANSITION FROM SLOW TO FAST SPINUP. THE SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND VERTICAL WIND SHEAR WILL BE VARIED TO UNCOVER AN ASSORTMENT OF TRANSITION-TYPES AND THE ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH THEY OCCUR. MANY OF THE TRANSITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO TRANSPIRE THROUGH CONTRACTION OR SHEAR-RELATIVE REORIENTATION OF THE TILT VECTOR THAT CHARACTERIZES THE MISALIGNMENT OF THE TROPICAL CYCLONE. THUS, TO BETTER UNDERSTAND WHAT CONTROLS THE TIMING OF A TRANSITION TO FAST SPINUP, A SIZEABLE PART OF THIS PROJECT WILL INVOLVE ANALYZING HOW DIABATIC PROCESSES REGULATE THE DECAY AND PRECESSION RATES OF THE TILTS OF THE SIMULATED TROPICAL CYCLONES. 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. | $399.9K | FY2022 | Jun 2022 – May 2025 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING STUDIES REVEAL LARGE UNCERTAINTIES IN CHANGES IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERIC/LOWER STRATOSPHERIC (UTLS) JETS AND THE TROPOPAUSE | $396.6K | FY2014 | Apr 2014 – — |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MODELING OF SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GRAVITY WAVES FROM OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE FORCING AND COMPARISON WITH SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS | $389.6K | FY2018 | Aug 2018 – Jul 2024 |
| National Science Foundation | SPATIAL VARIABILITY IN THE ATMOSPHERIC SURFACE LAYER AND IN THE SURFACE HEAT EXCHANGE OVER ARCTIC SEA ICE | $388.5K | FY2010 | Sep 2010 – Aug 2013 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE MECHANISMS BY WHICH DISTURBANCES IN ONE REGION OF THE ATMOSPHERE PRODUCE A RESPONSE IN A DISTANT REGION. OUR INTEREST IS TO EXAMINE THE SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF VARIOUS LARGE AMPLITUDE WAVES ON THE MLT: THE QUASI TWO-DAY WAVE (2DW); THE NONMIGRATING SEMIDIURNAL TIDE (SW1) NONLINEARLY GENERATED THROUGH INTERACTION OF THE MIGRATING SW2 AND WINTER PLANETARY WAVES; THE TOTALITY OF THE TROPICAL WAVE SPECTRUM. WE WILL EXAMINE THE FULL LIFE CYCLE OF THESE THREE WAVE PHENOMENA: SOURCE PROPAGATION CHARACTERISTICS AND THE GLOBAL EFFECT OF THEIR DISSIPATION ON MEAN FLOW AND MEAN MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION (MMC). MMCS FORCED BY TRANSIENT MOMENTUM DEPOSITION INTO A MEAN FLOW SUBJECT TO DIFFUSIVE MECHANISMS CAN EXTEND LATERALLY FAR FROM THE FORCING REGION AND CONTAIN UPWARD CIRCULATION CELLS. THE MMC GENERATED BY THE 2DW IS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST. AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT REQUIRES UNDERSTANDING ITS EXCITATION MECHANISMS. THE SW1 IS A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF WAVE PROPAGATION FROM THE WINTER STRATOSPHERE TO THE SUMMER POLAR MESOSPHERE WHERE ITS WIND COMPONENTS HAVE STRONG MAGNITUDE. TROPICAL WAVES THAT DEPOSIT MOMENTUM IN THE THERMOSPHERE ARE FILTERED BY A MEAN FLOW THAT VARIES ON MULTIPLE TIME SCALES AND WHICH IS SUBJECT TO FORCING BY WINTER HEMISPHERE PW. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS 1) DOES THE EXISTENCE OF THE 2DW DEPEND ON THE BAROCLINIC/BAROTROPIC INSTABILITY OF THE SUMMER MESOSPHERE MEAN FLOW? WHAT ROLE DO TROPICAL OR SYNOPTIC WAVES PLAY IN THE EXCITATION OF THE 2DW? HOW DOES THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE 2DW CONTRIBUTE TO THE MMC OVER THE SUMMER POLE? 2) WHAT ARE THE DETAILS OF THE FORCING OF SW1 THROUGH NONLINEAR INTERACTION BETWEEN PW1 AND SW2? HOW DOES THE STRUCTURE OF THE MEAN FLOW CONTROL THE TRANSMISSION OF SW1? WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE MMC FORCED BY THE DISSIPATION OF SW1? 3) TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE FILTERING OF TROPICAL WAVES BY THE SSAO MODULATE THE MSAO? DO SEASONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE MSAO CONTRIBUTE THROUGH LATERAL EXTENSION OF THE MMC TO VARIABILITY AT THE POLES AND ASYMMETRY BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SUMMER CONDITIONS? METHODOLOGY OUR DATA TOOL WILL BE SABER TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS SUPPLEMENTED BY MLS TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS OVER THE POLE NOT COVERED BY SABER. SATELLITE TEMPERATURES WILL BE UTILIZED FOR ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS WAVES. THESE WAVE DEFINITIONS WILL PROVIDE GUIDANCE FOR SELECTING CASE STUDIES AND THE VALIDATION OF NUMERICALLY PREDICTED MERIDIONAL CIRCULATIONS VIA SHORT-TERM CHANGES IN THE ZONAL MEAN TEMPERATURE. OUR MODELLING TOOLS WILL BE: 1) A SPECIFIED DYNAMICS MECHANISTIC WAVE MODEL FORCED WITH TROPICAL AND SOLAR HEATING WITH MEAN FLOW AND STATIONARY PW DERIVED FROM OBSERVATIONS. IT WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE THE 2DW LIFE CYCLE ASPECTS OF MSAO DYNAMICS RELATED TO TROPICAL WAVE PROPAGATION AND DEPOSITION NONMIGRATING TIDE PROPAGATION THROUGH MEAN FLOW VARIATIONS AND NONLINEAR TIDE GENERATION. 2) A TIME-DEPENDENT ZONALLY SYMMETRIC TRANSFORMED EULERIAN MEAN MODEL FORCED BY THE EP FLUX DIVERGENCE CALCULATED FROM THE MODEL OR DATA STUDIES TO CALCULATE THE MMC AND MEAN FLOW PERTURBATION THAT RESULT FROM THE WAVE FORCING. SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE TO NASA OBJECTIVES OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDY WILL QUANTIFY THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF WAVE DRIVEN CIRCULATIONS TO GLOBAL TELECONNECTIONS. THIS WILL ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE; NEUTRAL ATMOSPHERE FORCING OF THE IONOSPHERE; PMC AS GLOBAL CHANGE PROXIES. WE ADDRESS KEY NASA DECADAL SURVEY SCIENCE GOALS: DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS; DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. OUR PROPOSED WORK IS PERTINENT TO SCIENCE GOAL AIMI-2 METEOROLOGICAL DRIVING OF THE IT SYSTEM: HOW DOES LOWER ATMOSPHERE VARIABILITY AFFECT GEOSPACE? | $384.2K | FY2018 | Oct 2017 – May 2020 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | OUR PLAN IS SIGNIFICANT TO ONE OF THE THREE MAJOR OBJECTIVES OF THE NASA HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM B.1: TO "ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUNS ACTIVITY AND THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SOLAR VARIABILITY AND EARTH AND PLANETARY SPACE ENVIRONMENTS". | $384.1K | FY2022 | Feb 2022 – Jan 2027 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE PROPOSED STUDY COMBINES THE ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM A CURRENT NASA SPACECRAFT (SDO) WITH NUMERICAL SIMULATION TO ADDRESS TWO OF THE HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY: "(1) DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" (BY UNDERSTANDING SURFACE MANIFESTATIONS OF FUTURE FLUX EMERGENCE WE GAIN INSIGHT INTO THE SOLAR DYNAMO AND THE SOLAR MAGNETIC ACTIVITY CYCLES POSSIBLY HELPING TO PREDICT THE ARRIVAL OF NEW SOLAR ACTIVE REGIONS); "(4) DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." (FLUX EMERGENCE IS A FUNDAMENTAL ASPECT OF SOLAR MAGNETIC ACTIVITY AND PRESUMABLY OF ALL DYNAMO-ACTIVE STARS). | $372.4K | FY2018 | Nov 2017 – Mar 2021 |
| National Science Foundation | DIABATIC EKMAN TURBULENCE | $369.7K | FY2008 | Mar 2008 – Feb 2011 |
| National Science Foundation | A HELIOSEISMIC STUDY OF ACTIVE REGION FLOWS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL DYNAMICS | $367K | FY2017 | Jan 2017 – Dec 2019 |
| National Science Foundation | PROGRESSIVELY COMPLEX NUMERICAL STUDIES OF INFRASOUND GENERATED BY ATMOSPHERIC CONVECTION | $366K | FY2008 | Sep 2008 – Aug 2011 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | REGIMES OF UPPER TROPOSPHERE / LOWER STRATOSPHERE (UTLS) SATELLITE-DERIVED TRENDS IN COMPOSITION (RUSTIC) | $364.6K | FY2023 | Jun 2023 – May 2026 |
| National Science Foundation | STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE COUPLING STUDIES | $363.1K | FY2005 | Nov 2004 – Oct 2008 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. | $359K | FY2025 | Jan 2025 – Jan 2027 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR: MODELING AND OBSERVATION OF SECONDARY GRAVITY WAVES IN THE THERMOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE GENERATED FROM DEEP CONVECTION | $355.4K | FY2016 | Jun 2016 – May 2019 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BALLOON CAMPAIGN TO QUANTIFY THUNDERSTORM EFFECTS ON THE GLOBAL ELECTRIC CIRCUIT | $351.6K | FY2017 | Sep 2017 – Aug 2022 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THIS PROJECT WILL USE SEVERAL CONTINUOUS MULTI-MONTH LONG INTERVALS OF MAGNETOGRAMS AND DOPPLERGRAMS MADE WITH THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER ONBOARD THE CURRENTLY OPERATING SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY. THESE INTERVALS WILL SAMPLE THE ENTIRE 6+ YEARS OF THE SDO MISSION SPANNING FROM A PERIOD OF EXTREME SOLAR QUIESCENCE TO THE SOLAR MAXIMUM AND INTO THE DECLINING PHASE OF CYCLE 24. THERE ARE FOUR MAIN COMPONENTS TO THE PROJECT: 1) WE WILL USE LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC TECHNIQUES INCLUDING BOTH TIME-DISTANCE AND HOLOGRAPHY MEASUREMENTS TO OBTAIN ACOUSTIC (P-MODE) TRAVEL TIMES FOR WAVES PROPAGATING THROUGH SUPERGRANULES. WE WILL EMPLOY ENSEMBLE AVERAGING OF MEASUREMENTS OVER TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SUPERGRANULES TO MINIMIZE NOISE. WE WILL MAKE TRAVEL-TIME MEASUREMENTS OF WAVES WITH A WIDE RANGE OF SKIP-DISTANCE IN ORDER TO SEPARATE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MEASUREMENTS OF VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL MOTIONS WITHIN THE CONVECTIVE CELLS. 2) WE WILL INFER THE DEPTH VARIATION OF THE ENSEMBLE-AVERAGED SUPERGRANULAR FLOWS USING EXISTING AND EASILY FINE TUNED FORWARD MODELS OF THE FLOWS WHICH USE SENSITIVITY FUNCTIONS DERIVED THROUGH AN EMPIRICALLY-BASED SCHEME BASED ON THE BORN APPROXIMATION. VALIDATION OF THE MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH SIMULATIONS OF WAVE PROPAGATION THROUGH THE BEST MATCHED FLOWS. 3) WE WILL EXAMINE HOW TRAVEL-TIME MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS VARY AMONGST DIFFERENT SUBSETS OF SUPERGRANULES SELECTED ACCORDING TO THE STRENGTH OF THEIR HORIZONTAL DIVERGENCE. 4) WE WILL COMPARE MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS FOR SUPERGRANULES WITH VARYING AMOUNTS OF NEARBY MAGNETIC FLUX. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SUPERGRANULATION FLOWS WITH MAGNETIC FIELD WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED BY LOOKING AT VARIATIONS OF THEIR PROPERTIES WITH TIME OVER THE SOLAR CYCLE. UNDESIRED EFFECTS OF THE MAGNETIC NETWORK ON TRAVEL TIMES AND INFERRED FLOWS WILL BE ASSESSED THROUGH NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS. | $350.4K | FY2018 | Oct 2017 – Dec 2020 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL EDDY-DRIVEN TRANSPORT ESTIMATED FROM IN SITU LAGRANGIAN OBSERVATIONS | $350.1K | FY2021 | Jul 2021 – Jun 2025 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | NEW ANALYSIS OF FLUX DATA TOWARD SIMPLER ALGORITHMS FOR AIR-SEA SURFACE FLUXES | $349.1K | FY2016 | Jun 2016 – May 2019 |
| National Science Foundation | CEDAR: GLOBAL CLIMATOLOGY OF MESOSPHERIC INVERSION LAYERS | $346.7K | FY2007 | Aug 2007 – Jul 2011 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS | $345.2K | FY2025 | Apr 2025 – Mar 2028 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | EXAMINATION OF TIMED/SABER TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS IN THE MESOSPHERE AND LOWER THERMOSPHERE INDICATES THAT SOME NON-MIGRATING TIDE AMPLITUDES VARY O | $343.8K | FY2013 | Jun 2013 – — |
| National Science Foundation | CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3D) STANDARD MODEL OF SOLAR ERUPTIONS USING A DATA-DRIVEN MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC (MHD) APPROACH | $341.5K | FY2019 | May 2019 – Apr 2023 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FIELD MEASUREMENTS OF CLOUDS AND AEROSOL PARTICLES OVER THE SOUTHERN OCEAN IN SOCRATES | $340.9K | FY2017 | Mar 2017 – Feb 2020 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A STUDY OF SUBMESOSCALE MIXED-LAYER DYNAMICS AT A MID-LATITUDE OCEANIC FRONT: ISOLATING THE SUB- AND SUPER-INERTIAL RESPONSE | $333.9K | FY2016 | Oct 2015 – Sep 2020 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE INFLUENCE OF TROPICAL CONVECTION ON THE EVOLUTION AND TRANSPORT OF THE SAHARAN AIR LAYER | $330K | FY2014 | Aug 2014 – Jul 2018 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ISOPYCNAL SPECTRA AND STIRRING ON THE SUBMESOSCALE AND FINESCALE IN THE UPPER OCEAN | $328.2K | FY2017 | Sep 2017 – Aug 2020 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ESTIMATING ECOSYSTEM MODEL UNCERTAINTIES IN PAN-REGIONAL SYNTHESES AND CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON COASTAL DOMAINS OF THE NORT | $325.1K | FY2008 | Sep 2008 – Aug 2011 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | MEASUREMENT SCIENCE OF THE INTERMITTENT ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER | $325K | FY2012 | Mar 2012 – Sep 2013 |
| National Science Foundation | MESOSCALE VORTEX DYNAMICS IN TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS | $324K | FY2018 | Mar 2018 – Feb 2021 |
| National Science Foundation | EAGER: IMPACTS OF FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS AND NON-LOCAL EDDIES ON FRONTIER ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH | $323.9K | FY2022 | Nov 2021 – Apr 2024 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE INTERNAL AND SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS, SUCH AS SUNSPOTS | $316.3K | FY2014 | Feb 2014 – — |
| National Science Foundation | SHINE: DISTINGUISHING RECONNECTION SCENARIOS FOR SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS | $315.1K | FY2005 | May 2005 – Apr 2010 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EVOLUTION AND FATE OF WIND-DERIVED INTERNAL WAVE ENERGY -THIS PROJECT WILL STUDY THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF TWO MAIN OCEAN PROPERTIES. ONE IS THE FRACTION OF WIND-RELATED ENERGY THAT PROPAGATES INTO THE OCEAN?S INTERIOR COMPARED TO THE ENERGY THAT IS DISSIPATED NEAR THE OCEAN?S SURFACE, REFERRED TO AS ?TRANSMISSIVITY?. THE SECOND PROPERTY TO STUDY, ALSO RELATED TO WIND-INDUCED ENERGY IN THE OCEAN, IS THE FRACTION OF ENERGY THAT GOES INTO MIXING COMPARED TO THE TOTAL DISSIPATIVE ENERGY (MIXING PLUS DISSIPATION), ALSO KNOWN AS ?MIXING EFFICIENCY?. THE STUDY WILL USE A HIGH-RESOLUTION (ORDER FEW METERS), PROCESS-BASED NUMERICAL MODEL, THE ?WAVE-VORTEX MODEL? TO DETERMINE THE INTERACTION MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSMISSIVITY AND MIXING EFFICIENCY, AND TO CALCULATE THEM ON A GLOBAL SCALE. THE RESULT WILL ASSESS THE ROLE OF WIND-DRIVEN OSCILLATIONS, IN THE INTERIOR OF THE OCEAN, ON THE OCEAN?S ENERGY BUDGET, WHICH SHALL IMPROVE MODELS OF OCEAN CIRCULATION AND CLIMATE. THE STUDY WILL SUPPORT AN EARLY-CAREER FEMALE RESEARCHER, WHO WILL HELP OTHER JUNIOR SCIENTISTS IMPROVE PRESENTATION SKILLS THROUGH AN ANNUAL MENTORING PROGRAM, ALSO SPONSORED BY NSF (MPOWIR). THE PROJECT WILL PRODUCE MATERIALS FOR AN ADDITIONAL YEARLONG MENTORSHIP PROGRAM, AS WELL AS ENHANCE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS THAT ARE DISSEMINATED VIA A WEB SITE. THIS STUDY WILL INVESTIGATE THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF TWO PARAMETERS RELATED TO WIND FORCING ON THE OCEAN. ONE GLOBAL PARAMETER IS THE ?TRANSMISSIVITY,? WHICH IS THE PORTION OF WIND-RELATED ENERGY THAT PROPAGATES INTO THE OCEAN?S INTERIOR COMPARED TO THE ENERGY THAT IS DISSIPATED NEAR THE OCEAN?S SURFACE. THE SECOND GLOBAL PARAMETER IS THE ?MIXING EFFICIENCY,? WHICH IS THE FRACTION OF ENERGY THAT GOES INTO MIXING COMPARED TO THE TOTAL DAMPENING ENERGY (MIXING AND DISSIPATION). THE STUDY WILL USE A HIGH-RESOLUTION, PROCESS-BASED NUMERICAL MODEL, THE ?WAVE-VORTEX MODEL? TO DETERMINE THE NONLINEAR INTERACTION MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TWO GLOBAL PARAMETERS, AND TO CALCULATE THEM ON A GLOBAL SCALE. THE RESULT WILL BE A QUANTIFICATION OF THE ROLE OF WIND-DRIVEN NEAR-INERTIAL OSCILLATIONS IN THE OCEAN?S ENERGY BUDGET. THIS QUANTIFICATION SHALL BENEFIT OCEAN-BASIN CIRCULATION AND CLIMATE MODELS. THE STUDY WILL SUPPORT AN EARLY-CAREER FEMALE RESEARCHER, WHO WILL HELP OTHER JUNIOR SCIENTISTS IMPROVE PRESENTATION SKILLS THROUGH THE MPOWIR PROGRAM. THE PROJECT WILL PRODUCE MATERIALS FOR A YEARLONG MENTORSHIP PROGRAM, AS WELL AS ENHANCE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS IN A WEB SITE. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD. | $311.4K | FY2023 | Sep 2023 – Aug 2026 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE ENERGY TO POWER SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS IS DERIVED FROM THE RELATIVELY SLOW EVOLUTION OF THE PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD. YET THE CHROMOSPHERIC AND CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD AS INFERRED BY DYNAMIC BRIGHT CORONAL LOOP STRUCTURES AND RAPIDLY APPEARING CHROMOSPHERIC BRIGHT POINTS CAN EVOLVE VERY QUICKLY THROUGH MAGNETIC RECONNECTION EVENTS. OBSERVATIONAL CASE STUDIES AND MODEL EFFORTS HINT AT INCREASED LEVELS OF MAGNETIC REORGANIZATION AND RECONNECTION DYNAMICS AND TEMPERATURE VARIATION OCCURRING IN THESE ATMOSPHERIC LAYERS PRIOR TO LARGER ENERGETIC EVENTS SUCH AS SOLAR FLARES AND CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE INITIATION OF THESE SUDDEN ENERGY RELEASES (SOLAR FLARES CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS) AND THUS SET EMPIRICALLY-DERIVED STANDARDS FOR PRE-EVENT CHROMOSPHERIC AND CORONAL BEHAVIOR TO WHICH PHYSICAL MODELS THEN NEED TO SPEAK. THE OBJECTIVES TOWARD THIS GOAL CENTER ON A STATISTICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE AND CORONA IN THE HOURS BEFORE ENERGETIC EVENTS. THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED BY QUANTITATIVELY CHARACTERIZING DYNAMIC AND HEATING EVENTS IN THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE AND THE BEHAVIOR OF CORONAL STRUCTURE TEMPERATURE AND INTENSITY. WE PROPOSE TO ANALYZE A LARGE SAMPLE OF EVENTS AND CONTROLS WITH A STATISTICAL CLASSIFIER INVOKED IN TWO COMPLEMENTARY ANALYSIS MODES TO SPECIFICALLY IDENTIFY BEHAVIOR UNIQUE TO THE PRE-EVENT EPOCH. THE SOLE DATA SOURCE IS THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY (AIA) ON BOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) SPECIFICALLY ARCHIVE DATA IN MULTIPLE WAVELENGTH BANDS. SUB-IMAGE EXTRACTIONS OF AIA TIME-SERIES FULL DISK DATA BASED ON HMI ACTIVE-REGIONPATCH (HARP) DEFINITIONS WILL CREATE AIA ACTIVE REGION PATCHES (AARPS) TO ALLOW TENABLE DATA REQUIREMENTS. PRE-EVENT DYNAMICS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED THROUGH THE PARAMETRIZATION OF BRIGHTNESS IMAGES RUNNING-DIFFERENCE IMAGES DEM ANALYSIS - AND THEIR TEMPORAL EVOLUTION - USING BOTH PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE ALGORITHMS AND ALREADY-DEVELOPED CODE. ANALYSIS WILL INCLUDE SAMPLES OF BOTH EVENT-PRODUCING AND EVENT-QUIET TARGET REGIONS AND EPOCHS FOR "CONTROL" DATA. ALL PARAMETERS WILL UNDERGO STATISTICAL EVALUATION USING THE NWRA CLASSIFICATION INFRASTRUCTURE (NCI) BASED ON NON-PARAMETRIC DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS (NPDA). THIS PROPOSED PROJECT INVESTIGATES THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE PRIOR TO SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS WITH A FOCUS ON THE DYNAMICS AND HEATING OF THE SOLAR CORONA AND CHROMOSPHERE; IT IS BASED ON POSITIVE INITIAL RESULTS FROM PRELIMINARY RESEARCH CONDUCTED UNDER EARLIER NON-NASA FUNDING. THE RESULTS WILL PROVIDE CONSTRAINTS FOR MODELS AND THE DERIVED DATA PRODUCTS INCLUDING A NEW TIME-SERIES "AARP" AIA DATA SERIES WILL BE AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY. THIS PROJECT IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE NASA HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM: IT ADDRESSES THE NASA STRATEGIC GOALS FOR HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM SCIENCE GOAL #1 TO "EXPLORE THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH [...]" AND GOAL #3 TO "DEVELOP THE KNOWLEDGE AND CAPABILITY TO DETECT AND PREDICT EXTREME CONDITIONS IN SPACE [...]". THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL CONTRIBUTE TOWARD SDO'S MISSION SCIENCE GOAL #7 TO INVESTIGATE "WHEN WILL ACTIVITY OCCUR AND IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE ACCURATE AND RELIABLE FORECASTS OF SPACE WEATHER [...]?" IT IS RELEVANT TO GOAL #3 "HOW DOES MAGNETIC RECONNECTION ON SMALL SCALES REORGANIZE THE LARGE-SCALE FIELD TOPOLOGY AND CURRENT SYSTEMS?" AND GOAL #5 "WHAT MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS LEAD TO THE CMES FILAMENT ERUPTIONS AND FLARES THAT PRODUCE ENERGETIC PARTICLES AND RADIATION?" ADDITIONALLY THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ADDRESSES TWO HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY #1 "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" AND #4 "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." | $309.8K | FY2019 | Mar 2019 – Feb 2022 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | WE PROPOSE A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM OF INNOVATIVE OBSERVATION ANALYSIS AND THEORETICAL INTERPRETATION TO ATTACK THE CENTRAL GOAL OF THE FOCUSED SCIENCE TOPIC: ADVANCES TOWARD A NEAR REAL-TIME DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE AND INNER HELIOSPHERE. WE WILL MAKE TWO CRITICALLY REQUIRED CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD ACHIEVING THIS GOAL: (1) DEVELOP TEMPORALLY STABLE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) HELIOSEISMIC MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) VECTOR MAGNETOGRAMS AND (2) DEVELOP ACCURATE SELF-CONSISTENT PHOTOSPHERIC OWS IN ACTIVE REGIONS (ARS) THAT CAN BE USED TO CALCULATE ESTIMATES OF THE ENERGY AND HELICITY TRANSPORT THROUGH THE PHOTOSPHERE FOR CHARACTERIZING THE NEAR REAL-TIME STATE OF THE CORONA. THE PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC ELDS PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN MANY MODELS OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE. THEREFORE IMPROVING PHOTOSPHERIC VECTOR MAGNETOGRAMS HAS A CASCADING IMPACT ON ALL MODELING THAT DEPENDS ON THIS BOUNDARY. | $307.7K | FY2018 | Nov 2017 – Dec 2022 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | PREDICTABILITY AND DIAGNOSTIC SIGNALS OF ACTIVE AND BREAK CYCLES IN MONSOON IN THE NORTHERN INDIAN OCEAN BAY OF BENGAL AND ARABIAN SEA | $305.3K | FY2017 | Jul 2017 – Apr 2022 |
| National Science Foundation | NUMERICAL STUDIES OF METEOR CRATER COLD POOL RESPONSES TO REALISTIC DYNAMICAL AND RADIATIVE FORCING AND COMPARISONS WITH METCRAX MEASUREMENTS | $298.4K | FY2009 | Sep 2009 – Aug 2012 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HIGH-TIME-RESOLUTION RESONANCE LIDAR DETECTION OF METEOR TRAILS | $295.7K | FY2006 | Oct 2005 – Sep 2010 |
| National Science Foundation | LOCAL HELIOSEISMOLOGY WITH GONG | $289.6K | FY2004 | Sep 2004 – Aug 2009 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | TO COMPUTE THE LORENTZ FORCE DENSITY WE PROPOSE TO RETRIEVE THE VARIATION IN HEIGHT (AS WELL AS LATERAL SPACE) OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD VECTOR THROUGH THE USE OF ESTABLISHED INVERSION CODES APPLIED TO HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION POLARIMETRIC DATA ACQUIRED BY THE HINODE/SOT SPECTROPOLARIMETER. BY RETRIEVING THE HEIGHT VARIATION OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE FULL CURRENT DENSITY AND THUS GENERATE MAPS OF THE LORENTZ FORCE DENSITY ITSELF WITHOUT MAKING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD. WE WILL EMPLOY THE NICOLE INVERSION CODE BUT DEVELOP IMPROVED IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES WITH THE GOAL OF MORE ROUTINE PRODUCTION OF HEIGHT DEPENDENT INVERSION PRODUCTS. THE ACTIVE REGION TARGETS FOR THIS PROJECT HAVE HINODE/SP SCANS TAKEN BEFORE AND AFTER A SELECTION OF MAJOR FLARES THAT VARY IN THEIR FLARE-RELATED ACOUSTIC ACTIVITY. THE PRIMARY EMPHASIS OF THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS A NOVEL ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM THE HINODE MISSION SUPPLEMENTED BY ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM SDO WHICH ARE BOTH CURRENTLY-OPERATING MISSIONS OF THE HELIOPHYSICS SYSTEM OBSERVATORY (HSO). THE ANTICIPATED RESULTS WOULD ADDRESS THE FIRST AND FOURTH HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY TO "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" AND TO "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES OCCURRING AT THE PHOTOSPHERE DURING A FLARE POTENTIALLY LEADING TO INSIGHT INTO ONE MANIFESTATION OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY. INSOFAR AS FLARES ALSO OCCUR ON OTHER STARS IT MAY CHARACTERIZE A PROCESS OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. | $289K | FY2018 | Oct 2017 – May 2021 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: LEE WAVES AND SHEARED MEAN FLOW: INTERACTIONS AND IMPACTS OF TOPOGRAPHY -LEE WAVES ARE AN EXAMPLE OF INTERNAL GRAVITY WAVES FORCED BY STABLY STRATIFIED FLOW OVER BATHYMETRY. OCEANIC INTERNAL LEE WAVES HAVE HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS BETWEEN O(1?10) KM THAT BRIDGE MESOSCALE CURRENTS AND SMALLSCALE TURBULENCE AND PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN THE OCEAN?S ENERGY CASCADE. THEIR GENERATION EXERTS WAVE DRAG ON BALANCED FLOW AND EXTRACTS MESOSCALE ENERGY, AND THEIR PROPAGATION TRANSPORTS THIS ENERGY THROUGH WAVE-FLUXES. WHEN THEY BREAK, THEY CONVERT ENERGY DOWNSCALE TO TURBULENT DISSIPATION AND MIXING, MAINTAINING OCEAN?S STRATIFICATION AND IN TURN CONTRIBUTING TO THE LARGESCALE CIRCULATION. THIS PROJECT WILL EXAMINE WHY OBSERVED DISSIPATION IN THE DEEP OCEAN DOWNSTREAM FROM FLOW-TOPOGRAPHY INTERACTIONS IS SMALLER THAN PREDICTED BY THE COMMON ASSUMPTION OF EQUATING LEE-WAVE GENERATION WITH DISSIPATION. THIS RESEARCH WILL DETERMINE THE ROLE OF LEE WAVES IN DISSIPATING VERSUS REDISTRIBUTING ENERGY FOR BETTER PARAMETERIZATIONS OF WAVE DRAG AND MIXING FOR OCEANIC GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS. THIS PROJECT WILL SUPPORT AN EARLY-CAREER LEAD PI, A GRADUATE AND TWO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TO BE TRAINED ON WAVE DYNAMICS AND OCEAN MODELING. REGIONAL NUMERICAL MODELING WITH PROCESS STUDY OCEAN MODEL (PSOM) WILL SIMULATE THE GENERATION, PROPAGATION, INTERACTION AND DISSIPATION OF LEE WAVES IN MEAN SHEAR. PSOM IS A NON-HYDROSTATIC OCEAN MODEL THAT HAS BEEN WIDELY USED TO STUDY SUBMESOSCALE PROCESSES. THE PIS WILL EXTEND PRIOR IDEALIZED SIMULATIONS TO EXPLORE A RANGE OF TOPOGRAPHIC VARIATIONS TO EXAMINE MECHANISMS THAT MAY SUPPRESS TURBULENCE IN THE LEE OF FLOW-TOPOGRAPHY INTERACTIONS. THESE MECHANISMS ARE: (I) NONLINEAR GENERATION DUE TO TOPOGRAPHIC BLOCKING AND SPLITTING, (II) REABSORPTION OF LEE-WAVE ENERGY BACK TO THE SHEARED MEAN FLOW, (III) REMOTE DISSIPATION IN THE FORM OF FREE WAVES THAT ESCAPE THE LOCALIZED GENERATING CURRENT, AND (IV) DOWNSTREAM ADVECTION OF LEE-WAVE ENERGY FROM LOCALIZED GENERATING TOPOGRAPHY. AMONG THESE MECHANISMS, REABSORPTION WILL OCCUR FOR TRAPPED LEE WAVES IN BOTTOM-INTENSIFIED CURRENTS, WHILE NONLINEAR GENERATION AND DOWNSTREAM ADVECTION HAVE A STRONG DEPENDENCE ON SPECIFIC, AS OPPOSED TO RANDOM, TOPOGRAPHIES. THE PRIMARY ANALYSIS TOOL WILL BE ENERGY CONSERVATION BUDGETS FOR DIFFERENT COMPONENTS (MEAN JET, LEE WAVES, AND FREE WAVES) TO QUANTIFY THE DISSIPATIVE AND NON-DISSIPATIVE FATES OF LEE WAVES. 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. | $287.8K | FY2022 | Mar 2022 – Feb 2025 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE ROLE OF EDDIES IN THE PROPAGATION AND DISSIPATION OF WIND-DRIVEN NEAR-INERTIAL ENERGY: A NUMERIAL STUDY BRIDGING OGCM AND PROCESS SIMULATIONS | $279.8K | FY2019 | Mar 2019 – Feb 2022 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE PROPOSED HELIOSEISMIC ANALYSIS IS INTENDED TO PRODUCE NEW AND DEFINITIVE ESTIMATES OF THE TURBULENT FLOW VELOCITY ON LARGE ANGULAR SCALES AS A FU | $274.7K | FY2014 | May 2014 – — |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL COMBINE NASA SATELLITE DATA AND MODEL OUTPUT FROM THE CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELING INITIATIVE (CCMI) TO INVESTIGATE ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CIRCULATION AND ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT LARGE-AMPLITUDE GRAVITY WAVES GENERATED BY CONVECTION ARE IMPORTANT DRIVERS OF CIRCULATION TEMPERATURES AND TRANSPORT IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE WHICH INFLUENCE ATMOSPHERIC CONSTITUENTS SUCH AS OZONE AND WATER VAPOR. HOWEVER MOST ATMOSPHERIC MODELS HAVE BIASES IN TEMPERATURES AND WINDS BECAUSE OF DEFICIENCIES IN THE WAY THAT GRAVITY WAVES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CIRCULATION ARE REPRESENTED. THIS PROBLEM IS ESPECIALLY PRONOUNCED IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE STRATOSPHERE WHERE WINDS ARE GENERALLY TOO STRONG AND TEMPERATURES TOO COLD IN MOST CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELS. ADDITIONALLY THE STRATOSPHERIC FINAL WARMING IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE IS TYPICALLY ONE OR TWO WEEKS LATE IN MODELS COMPARED TO OBSERVATIONS. THIS LEADS TO MAJOR TEMPERATURE BIASES IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON OZONE CHEMISTRY. THE REASONS FOR THESE BIASES ARE NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD ALTHOUGH IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT MISSING SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE GRAVITY WAVE DRAG IN MODELS IS A MAJOR CULPRIT. POSSIBLE SOURCES OF THE MISSING GRAVITY WAVE DRAG INCLUDE INADEQUATE CONTINENTAL OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG FROM SMALL UNRESOLVED ISLANDS LATERAL PROPAGATION OF GRAVITY WAVES GENERATED AT OTHER LATITUDES AND NONOROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVES GENERATED BY FRONTS AND CONVECTION. DEFICIENCIES IN MODELED GRAVITY WAVE EFFECTS AND THE RESULTING MODEL BIASES IN WIND AND TEMPERATURE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE HINDER OUR ABILITY TO ACCURATELY MODEL THE OZONE HOLE AND ITS RECOVERY WHICH ALSO HAS IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR ABILITY TO MODEL SURFACE CLIMATE CHANGE. THIS PROJECT WILL IDENTIFY THE IMPORTANT SOURCES OF THE MISSING GRAVITY WAVE DRAG IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE AND IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GRAVITY WAVE SOURCES AND GRAVITY WAVE IMPACTS ON CIRCULATION TRANSPORT AND COMPOSITION. THE METHODS WILL FOCUS ON DATA FROM NASA SATELLITE INSTRUMENTS INCLUDING PRECIPITATION AND LATENT HEATING FROM THE GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT (GPM) MISSION INFRARED BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURES FROM THE ATMOSPHERIC INFRARED SOUNDER (AIRS) AND TEMPERATURES FROM THE HIGH RESOLUTION DYNAMICS LIMB SOUNDER (HIRDLS). FOR EXAMPLE AT THE EXTREMES OF THE HIRDLS MEASUREMENT LATITUDES (NEAR 63 DEGREES IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE) THE ZONAL SAMPLING IS VERY DENSE AND PROVIDES AN ABUNDANCE OF INFORMATION ON WAVES SPANNING MANY SPATIAL SCALES. THIS INFORMATION HAS NOT YET BEEN EXPLOITED TO INVESTIGATE THE MISSING SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE DRAG. THE GRAVITY WAVE INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE SATELLITE INSTRUMENTS WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE THE SOURCES OF MISSING DRAG IN THE CCMI MODELS. THIS WILL RESULT IN RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED GRAVITY WAVE PARAMETERIZATIONS WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO SIMULATE THE OZONE HOLE AND ITS RECOVERY IN A CHANGING CLIMATE. | $269.9K | FY2018 | Apr 2018 – — |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON OCEANIC RESPONSE TO WIND FORCING | $262.4K | FY2015 | Apr 2015 – Mar 2018 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | OBSERVATIONS OF SURFACE WAVES AND WAVE-DRIVEN TRANSPORT ON THE INNER SHELF | $260.8K | FY2015 | Aug 2015 – Jul 2020 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS AND COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF TURBULENCE IN THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER | $260K | FY2018 | Aug 2018 – Aug 2021 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN THE TRANSPORT OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM AND MAGNETIC FLUX ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF LATITUDES WITHIN THE CONVECTION ZONE AND IS A MAJOR COMPONENT OF MODELS OF THE DYNAMICS OF ROTATING STELLAR CONVECTION ZONES DYNAMOS AND THE SOLAR CYCLE. WE PROPOSE TO DETERMINE THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SUBSURFACE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF TWO LOCAL-HELIOSEISMIC PROCEDURES TO DOPPLERGRAMS FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) ONBOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) AS WELL AS ARCHIVED DATA FROM THE MICHELSON DOPPLER IMAGER (MDI) ONBOARD THE SOLAR AND HELIOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY (SOHO). THE TWO MAIN METHODS WE WILL EMPLOY ARE LEGENDRE FUNCTION DECOMPOSITION AND HELIOSEISMIC HOLOGRAPHY. INVERSE AND FORWARD MODELING WILL BE CARRIED OUT TO INFER DEPTH LATITUDE AND TEMPORAL PROPERTIES OF THE MERIDIONAL FLOW OVER A SPAN OF ALMOST TWO SOLAR CYCLES. THE TWO MAIN CHALLENGES TO A RELIABLE DETERMINATION OF THE MERIDIONAL FLOW - NAMELY A POOR SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO AND THE PRESENCE OF SYSTEMATIC ARTIFACTS - WILL BE ADDRESSED BY 1) USING SUFFICIENTLY LONG DATASETS 2) IMPLEMENTING CONTROL MEASUREMENTS 3) PERFORMING COMPARISONS BETWEEN MULTIPLE METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS AND 4) CARRYING OUT VALIDATION TESTS WITH ARTIFICIAL DATA. OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE IS THE IDENTIFICATION AND REMOVAL OF SYSTEMATIC ARTIFACTS WHICH CAN MIMIC LARGE-SCALE FLOWS AND DETRIMENTALLY IMPACT THE MEASUREMENT OF THE LOW-AMPLITUDE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION. THIS INVESTIGATION IS TIMELY IN THAT THE SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT OF RESOURCES INTO THE SOHO AND SDO MISSIONS IS NOW YIELDING THE DECADES-LONG DATASET REQUIRED FOR THE RELIABLE DETERMINATION OF THE PROPERTIES OF THESE FLOWS. THE PROJECT IS APPROPRIATE AND OF HIGH PRIORITY FOR THE HELIOPHYSICS SUPPORTING RESEARCH PROGRAM USING DATA FROM CURRENT NASA SPACECRAFT (SOHO AND SDO) IN COMBINATION WITH THEORY (INVERSIONS AND FORWARD MODELING) TO DIRECTLY ADDRESS THE GOALS OF THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY. SPECIFICALLY THE DETERMINATION OF THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOLAR MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION IS CRITICAL FOR KEY SCIENCE GOAL 1: "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT." THE ROLE OF THE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION IS SPECIFICALLY CALLED OUT IN THE DECADAL SURVEY REPORT WHICH NOTES THAT "THE DEEP PONDEROUS FLOWS THAT CARRY PATTERNS OF MAGNETIC FLUX TO THE POLES REGULATE THE SEEDING OF THE DEEP-SEATED DYNAMO THAT GENERATES SUBSEQUENT SOLAR CYCLES." | $259.3K | FY2018 | Oct 2017 – Mar 2020 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE ABUNDANCE, PRECISION, AND PRECISE ERROR INFORMATION THAT CHARACTERIZEOCEAN SURFACE VECTOR WIND (SVW) RETRIEVALS FROM SCATTEROMETER DATA WILLBE | $257.6K | FY2010 | Sep 2010 – Sep 2012 |
| National Science Foundation | TROPICAL CYCLOGENESIS IN THE PRE-DEPRESSION INVESTIGATION OF CLOUD-SYSTEMS IN THE TROPICS PROGRAM (PREDICT): THE MARSUPIAL PARADIGM IN ACTION | $257.1K | FY2010 | Oct 2009 – Sep 2012 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | NWRA TASKS FOR COMMUNITY COORDINATED MODELING CENTER (CCMC) | $250K | FY2023 | Jun 2023 – May 2025 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | "AIR-ICE SURFACE ENERGY EXCHANGE AND SEA ICE-MASS REDISTRIBUTION IN THE ARCTIC" SUMMARY: MEASUREMENTS OF THE ARCTIC SEA ICE COVER FROM BUOYS, SUBMARI | $246.5K | FY2007 | Sep 2007 – Jul 2010 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INTERNAL LEE-WAVE DISSIPATION IN OCEANIC FLOWS WITH MEAN SHEAR | $246K | FY2018 | Sep 2018 – Aug 2022 |
| National Science Foundation | WAVE CHARACTERISTICS FROM THE COSMIC AND CHAMP GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) TEMPERATURE PROFILES | $244.1K | FY2008 | Nov 2007 – Oct 2010 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | OBSERVATION AND MODELING OF TSUNAMI-GENERATED GRAVITY WAVES IN THE EARTH S UPPER ATMOSPHERE | $238.9K | FY2013 | Mar 2013 – Sep 2016 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: POLAR (NSF 19-601): RUI: COMPUTATIONAL POLAR ENGAGEMENT THROUGH GUIDED INQUIRY (COMPUTATIONAL PENGUIN) | $238.6K | FY2020 | Sep 2020 – Aug 2025 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 21-LWS21_2-0042 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD: MAPPING CURRENTS IN THE CHROMOSPHERE AND CORONA | $236.9K | FY2023 | Nov 2022 – Nov 2026 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | PARAMETERIZATION OF SUB-GRID LATENT HEAT RELEASE IN TRADE WIND CUMULUS CLOUDS | $232.4K | FY2023 | Mar 2023 – Jul 2024 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITIES AT A KUROSHIO SEAMOUNT (KHIKS) | $219.9K | FY2021 | Aug 2021 – Jul 2025 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NUMERICAL EVALUATION OF RADAR BACKSCATTER FROM KH INSTABILITY AND GRAVITY WAVE BREAKING FOR REALISTIC RADAR PARAMETERS AND CO | $219K | FY2008 | May 2008 – Apr 2011 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CLOUD RADIATIVE IMPACT ON THE SURFACE ENERGY BUDGET OF THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA | $211.2K | FY2021 | Aug 2021 – Jul 2024 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR--LOWER ATMOSPHERIC SOURCE REGIONS OF MEDIUM-SCALE GRAVITY WAVES | $210.5K | FY2009 | Jun 2009 – May 2012 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF SURFACE RADIATION BUDGET AND CLIMATE FEEDBACK CONTINUATION OF THE RESEAR | $205.4K | FY2009 | Aug 2009 – Aug 2010 |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | TURBULENT AIR-SEA EXCHANGE IN EXTREME WINDS AND ITS EFFECT ON STORM STRUCTURE | $204.7K | FY2008 | Mar 2008 – Dec 2010 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | UNDERSTANDING DYNAMICAL, TRANSPORT AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES IN THE EXTRA-TROPICAL UPPER TROPOSPHERE/LOWER STRATOSPHERE(UTLS) IS ESSENTIAL TO ADVANCING | $200.3K | FY2012 | Apr 2012 – Aug 2014 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION OF DIURNAL COLD-AIR POOLS AND SEICHES IN SMALL, CLOSED BASINS | $200K | FY2006 | Dec 2005 – Nov 2008 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. | $199.9K | FY2025 | Feb 2025 – Feb 2027 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | UNDERSTANDING THE APPEARANCE AND EVOLUTION OF SOLAR ACTIVE REGIONS, AND PARTICULARLY THE ENERGETIC EVENTS THAT THEY CAN PRODUCE, ARE KEY TOPICS IN SO | $199.9K | FY2015 | Jun 2015 – — |
| National Science Foundation | MICROMETEORS AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH THE ATMOSPHERE: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY USING THE ARECIBO AND JICAMARCA OBSERVATORIES | $199.5K | FY2005 | Mar 2005 – Jul 2009 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FOUR-DIMENSIONAL (4D) INVESTIGATION OF TROPICAL WAVES USING HIGH-RESOLUTION GNSS RADIO OCCULTATION FROM STRATEOLE2 BALLOONS -THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE CONTINUED PARTICIPATION OF THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS (PIS) IN THE STRATEOLE-2 FIELD CAMPAIGN, ORGANIZED BY THE FRENCH SPACE AGENCY (CNES, FOR CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES) AND THE DYNAMIC METEOROLOGY LABORATORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS-SACLAY. THE CAMPAIGN MAKES OBSERVATIONS OF THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE LAYER (TTL), THE LAYER OF THE ATMOSPHERE FROM ROUGHLY 14KM TO 18KM BETWEEN THE TROPICAL TROPOSPHERE AND STRATOSPHERE, USING BALLOONS DESIGNED TO FLOAT AT A CONSTANT ALTITUDE FOR FLIGHTS OF UP TO 3 MONTHS. THE BALLOONS ARE LAUNCHED FROM THE SEYCHELLES AND FLOAT AROUND THE EQUATOR AT THE TOP OF THE TTL (18KM) OR IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE (20KM). STRATEOLE-2 WAS PLANNED AS A SET OF THREE DEPLOYMENTS, A PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING DEPLOYMENT WITH 8 BALLOON FLIGHTS FOLLOWED BY TWO SCIENCE DEPLOYMENTS WITH 20 FLIGHTS EACH. THE FIRST TWO DEPLOYMENTS TOOK PLACE IN 2019 AND 2021 AND THE PIS PARTICIPATED IN THESE DEPLOYMENTS USING FUNDS FROM AGS-1642650 AND AGS-1642644. THE PIS' PARTICIPATION IN THE THIRD DEPLOYMENT, SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN OCTOBER 2025, IS SUPPORTED HERE. THE PIS' ROLE IN STRATEOLE-2 IS TO BUILD AND FLY A RADIO OCCULTATION RECEIVER CALLED ROC, WHICH DETECTS THE REFRACTION OF RADIO WAVES TRANSMITTED BY SATELLITES FROM THE GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM (GNSS, WHICH INCLUDES THE GPS SATELLITES LAUNCHED BY THE US). THE STRENGTH OF THE REFRACTION CAN BE USED TO INFER ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE ALONG THE LINE OF SIGHT BETWEEN ROC AND A TRANSMITTER SATELLITE, THUS ROC CAN CREATE TEMPERATURE PROFILES BY TRACKING A GNSS SATELLITE AS IT DESCENDS TO THE HORIZON OR RISES FROM BELOW IT. FUNDS FROM THIS AWARD ARE USED TO BUILD SIX ROC RECEIVERS, MANAGE THEIR FIELD DEPLOYMENT, AND COLLECT AND ANALYZE THE DATA THEY GENERATE. THE TEMPERATURE PROFILES FROM ROC ARE OF INTEREST BECAUSE THEY SHOW TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH WAVE MOTIONS IN THE TTL GENERATED BY LARGE AREAS OF TROPICAL CONVECTION. ONE REASON THESE WAVES ARE OF INTEREST IS THAT THEY DRIVE THE QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATION (QBO), AN ALTERNATION BETWEEN EASTWARD AND WESTWARD WINDS IN THE EQUATORIAL STRATOSPHERE WHICH BEGINS IN THE UPPER STRATOSPHERE AND DESCENDS TO THE TROPOPAUSE OVER THE COURSE OF ROUGHLY TWO YEARS. THE QBO IS CONFINED TO THE TROPICS BUT IT AFFECTS WEATHER AND CLIMATE AROUND THE WORLD. IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT THE QBO IS DRIVEN BY VERTICAL MOMENTUM FLUX FROM WAVES THAT PROPAGATE UPWARD FROM THE TTL, BUT IT IS NOT CLEAR WHAT TYPES OF WAVES, PARTICULARLY IN TERMS OF WAVELENGTHS AND FREQUENCIES, ARE MOST IMPORTANT FOR DRIVING THE QBO. ANOTHER REASON THE WAVES ARE OF INTEREST IS THAT THEIR UP-AND-DOWN MOTIONS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH COOLING AND WARMING OF THE AMBIENT AIR, AND COOLING INDUCED BY RISING MOTIONS CAN CAUSE WATER VAPOR TO FREEZE INTO ICE PARTICLES (A PROCESS CALLED DEPOSITION). ICE FORMATION MATTERS BECAUSE IT DEHYDRATES AIR AS IT ENTERS THE STRATOSPHERE, THEREBY REGULATING THE HUMIDITY OF THE STRATOSPHERE, AND BECAUSE ICE PARTICLES FORM CIRRUS CLOUDS WHICH AFFECT EARTH'S CLIMATE BY TRAPPING OUTGOING INFRARED RADIATION. WORK ON THE WAVE DRIVING OF THE QBO FOCUSES ON WAVES WITH PERIODS OF THREE OR FOUR DAYS WHICH WERE FOUND TO BE PROMINENT IN THE PREVIOUS DEPLOYMENTS. THE PIS SEEK TO DETERMINE THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE WAVES AND THEIR INTRINSIC FREQUENCIES, FACTORS WHICH TOGETHER DETERMINE THEIR WAVE MOMENTUM FLUX AND THUS THEIR POTENTIAL IMPORTANCE FOR QBO DRIVING. THE PIS HAVE DEVELOPED TECHNIQUES FOR PROBING WAVE STRUCTURE USING THE FACT THAT THE RO PROFILES ARE SIDE-LOOKING FROM THE BALLOON AND MEASURE TEMPERATURE AT SUCCESSIVELY LOWER HEIGHTS WITH DISTANCE FROM THE BALLOON GONDOLA. THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE WAVES CAN THUS BE RECONSTRUCTED BY COMBINING CONSECUTIVE RO PROFILES ALONG THE BALLOON FLIGHT PATH. AS FOR CIRRUS CLOUD FORMATION, FOUR OF THE SIX ROC RECEIVERS WILL BE FLOWN WITH A DOWNWARD-POINTING LIDAR CALLED BECOOL, THE BALLOON-BORNE CLOUD OVERSHOOT OBSERVATION LIDAR (BECOOL), DEVELOPED BY A FRENCH TEAM. BECOOL OBSERVATIONS OF CIRRUS CLOUDS CAN BE COMBINED WITH ROC OBSERVATIONS OF WAVE-INDUCED TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH CIRRUS CLOUDS OCCUR IN THE COLD PHASES OF WAVES IN THE TTL. THE WORK HAS SOCIETAL VALUE THROUGH ITS CONNECTIONS TO WEATHER FORECASTING. RADIO OCCULTATION RECEIVERS ON SATELLITES ARE AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF OBSERVATIONS USED IN OPERATIONAL WEATHER PREDICTION AND WORK PERFORMED HERE INCLUDES AN EFFORT TO ASSIMILATE ROC OBSERVATIONS INTO WEATHER MODELS AND TEST THEIR VALUE FOR PREDICTION. THE DATA ASSIMILATION AND PREDICTION EFFORT INVOLVES COLLABORATIONS WITH TWO OPERATIONAL CENTERS. IN ADDITION, WEATHER MODELS HAVE DIFFICULTY SIMULATING THE QBO AND ITS GLOBAL IMPACTS, THUS BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAVE DRIVING OF THE QBO CAN CONTRIBUTE TO BETTER FORECAST MODELS. ALL DATA FROM THE CAMPAIGN ARE MADE FREELY AVAILABLE TO THE GLOBAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY AND CAN BE USED IN A VARIETY OF WAYS THAT GO BEYOND THE GOALS OF THE CAMPAIGN. THE PROJECT ALSO BUILDS THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE BY SUPPORTING TWO GRADUATE STUDENTS AND PROVIDING INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATES INCLUDING TWO STUDENTS FROM THE SEYCHELLES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD. | $197.4K | FY2024 | Feb 2024 – Jan 2027 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR--THE SOURCES OF GRAVITY WAVES OBSERVED IN THE THERMOSPHERE AT THE ARECIBO OBSERVATORY | $196.8K | FY2012 | Mar 2012 – Feb 2015 |
| National Science Foundation | POLAR (DCL- 16-119): COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: COMPUTATIONAL GUIDED INQUIRY FOR INCORPORATING POLAR RESEARCH INTO UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULA | $191.8K | FY2017 | Jun 2017 – Jul 2020 |
| National Science Foundation | WAVE-TOPOGRAPHY INTERACTION AND IMPACT ON OCEANIC KINETIC ENERGY DISTRIBUTION | $190.5K | FY2017 | Sep 2017 – Aug 2020 |
| Department of Energy | TITLE: DISSEMINATION OF CLIMATE MODEL OUTPUT TO THE PUBLIC AND COMMERCIAL SECTOR; PI: ROBERT STOCKWELL | $189.5K | FY2009 | Sep 2009 – Apr 2010 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | FASTER BETTER DEEPER: UTILIZING DEEP LEARNING TO PRODUCE ENHANCED NEAR REAL TIME INVERSIONS FROM HMI DATA FOR SPACE- WEATHER MODELING | $189.3K | FY2022 | Mar 2022 – — |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | UNDERSTANDING AND MODELING THE BACKGROUND SOLAR WIND IS KEY FOR MODELING THE PROPAGATION OF CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS. TO MODEL THE SOLAR WIND IT IS COMMON TO FIRST MODEL THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD USING POTENTIAL FIELD SOURCE SURFACE (PFSS) TYPE MODELS DRIVEN BY OBSERVATIONS OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD AT THE SOLAR SURFACE. FROM THE OUTER BOUNDARY OF THE PFSS BASED MODEL ASSUMING RADIAL SOLAR WIND STREAMS AND A SIMPLE MODEL FOR THEIR INTERACTIONS LEADS TO PREDICTIONS OF THE SOLAR WIND SPEED IN THE HELIOSPHERE. THIS APPROACH FORMS THE BASIS FOR THE WANG-SHEELEY-ARGE (WSA) MODEL. WITHIN THIS BASIC FRAMEWORK THERE ARE A NUMBER OF CHOICES IN HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE MODELS PARTICULARLY IN HOW TO GENERATE THE RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD BOUNDARY CONDITION FOR THE WSA MODEL. SINCE ONLY HALF OF THE SURFACE OF THE SUN IS TYPICALLY OBSERVED AT ANY GIVEN TIME ASSUMPTIONS MUST BE MADE ABOUT THE MAGNETIC FIELD ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN. THE AIR FORCE DATA ASSIMILATIVE PHOTOSPHERIC FLUX TRANSPORT (ADAPT) MODEL IS ONE APPROACH FOR ASSIMILATING NEW OBSERVATIONS INTO A FULL-SUN MAGNETIC FIELD MAP. RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD OBSERVATIONS ARE AVAILABLE BUT ARE TYPICALLY NOISIER THAN LINE OF SIGHT MAGNETIC FIELD OBSERVATIONS PARTICULARLY IN CRITICAL AREAS LIKE THE POLAR REGIONS AND THERE IS PRESENTLY NO OPERATIONAL DATA SOURCE FOR VECTOR MAGNETOGRAMS. SEVERAL WAYS OF ESTIMATING THE RADIAL COMPONENT OF THE FIELD FROM THE LINE OF SIGHT COMPONENT EXIST INCLUDING THE RADIAL FIELD APPROXIMATION AND USING THE RADIAL COMPONENT OF A POTENTIAL MAGNETIC FIELD WHOSE LINE OF SIGHT COMPONENT MATCHES THE OBSERVATIONS. THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL TEST HOW TO GENERATE THE BEST INSTANTANEOUS RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD MAP FOR THE VISIBLE HEMISPHERE FROM THE AVAILABLE OBSERVATIONS BY COMBINING DIFFERENT APPROXIMATIONS IN DIFFERENT AREAS OF THE SUN. FOR EXAMPLE WE ANTICIPATE THAT THE RADIAL FIELD APPROXIMATION WILL WORK BEST IN NOISY WEAK FIELD AREAS SUCH AS PLAGE FARTHER FROM DISK CENTER WHILE THE POTENTIAL FIELD APPROXIMATION MAY BE BETTER SUITED TO SUNSPOTS. THE INSTANTANEOUS MAPS WILL BE USED AS INPUT FOR ADAPT WHICH IN TURN WILL BE USED AS INPUT FOR THE WSA MODEL. THE QUALITY OF THE INSTANTANEOUS MAPS WILL BE EVALUATED BY COMPARING WSA PREDICTIONS FOR OPEN FIELD REGIONS TO OBSERVED CORONAL HOLES AND COMPARING PREDICTED WIND PROPERTIES WITH IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS OF THE SOLAR WIND. THE INVESTIGATION WILL USE MAGNETIC FIELD DATA FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) ON BOARD NASA'S SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) MISSION. VALIDATION OF THE RESULTS WILL BE BASED ON EUV IMAGES FROM SDO'S ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY AND FROM THE SOLAR TERRESTRIAL RELATION OBSERVATORY SPACECRAFT (STEREO) AS WELL AS IN-SITU SOLAR WIND DATA FROM THE ADVANCED COMPOSITION EXPLORER (ACE) AND STEREO. THE CENTRAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP AN ALGORITHM TO BEST MELD THE DIFFERENT METHODS FOR ESTIMATING THE RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD ON THE VISIBLE HEMISPHERE OF THE SUN. ALTHOUGH THE VALIDATION WILL BE PERFORMED USING THE WSA MODEL IMPROVED RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD MAPS WILL LIKELY BE OF BENEFIT TO ALL SOLAR WIND AND CME PROPAGATION MODELS. THE ADAPT MAPS GENERATED AS PART OF THE INVESTIGATION WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY WEBSITE SIMILAR TO HOW THEY ARE PRESENTLY PROVIDED FOR USE WITH WSA OR OTHER SOLAR WIND MODELS RUN AT THE COMMUNITY COORDINATED MODELING CENTER (CCMC). THE CODE FOR PRODUCING THE MAPS INCLUDING THE POTENTIAL FIELD CODE WILL ALSO BE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE NWRA WEBSITE. | $188.9K | FY2019 | Jan 2019 – Dec 2019 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | WE WILL DEVELOP AND APPLY TO DOPPLER SEISMIC OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY A NEW ALGORITHM FORCOMPUTING HELIOSEISMIC MAPS OF THE SUN'S FAR HEMISPHERE. THE NEW ALGORITHM TAKES ADVANTAGE OF MULTIPLE "OPTICAL VANTAGES" OF THE SOLAR ACOUSTIC FIELD TO PRODUCE MAPS THAT HAVE 2--4 TIMES THE SENSITIVITY OF THOSE CURRENTLY DISTRIBUTED BY JOINT SCIENCE OPERATIONS CENTER (JSOC) FOR THE SDO PROJECT. GIVEN THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF ACTIVE REGIONS WITH A RAPIDLY INCREASING POPULATION WITH DECREASINGMAGNETIC FLUX THIS WILL CONSIDERABLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ACTIVE REGIONS RELIABLY IDENTIFIABLE IN MAPS OF THE SUN'S FAR HEMISPHERE AND GIVE US A MORE ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF PARAMETERS SUCH AS TEMPORAL RESOLUTION AND GROWTH RATE. THESE IMPROVEMENTS OFFER MAJOR BENEFITS TO A RAPIDLY GROWING ARRAY OF APPLICATIONS OF FAR-SIDE HELIOSEISMOLOGY IN DIVERSE AREAS OF RESEARCH SUCH AS UV-IRRADIANCE FLARE POTENTIALITY THE CORONAL MAGNETIC CONFIGURATION AND SPACE WEATHER IN THE NEAR-EARTH NEIGHBORHOOD. THE PROJECT IS THUS HIGHLYAND DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO KEY SCIENCE GOAL 1 OF THE 2012 DECADAL SURVEY: "DETERMINE THE ORIGIN OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT." | $188.5K | FY2015 | Jun 2015 – — |
| VA/DoDDepartment of Defense | INCLUSION OF NON-STATIONARITY OF THE WIND AND WAVE FIELDS IN THE BULK FORMULA FOR SURFACE FLUXES: A NEW DIRECTION | $186.9K | FY2019 | Jun 2019 – May 2022 |
| National Science Foundation | THE INFRARED RADIATIVE IMPACT OF ANTARCTIC CLOUDS | $185.9K | FY2016 | Feb 2016 – Jan 2019 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE IMPACT OF STRATOSPHERIC OZONE DEPLETION/RECOVERY ON ANTARCTIC CLIMATE | $185.6K | FY2010 | May 2010 – Apr 2013 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NONLINEAR WAKE OBSERVATIONS AT A KUROSHIO SEAMOUNT (NOKS) -OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA COLLECTED IN THE LEE OF HIRASE SEAMOUNT IN TOKARA STRAIT, SOUTH OF JAPAN, DURING 2021-2022 WILL BE ANALYZED TO INVESTIGATE STRONG NONLINEAR KUROSHIO-SEAMOUNT INTERACTIONS AND ASSOCIATED TURBULENCE. THE DATA INCLUDE HIGHLY RESOLVED OBSERVATIONS OF TEMPERATURE, SALINITY, VELOCITY, AND TURBULENT DISSIPATION MEASURED FROM SHIP, MOORINGS, AND PROFILING FLOAT ARRAYS. THE DATA WILL BE USED TO IDENTIFY THE DOMINANT NONLINEAR TERMS IN THE MOMENTUM AND BUOYANCY EQUATIONS, QUANTIFY POTENTIAL VORTICITY ANOMALIES, AND DETERMINE THE VERTICAL AND LATERAL INSTABILITY MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENERGETIC TURBULENCE LAYERS EXTENDING 20 KM DOWNSTREAM OF THE SEAMOUNT. ELUCIDATING TURBULENCE GENERATION MECHANISMS, ESPECIALLY IN NONLINEAR WAKES, IS AN ESSENTIAL TASK TO IMPROVE EXISTING TURBULENT DISSIPATION AND MIXING PARAMETERIZATIONS, AND THEREFORE HAS BROAD IMPLICATION FOR THE ENERGY CASCADE, MASS AND NUTRIENT TRANSPORTS, AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL BUDGETS IN SIMULATIONS AND THE OCEAN. THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR EARLY-CAREER SCIENTIST DR. ANDA VLADOIU. ALL APL-UW PIS ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN OUTREACH AT UW AND LOCAL SCIENCE CENTERS AND SEATTLE K-12 CLASSROOMS. LIEN ALSO ACTIVELY SUPPORTS THE SUMMER PROGRAM FOR UW UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. KUNZE IS A SCIENCE COMMUNICATION FELLOW AT THE PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER IN SEATTLE, WHICH INVOLVES FOUR VOLUNTEER SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT ACTIVITIES PER YEAR, AND PARTICIPATION IN THE ANNUAL PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER-CLIMATE CURIOSITY WEEKEND, TO INTRODUCE THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO THE MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATION AND OCEAN TURBULENT MIXING. STRONG INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE KUROSHIO AND HIRASE SEAMOUNT PRODUCE A UNIQUELY NONLINEAR AND TURBULENT REGIME THAT ALLOWS STUDY OUTSIDE THE USUAL LINEAR INTERNAL-WAVE AND BALANCED DYNAMICS. FOUR-DIMENSIONAL FINE- AND MICROSTRUCTURE SURVEYS WILL BE ANALYZED TO INVESTIGATE STRONG NONLINEAR KUROSHIO-SEAMOUNT INTERACTIONS AND ASSOCIATED TURBULENCE WHERE ROSSBY NUMBERS EXCEED 1 AND GRADIENT FROUDE NUMBERS ARE ??(1). SHIPBOARD ADCP, UNDERWAY CTD AND UNDERWAY VMP RADIATOR SURVEYS, AS WELL AS FOUR FULL-DEPTH EM-APEX FLOAT BOX-ARRAYS, PROVIDE HORIZONTAL SUBMESOSCALE (~ 1 KM) AND VERTICAL FINESCALE (~ 10 M) FLOW STRUCTURES. TWO ADCP/CTD MOORINGS PROVIDE 6-MONTH TIME-SERIES OF THE BACKGROUND FLOW VARIABILITY AND SHEAR- UNSTABLE LAYERS. THESE DATA WILL BE USED TO (I) IDENTIFY THE DOMINANT NONLINEAR TERMS IN THE MOMENTUM AND BUOYANCY EQUATIONS, (II) QUANTIFY POTENTIAL VORTICITY (PV) ANOMALIES AND (III) DETERMINE THE VERTICAL AND LATERAL INSTABILITY MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENERGETIC TURBULENCE LAYERS WITH DIAPYCNAL DIFFUSIVITIES ?? ? 10?2 M2 S?1 EXTENDING 20 KM DOWNSTREAM OF THE SEAMOUNT. THE SIX-MONTH LONG MOORING TIME-SERIES IN THE LEE OF THE SEAMOUNT WILL ALLOW THE SEPARATION OF SUBINERTIAL AND INTERNAL-WAVE FLUCTUATIONS TO RESOLVE POSSIBLE TIME-SPACE ALIASING. THESE WILL GENERALLY IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF NONLINEAR FLOW-TOPOGRAPHY INTERACTIONS IN THE OCEAN. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD. | $181.4K | FY2024 | Jan 2024 – Dec 2025 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SHINE: DRIVING SOLAR MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC (MHD) SIMULATIONS WITH VECTOR MAGNETOGRAM SEQUENCES | $177.5K | FY2006 | May 2006 – Apr 2010 |
| National Science Foundation | THERMOSPHERIC RESPONSES TO GRAVITY WAVES DISSIPATED BY MOLECULAR VISCOSITY AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY | $177.1K | FY2006 | Jun 2006 – May 2009 |
| National Science Foundation | CEDAR POSTDOC: NUMERICAL MODELING OF MESOSPHERIC BORES, NONLINEAR DUCTED WAVES, AND INTERPRETATION OF OBSERVATIONS IN THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE | $173.3K | FY2009 | Sep 2009 – Aug 2011 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENC | $166.2K | FY2026 | Feb 2026 – Jan 2030 |
| National Science Foundation | CEDAR POSTDOC: METEORIC SMOKE STUDIES AT HIGH LATITUDE USING THE POKER FLAT ISR | $165.3K | FY2009 | Sep 2009 – Aug 2011 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | AMBULATORY DETECTION OF ASYMPTOMATIC ATRIAL FIBRILLATION | $164.9K | FY2008 | May 2008 – Apr 2009 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATING THERMAL STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS, AND DEHYDRATION IN THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE LAYER WITH FIBER OPTIC TEMPERATURE PROFILING FROM STRATEOLE-2 BALLOONS | $164K | FY2017 | Feb 2017 – Jan 2023 |
| National Science Foundation | OBSERVATIONS AND NUMERICAL MODELING OF ROTOR DYNAMICS | $158.5K | FY2006 | Feb 2006 – Jan 2009 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | PROBING THE DEEP, PONDEROUS FLOWS: MEASUREMENT AND MODELING OF THE SOLAR MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION THE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN | $155.5K | FY2016 | Apr 2016 – Mar 2019 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE TOPOLOGY OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD IS DETERMINED IN PART BY THE PRESENCE OF MAGNETIC NULL POINTS, MAKING THEM OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE IN UN | $146K | FY2014 | Mar 2014 – — |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE OBJECTIVE OF SDO IS TO INVESTIGATE AND UNDERSTAND THE LIFECYCLE OF THE SOLAR MAGNETIC FIELD. TO THIS END ONE OF THE INSTRUMENTS ON SDO (THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER OR HMI) PRODUCES GLOBAL MAPS OF THE SURFACE VECTOR MAGNETIC FIELD OF THE SUN. THESE MAPS ARE USED FOR MODELING OF THE SOLAR MAGNETIC FIELD INCLUDING HOW THE EFFECTS OF SOLAR ERUPTIONS PROPAGATE TO AND AFFECT THE EARTH AND SPACE?BASED ASSETS. THE NOISE PROPERTIES OF THESE GLOBAL MAPS ARE A NECESSARY INPUT TO THE ASSIMILATIVE MODELS USED FOR THAT PROPAGATION BUT THOSE PROPERTIES ARE POORLY UNDERSTOOD. THE GLOBAL MODELS THAT DEPEND ON THESE MAPS ARE USED TO DETERMINE THE MOTION OF MAGNETIC FIELD AND PLASMA THROUGHOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM. ALL ORBITAL ASSETS ARE AFFECTED BY THESE FIELDS AND PLASMA. UNDERSTANDING WHEN AND WHERE THE FIELD AND PLASMA WILL BE IS ESSENTIAL TO PREDICTING THE EFFECTS ON OUR ASSETS AND SOCIETY. | $145.8K | FY2019 | Mar 2019 – Feb 2021 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MESOSCALE AND MICROSCALE FLOWS IN THE STABLE BOUNDARY LAYER OVER SHALLOW TERRAIN -ATMOSPHERIC FLOWS UNDER UNSTABLE CONDITIONS (E.G., SUNNY DAYS) ARE BETTER UNDERSTOOD THAN THAT UNDER STABLE CONDITIONS WHICH OFTEN OCCUR AT NIGHT. IF THE TERRAIN IS NOT PERFECTLY FLAT OR THE SURFACE IS VEGETATED, FLOWS BECOME EVEN MORE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND. THIS UNCERTAINTY MEANS NIGHTTIME WEATHER FORECASTS CAN LACK ACCURACY. THIS IS PARTICULARLY TRUE IN SLIGHTLY SLOPING TOPOGRAPHY AS SEEN THROUGH MUCH OF THE CENTRAL US. THIS PROJECT WILL ANSWER FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS QUESTIONS THAT EXIST FOR STABLE CONDITIONS OVER MUCH OF THE PLANET INCLUDING: HOW DO PLANT, TERRAIN, AND ELEVATION CHANGES IMPACT ATMOSPHERIC FLOWS? HOW DO THE IMPACTED ATMOSPHERIC FLOWS INTERACT WITH FLOWS FROM OTHER REGIONS? WHAT SPECIAL FLOWS (LIKE DOWN GULLY COLD AIR FLOW; FLOWS COLLIDING) EXIST IN GENTLY SLOPED AREAS? THIS PROJECT WILL USE PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED EXPERIMENTAL DATA TO DEDUCE EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIPS DEFINING WHEN, WHERE, AND WHY THESE PHENOMENA ARE LIKELY TO OCCUR. THIS IMPROVEMENT OF CURRENT THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS WILL FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF NIGHTTIME POLLUTANT TRANSPORT AND TRANSFORMATION. PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY CAN BENEFIT FROM IMPROVED QUANTITATIVE PREDICTION OF TRANSPORT OF CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL HAZARDOUS POLLUTION. THE AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY WILL BENEFIT FROM INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES CONTROLLING FIELD-SCALE TEMPERATURE, INCLUDING THOSE AFFECTING CROP HEALTH AND THOSE LEADING TO PATCHES OF FROST AND SUBSEQUENT CROP LOSS, A MAJOR CHALLENGE IN ENSURING GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY. USING UNIQUE OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE NSF FUNDED STABLE ATMOSPHERIC VARIABILITY AND TRANSPORT (SAVANT) CAMPAIGN, THIS WORK WILL LEAD TO AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF IMPACTS OF SHALLOW COMPLEX TERRAIN ON MECHANICAL AND THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF THE STABLE BOUNDARY LAYER AND TO FILL THE KNOWLEDGE GAP IN SCALE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL AND LOCAL FLOWS, SPECIFICALLY WITH RESPECT TO FLOW PATTERNS THAT OCCUR IN SHALLOW TOPOGRAPHY. SAVANT COLLECTED CONCURRENT IN-SITU AND REMOTE SENSING OBSERVATIONS DURING TWO INTENSIVE MONTHS IN THE FALL OF 2018. THE FIELD SETUP WAS DESIGNED TO INVESTIGATE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF COLD AIR DRAINAGE (DOWN GULLY) FLOW IN A SHALLOW GULLY. TRACER PLUME RELEASES TRACKED WITH MULTIPLE LIDAR (LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING) SYSTEMS OFFER THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO EXAMINE INTERACTING FLOWS AT MULTIPLE SPATIAL SCALES. TWO CRITICAL FACTORS FOR STABLE-LAYER TURBULENT MIXING IN COMPLEX TERRAIN, WIND SHEAR AND THE STABLE STRATIFICATION, WILL BE USED TO STRATIFY OBSERVATIONS TO DESCRIBE THE MOST ENERGETIC TURBULENCE EDDIES USING THE TOWER DATA WITHIN AND ABOVE THE MAIN GULLY, AUGMENTED BY SPATIAL SHEAR OBSERVATIONS FROM LIDARS. VERTICAL SCALING FACTORS FOR TURBULENT EDDIES AND THE INFLUENCES OF DRAINAGE FLOWS WILL BE INVESTIGATED. FACTORS LEADING TO NON-UNIFORM DRAINAGE FLOWS (I.E., PULSING, MEANDERING, AND CONVERGING FLOWS) WILL BE DETAILED. THE UNIQUE COMBINATION OF TOWER AND 3-D LIDAR OBSERVATIONS WILL ALLOW FOR IMPROVED PARAMETERIZATIONS OF ENERGY AND MASS EXCHANGES, WHICH WILL IMPROVE PREDICTIVE MODEL CAPABILITIES. 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. | $144.1K | FY2022 | Aug 2022 – Jul 2025 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | TO COMPUTE THE LORENTZ FORCE DENSITY WE PROPOSE TO RETRIEVE THE VARIATION IN HEIGHT (AS WELL AS LATERAL SPACE) OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD VECTOR THROUGH THE USE OF ESTABLISHED INVERSION CODES APPLIED TO HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION POLARIMETRIC DATA ACQUIRED BY THE HINODE/SOT SPECTROPOLARIMETER. BY RETRIEVING THE HEIGHT VARIATION OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE FULL CURRENT DENSITY AND THUS GENERATE MAPS OF THE LORENTZ FORCE DENSITY ITSELF WITHOUT MAKING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD. WE WILL EMPLOY THE NICOLE INVERSION CODE BUT DEVELOP IMPROVED IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES WITH THE GOAL OF MORE ROUTINE PRODUCTION OFHEIGHT DEPENDENT INVERSION PRODUCTS. THE ACTIVE REGION TARGETS FOR THIS PROJECT HAVE HINODE/SP SCANS TAKEN BEFORE AND AFTER A SELECTION OF MAJOR FLARES THAT VARY IN THEIR FLARE-RELATED ACOUSTIC ACTIVITY. | $141.8K | FY2016 | Jun 2016 – — |
| National Science Foundation | ROLE OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN CO2 SINK | $135K | FY2014 | Jul 2014 – Dec 2015 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE PROCESS OF FORMING A SOLAR ACTIVE REGION IS A FUNDAMENTAL ONE, YET SURPRISINGLY LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT ITS NATURE. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST ARE DETE | $121.4K | FY2016 | Apr 2016 – — |
| National Science Foundation | RAPID: MICROSTRUCTURE OBSERVATIONS OF RAPID SURFACE FRESHENING IN THE LABRADOR SEA | $106.6K | FY2010 | May 2010 – Apr 2011 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATING THE PHYSICAL ORIGINS OF SPATIAL STATISTICAL SCALING IN PEAK STREAMFLOWS FROM EVENT TO ANNUAL TIME SCALES | $103.4K | FY2010 | Jun 2010 – May 2012 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE REASEARCH: CEDAR--GRAVITY WAVE MOMENTUM FLUXES AND INSTABILITY STUDIES USING COUPLED LIDAR, TEMPERATURE MAPPER AND MODELING STUDIES AT | $102.2K | FY2011 | Feb 2011 – Oct 2012 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CHARACTERIZING SOURCES OF INFRAGRAVITY WAVES AND THE EARTH'S HUM USING DATA FROM THE CASCADIA AMPHIBIOUS ARRAY | $99.4K | FY2015 | Aug 2015 – Jul 2017 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | WE PROPOSE SATELLITE OBSERVATIONAL ANALYSIS AND MODELING STUDIES TO INFORM THE ROLES OF GRAVITY WAVE DYNAMICS ON CHEMICAL TRANSPORT WHICH HAVE IMPACTS ON STRATOSPHERIC CHEMICAL LIFETIMES STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE VARIABILITY IN RADIATIVELY ACTIVE GASES AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON CLIMATE. WHILE THE TRADITIONAL VIEW OF STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT PRIMARILY HIGHLIGHTS THE ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVES IN DRIVING THE MESOSPHERIC CIRCULATION RECENT RESEARCH HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVE DRAG DIRECTLY IN THE STRATOSPHERE AND ADDITIONAL RESEARCH SUGGESTS IMPORTANT ROLES IN FINE-SCALE STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE PROCESSES. THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL UTILIZE A VARIETY OF NASA SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS INCLUDING RECORDS LONGER THAN A DECADE TO ADDRESS PROCESSES WITHIN LOCAL EVENTS AS WELL AS LONG-TERM GLOBAL VARIABILITY. OUR WORK VERY DIRECTLY ADDRESSES ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS FOR THE COMING DECADE REPORTED FOLLOWING THE 2014 WORKSHOP ON ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION CHEMISTRY DYNAMICS AND RADIATION AT NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER NAMELY WHAT ROLE DO GRAVITY WAVES PLAY IN DRIVING THE LARGE-SCALE CIRCULATION? SPECIFIC TO THE AURA SCIENCE TEAM/ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION MODELING AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM (AST/ACMAP) ANNOUNCEMENT THE WORK FOCUSES ON MEASUREMENTS FROM THE HIGH RESOLUTION DYNAMICS LIMB SOUNDER (HIRDLS) AND MICROWAVE LIMB SOUNDER (MLS) INSTRUMENTS ON AURA TOGETHER WITH OTHER SATELLITE-BASED PRODUCTS AND PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED IDEALIZED MODEL TOOLS TO CONSTRAIN REGIONAL GRAVITY WAVE DRAG EVENTS STUDY THEIR DYNAMICAL INTERACTIONS WITH ROSSBY WAVES AND ASSESS EFFECTS IN CHEMICAL TRACER MEASUREMENTS. GRAVITY WAVE DRAG IS ONE COMPONENT OF THE WAVE-DRIVEN FORCE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GLOBAL STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT CIRCULATION THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION NAMED FOR THE PIONEERING WORK OF A.W. BREWER AND G.M.B. DOBSON WHO INFERRED THIS GLOBAL EQUATOR-TOPOLE CIRCULATION FROM MEASUREMENTS OF OZONE AND WATER VAPOR. THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION HAS A RANGE OF IMPACTS ON ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND CLIMATE. TO FIRST ORDER IT EXPLAINS THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE AGE OF STRATOSPHERIC AIR WHICH HAS IMPORTANT EFFECTS ON THE LIFETIMES OF OZONE-DEPLETING SUBSTANCES AND SOME GREENHOUSE GASES. IT HAS A DOMINANT INFLUENCE ON THE TEMPERATURE OF THE VERY COLD TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE AND CORRESPONDING INFLUENCES ON TROPICAL CIRRUS CLOUDS AND GLOBAL WATER VAPOR WITH ASSOCIATED RADIATIVE EFFECTS AND ROLE IN SURFACE TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY. IN GENERAL THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION DESCRIBES THE RECIRCULATION PATHWAYS AND THE PROCESSING TIME OF CHEMICAL TRACERS THROUGH THE STRATOSPHERE AND THEIR EVENTUAL RETURN TO THE TROPOSPHERE THEREBY ALSO COMPRISING A MAJOR COMPONENT OF STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE. THE CURRENT PARADIGM REPRESENTED IN THE WAY SMALL-SCALE GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PROCESSES ARE TREATED IN GLOBAL MODELS SUGGESTS THAT ONLY OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG AFFECTS THE STRATOSPHERE WHILE WAVES FROM OTHER SOURCES LIKE CONVECTION PRIMARILY ONLY AFFECT THE MESOSPHERE DIRECTLY. RECENT OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE TELLS A VERY DIFFERENT STORY: INFREQUENT BUT VERY LARGE AMPLITUDE NON-OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVES CARRY A LARGE FRACTION OF THE CIRCULATION-DRIVING FLUX UPWARD ACROSS THE TROPOPAUSE. HENCE THESE LARGE EVENTS VERY LIKELY FORCE THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE DIRECTLY WITH LOCALIZED INTERMITTENT DRAG FORCES. SUCH REALISTIC GRAVITY WAVE-DRIVEN FORCES IN THE STRATOSPHERE ARE NOT CURRENTLY REPRESENTED IN GLOBAL MODELS. OUR WORK WILL QUANTIFY THESE EVENTS USING AURA AND OTHER SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS EXAMINE THEIR INTERACTION WITH LARGER-SCALE SYNOPTIC AND PLANETARY WAVES AND INVESTIGATE THEIR EFFECTS ON CHEMICAL TRACERS IN THE STRATOSPHERE. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT REALISTICALLY INTERMITTENT GRAVITY WAVE DRAG WILL GIVE RISE TO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE VARIABILITY IN CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELS THAN IS CURRENTLY REPRESENTED WITHIN THE CURRENT PARADIGM. | $88.9K | FY2017 | Feb 2017 – — |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BASIC STUDIES IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL TROPICAL CYCLONE INTENSIFICATION | $83.1K | FY2017 | Aug 2017 – Jun 2022 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HEATING THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE THROUGH PLASMA TURBULENCE | $80K | FY2015 | Jul 2015 – Jun 2018 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | A DETAILED GLOBAL REPRESENTATION OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE STRATOSPHERE COMPRISING AVAILABLE OBSERVATIONS AND ADVANCED MODELING IS IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING STRATOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY RADIATIVE FORCING AND INDIRECTLY VIA ITS TRANSPORT EFFECTS DYNAMICS. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO TO DEVELOP THE CAPABILITY TO ASSIMILATE SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS OF WATER VAPOR | $77K | FY2020 | Apr 2020 – Jun 2021 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PFISR ION-NEUTRAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE THERMOSPHERE (PINOT) | $75K | FY2013 | Oct 2012 – Sep 2015 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR--LIFE CYCLE OF THE QUASI TWO-DAY WAVE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE | $74.9K | FY2016 | Mar 2016 – Feb 2019 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PREDICTIVE UNDERSTANDING OF WILDFIRE SPOTTING AND SMOKE TRANSPORT WITHIN THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER -THE RAPID SPREAD OF WILDFIRES AND ASSOCIATED SMOKE PLUMES UNDERMINES THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF COMMUNITIES, THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FIREFIGHTING EFFORTS, AND COMPLICATES THE EVACUATION OF RESIDENTS. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO GAIN PREDICTIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES FOR RAPID WILDFIRE SPREADS. THIS WILL HELP TO GUIDE FIREFIGHTERS TO MORE SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY SUPPRESS FIRES WITH AN IMPROVED ADAPTATION TO DIVERSE SURROUNDING ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS. THE PREDICTIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS CONDUCTIVE TO RE-ENTRY OF SMOKE PLUMES BACK TO THE GROUND WILL HELP DEVELOP NEW TOOLS AND ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY OF PRACTITIONERS TO OPEN THE ?WINDOW OF PRESCRIPTION? FOR PRESCRIBED FIRE. THIS PROJECT WILL ENGAGE WITH NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER WORKSHOPS TO DEMONSTRATE THE IMPACT OF FIRE-GENERATED TURBULENT FLOWS ON SURFACE SMOKE DISPERSION, SPOTTING, AND FIRE SPREAD. LOCAL AND REGIONAL AGENCIES WILL BE EXPOSED DIRECTLY TO NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN WILDLAND FIRE RESEARCH THROUGH WORKSHOPS AND SITE VISITS. THIS PROJECT WILL TRAIN TWO PH.D. STUDENTS AND A POSTDOC IN FIELDS OF ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS, MODELING, AND DATA SCIENCE. THE RESEARCH FINDINGS WILL BE COMMUNICATED TO THE SCIENCE COMMUNITY VIA PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS AND TO COLLEGE STUDENTS VIA CLASSROOM TEACHING AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT. THE INNOVATION OF THIS PROJECT LIES IN THE CONSOLIDATION OF COMMON CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN TWO DISTINCT PHENOMENA?NATURALLY OCCURRING DENSITY CURRENTS AND FIRE-GENERATED WARM PLUMES. THIS ALLOWS FOR A DIRECT APPLICATION OF THE PHYSICAL UNDERSTANDING OF OBSERVED LARGE-SCALE TURBULENT FLOWS IN NATURALLY OCCURRING DENSITY CURRENTS TO THE RAPID GROWTH OF BILLOWS IN FIRE SMOKE PLUMES BY CONSIDERING ADDITIONAL PHYSICAL FACTORS THAT ARE UNIQUE TO FIRE-GENERATED PLUMES, SUCH AS NON-HYDROSTATIC CONDITIONS AND THERMAL EXPANSION. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS OF THIS RESEARCH LINKS RAPID ADVANCEMENT OF WILDFIRES TO THE RAPID NON-MODAL GROWTH OF LARGE-SCALE KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ BILLOWS BENEATH FIRE-GENERATED BUOYANT PLUMES. IN CONCERT WITH THE CONTINUOUS SURFACE FIRE SPREAD, SPOTTING OCCURS AS AIRBORNE BURNING EMBERS ENTER LARGE-SCALE BILLOW-LIKE TURBULENT EDDIES WITHIN SMOKE PLUMES. THE RAPID FALLING OF AIRBORNE BURNING EMBERS BACK TO THE GROUND IGNITE NEW FIRES AT A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE DOWNSTREAM FROM THE EXISTING FIRE FRONT. ADDITIONALLY, UNDER CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, SUCCESSIVE LARGE-SCALE BILLOW-LIKE TURBULENT EDDIES CAN CAUSE ELEVATED SMOKE CONCENTRATION NEAR THE GROUND OVER CONSIDERABLE DISTANCES FROM THE PRESCRIBED FIRE SITE. THIS PROJECT WILL PERFORM NON-MODAL INSTABILITY ANALYSIS OF FIRE SMOKE PLUMES TO DELINEATE THE KEY PROCESSES RESPONSIBLE FOR RAPID GROWTH OF BILLOW-LIKE LARGE-SCALE TURBULENT FLOWS UNDER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS. THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL UTILIZE LARGE-SCALE EDDY SIMULATIONS TO VALIDATE THE RESULTS OF NON-MODAL INSTABILITY ANALYSIS AND INVESTIGATE THEIR UNDERLYING DYNAMICS AND THERMODYNAMIC PROCESSES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD. | $69.9K | FY2025 | Dec 2024 – Nov 2027 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CUBESAT--LOWER ATMOSPHERE/IONOSPHERE COUPLING EXPERIMENT (LAICE) | $69.9K | FY2013 | Jun 2013 – May 2016 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CHARACTERIZING SECONDARY GRAVITY WAVES AND INFLUENCES ON MOMENTUM TRANSPORT | $68.7K | FY2018 | Sep 2018 – Aug 2021 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SPRAY-MEDIATED GAS FLUXES ACROSS THE AIR-SEA INTERFACE | $64.6K | FY2014 | Jun 2014 – Apr 2016 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR: IDENTIFYING SOURCES OF MID-LATITUDE TRAVELING IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES | $64.2K | FY2015 | Jul 2015 – Jun 2018 |
| Department of the Interior | REPORTS OF MAGNETIC AND ATMOSPHERIC EARTHQUAKE PRECURSORS | $63.7K | FY2015 | May 2015 – Apr 2016 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | SPATIAL EMPIRICAL ORTHOGONAL FUNCTION (EOF) ANALYSIS WILL BE APPLIED TO MULTI-PLATFORM SATELLITE DATASETS TO DERIVE DIMENSION-REDUCED MODELS FOR SPAT | $63.4K | FY2010 | Mar 2010 – Jan 2014 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI I MEES SOLAR OBSERVATORY (MSO) CCD IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH [MCCD; 35] CREATED A UNIQUE DATABASE OF SOLAR ACTIVE REGION HA IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY SPANNING 1989 2007. IN 2016 NWRA WON A NASA/HDEE GRANT1 TO RESCUE THESE DATA FROM INACCESSIBLE STORAGE AND PROVIDE THEM TO THE COMMUNITY. THE EFFORT HAS PROVEN PRODUCTIVE SCIENTISTS ARE NOW EXCITED TO USE THE DATA AND THUS WE REQUEST FUNDING TO FINISH THE DATA RESCUE AND PROCESS THE DATA TO A RESEARCH-READY LEVEL. THE MCCD DATA HAVE COME TO THE ATTENTION OF RESEARCH GROUPS INVESTIGATING PRE-FLARE SIGNATURES FLARE CHROMOSPHERE PHYSICS AND ACTIVE REGION EVOLUTION. ACHIEVING UNFETTERED ACCESS TO THE MCCD DATA IN ORDER TO FACILITATE INVESTIGATIONS INTO THESE TOPICS ADDRESSES SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DIVISION ROADMAP AND THE DECADAL SURVEY. THE MCCD WAS INSTALLED AND TESTED WITH FUNDING FROM NASA GRANT NAGW 1542; ITS DAILY FLARE-MODE OPERATION AS PART OF YOHKOH GROUND-BASED SUPPORT WAS FUNDED BY LOCKHEED UNDER NASA CONTRACT NAS8-37334 WITH MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER AND YOHKOH CONTRACT NAS8-40801 AND ANALYSIS DURING ITS OPERATION WAS PERFORMED WITH FUNDING FROM VARIOUS NASA SR&T GRANTS ALTHOUGH GENERALLY LIMITED TO RESEARCHERS WITH ACCESS TO THE DATA TAPES. IN SHORT THE DATABASE OF FLARE-MODE OBSERVATIONS EXTENDING MORE THAN 15 YEARS TRULY COMPRISED A NASA-FUNDED MISSION . THE MCCD SYSTEM CENTERED ON A 3.0M COUD E SPECTROGRAPH FED BY A 25CM REFRACTING CORONALQUALITY TELESCOPE THAT WAS MOUNTED ON A SOLAR-TRACKING SPAR. IN THE DEFAULT FLARE-MODE OPERATION THE SYSTEM WAS OPTIMIZED FOR SPEED AND BROAD SPECTRAL COVERAGE OF THE PHOTOSPHERE AND CHROMOSPHERE: HA 10 A SPECTRA WERE OBTAINED AT 0.37 A SAMPLING WITH A SCANNING SLIT SUCH THAT AN 220 220 FIELD-OF-VIEW WITH 2.4 PIXELS COULD BE SCANNED EVERY 15S (SEE QUICK-LOOK IMAGE FIGURE 1). THE DETAILS OF CADENCE AND COVERAGE WERE GOVERNED BY THE SIZE OF THE ACTIVE REGION AND THUS THE NUMBER (TO BUILD THE X-DIRECTION) OF SLIT-POSITIONS ([L Y]) FOR EACH SCAN. TO ENSURE FAST CADENCE THE FLARE-MODE PERFORMED ON-CHIP BINNING IN BOTH THE SPATIAL AND SPECTRAL DIMENSION REDUCING THE RESOLUTION OVER THE NATIVE INSTRUMENT CAPABILITY BUT ALLOWING FOR GOOD COVERAGE OF DYNAMIC EVENTS. OTHER PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR-LED OBSERVING PROGRAMS TARGETED (E.G.) QUIESCENT FILAMENTS ACTIVE REGION EVOLUTION HELIOSEISMOLOGY CORONAL IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY AND WOULD USE DIFFERENT SET-UPS INCLUDING LINES AT DIFFERENT SPECTRAL REGIONS BINNING CADENCE EXPOSURE ETC.; THIS INFORMATION IS RECORDED IN THE FITS HEADERS. THE SYSTEM INCLUDED A QUAD-CELL IMAGE-STABILIZER WHICH COMPENSATED FOR BULK ATMOSPHERE-CAUSED IMAGE TRANSLATION AND A SLIT-JAW IMAGER WHICH ACQUIRED SIMULTANEOUS DIGITAL IMAGES OF THE FULL FIELD OF VIEW THROUGH A 1 AHA FILTER. ALL MCCD DATA WERE WRITTEN DIRECTLY TO MAGNETIC EXABYTE -STYLE TAPE WITH RUDIMENTARY FITS-STYLE HEADERS WHICH NOMINALLY CONTAIN POINTING COORDINATES AND SOME OPERATIONAL SPECIFICS. THE MCCD WAS ONE OF A SUITE OF INSTRUMENTS AT MEES SOLAR OBSERVATORY WHICH WERE RUN (FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE TIME) IN A DAILY FLARE-WATCH MODE TYPICALLY TARGETING THE MOST ACTIVE OR FLARE-PRODUCTIVE ACTIVE REGION ON ANY GIVEN DAY (OFTEN COORDINATING WITH THE MAXMILLENIUM TARGET SELECTION [4]). CRUCIAL PRE-EVENT DATA ARE THUS GENERALLY AVAILABLE (FOR WHATEVER APPROPRIATE EVENT MAY BE THE TARGET) AS ARE THE DECAY PHASES. THESE DATA PROVIDE A WEALTH OF PHYSICAL INFORMATION DUE TO THE HIGH CADENCE FULL SPECTRAL-LINE SAMPLING AND DAILY ACQUISITION. THEY REPRESENT A UNIQUE LONG-RUNNING DATASET UNMATCHED BY ANY FORMER OR PRESENTLY-OPERATING FACILITY. | $60.5K | FY2018 | Sep 2018 – Dec 2019 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | INVESTIGATING SOLAR SUPERGRANULATION WITH LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC ANALYSIS OF SDO/HMI DATA. SUPERGRANULATION IS A DISTINCT CELLULAR PATTERN OF FLOWS, DI | $58.2K | FY2017 | Dec 2016 – — |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE MECHANISMS BY WHICH DISTURBANCES IN ONE REGION OF THE ATMOSPHERE PRODUCE A RESPONSE IN A DISTANT REGION. OUR INTEREST IS TO EXAMINE THE SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF VARIOUS LARGE AMPLITUDE WAVES ON THE MLT: THE QUASI TWO-DAY WAVE (2DW); THE NONMIGRATING SEMIDIURNAL TIDE (SWT) NONLINEARLY GENERATED THROUGH INTERACTION OF THE MIGRATING SW2 AND WINTER PLANETARY WAVES; THE TOTALITY OF THE TROPICAL WAVE SPECTRUM. WE WILL EXAMINE THE FULL LIFE CYCLE OF THESE THREE WAVE PHENOMENA: SOURCE PROPAGATION CHARACTERISTICS AND THE GLOBAL EFFECT OF THEIR DISSIPATION ON MEAN FLOW AND MEAN MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION (MMC). MMCS FORCED BY TRANSIENT MOMENTUM DEPOSITION INTO A MEAN FLOW SUBJECT TO DIFFUSIVE MECHANISMS CAN EXTEND LATERALLY FAR FROM THE FORCING REGION AND CONTAIN UPWARD CIRCULATION CELLS. THE MMC GENERATED BY THE 2DW IS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST. AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT REQUIRES UNDERSTANDING ITS EXCITATION MECHANISMS. THE SWT IS A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF WAVE PROPAGATION FROM THE WINTER STRATOSPHERE TO THE SUMMER POLAR MESOSPHERE WHERE ITS WIND COMPONENTS HAVE STRONG MAGNITUDE. TROPICAL WAVES THAT DEPOSIT MOMENTUM IN THE THERMOSPHERE ARE FILTERED BY A MEAN FLOW THAT VARIES ON MULTIPLE TIME SCALES AND WHICH IS SUBJECT TO FORCING BY WINTER HEMISPHERE PW. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS T) DOES THE EXISTENCE OF THE 2DW DEPEND ON THE BAROCLINIC/BAROTROPIC INSTABILITY OF THE SUMMER MESOSPHERE MEAN FLOW? WHAT ROLE DO TROPICAL OR SYNOPTIC WAVES PLAY IN THE EXCITATION OF THE 2DW? HOW DOES THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE 2DW CONTRIBUTE TO THE MMC OVER THE SUMMER POLE? 2) WHAT ARE THE DETAILS OF THE FORCING OF SWT THROUGH NONLINEAR INTERACTION BETWEEN PWT AND SW2? HOW DOES THE STRUCTURE OF THE MEAN FLOW CONTROL THE TRANSMISSION OF SWT? WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE MMC FORCED BY THE DISSIPATION OF SWT? 3) TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE FILTERING OF TROPICAL WAVES BY THE SSAO MODULATE THE MSAO? DO SEASONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE MSAO CONTRIBUTE THROUGH LATERAL EXTENSION OF THE MMC TO VARIABILITY AT THE POLES AND ASYMMETRY BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SUMMER CONDITIONS? METHODOLOGY OUR DATA TOOL WILL BE SABER TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS SUPPLEMENTED BY MLS TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS OVER THE POLE NOT COVERED BY SABER. SATELLITE TEMPERATURES WILL BE UTILIZED FOR ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS WAVES. THESE WAVE DEFINITIONS WILL PROVIDE GUIDANCE FOR SELECTING CASE STUDIES AND THE VALIDATION OF NUMERICALLY PREDICTED MERIDIONAL CIRCULATIONS VIA SHORT-TERM CHANGES IN THE ZONAL MEAN TEMPERATURE. OUR MODELLING TOOLS WILL BE: T) A SPECIFIED DYNAMICS MECHANISTIC WAVE MODEL FORCED WITH TROPICAL AND SOLAR HEATING WITH MEAN FLOW AND STATIONARY PW DERIVED FROM OBSERVATIONS. IT WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE THE 2DW LIFE CYCLE ASPECTS OF MSAO DYNAMICS RELATED TO TROPICAL WAVE PROPAGATION AND DEPOSITION NONMIGRATING TIDE PROPAGATION THROUGH MEAN FLOW VARIATIONS AND NONLINEAR TIDE GENERATION. 2) A TIME-DEPENDENT ZONALLY SYMMETRIC TRANSFORMED EULERIAN MEAN MODEL FORCED BY THE EP FLUX DIVERGENCE CALCULATED FROM THE MODEL OR DATA STUDIES TO CALCULATE THE MMC AND MEAN FLOW PERTURBATION THAT RESULT FROM THE WAVE FORCING. SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE TO NASA OBJECTIVES OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDY WILL QUANTIFY THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF WAVE DRIVEN CIRCULATIONS TO GLOBAL TELECONNECTIONS. THIS WILL ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE; NEUTRAL ATMOSPHERE FORCING OF THE IONOSPHERE; PMC AS GLOBAL CHANGE PROXIES. WE ADDRESS KEY NASA DECADAL SURVEY SCIENCE GOALS: DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS; DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. OUR PROPOSED WORK IS PERTINENT TO SCIENCE GOAL AIMI-2 METEOROLOGICAL DRIVING OF THE IT SYSTEM: HOW DOES LOWER ATMOSPHERE VARIABILITY AFFECT GEOSPACE? | $57.1K | FY2017 | Jun 2017 – — |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE INTERNAL AND SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS SUCH AS SUNSPOTS AND PLAGE. THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH A COMBINATION OF LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC DATA ANALYSIS AND THEORETICAL MODELING OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN SOLAR OSCILLATIONS AND MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS. WE WILL DEVELOP MODELS FOR THE INTERNAL AND SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS THAT ARE CONSISTENT WITH BOTH LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC MEASUREMENTS AND MEASUREMENTS OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD AT THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE. TO MAKE THESE MEASUREMENTS WE WILL USE THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) ON THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO). TO DETERMINE THE INTERNAL AND SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS WE WILL TAKE THE FOLLOWING APPROACH: (1) CONSTRUCT A SET OF MAGNETOHYDROSTATIC MODELS FOR A GIVEN MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATION USING THE MAGNETIC FIELD OBSERVED AT THE PHOTOSPHERE AS A CONSTRAINT. (2) USE NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF WAVE INTERACTIONS WITH THE MAGNETOHYDROSTATIC MODELS TO GENERATE SYNTHETIC HELIOSEISMIC DATA. (3) APPLY HELIOSEISMIC MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES TO BOTH THE OBSERVATIONAL DATA AND THE SYNTHETIC DATA. (4) SELECT THE MODELS THAT PROVIDE THE BEST AGREEMENT WITH OBSERVATIONS. THIS APPROACH WILL BE VALIDATED USING ARTIFICIAL DATA FROM REALISTIC MAGNETOCONVECTION SIMULATIONS WHERE THE SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF THE MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATION IS KNOWN. | $52.2K | FY2018 | Nov 2017 – — |
| Department of the Interior | STUDY OF INONSPHERIC-PRECURSORY SIGNALS TO LARGE EARTHQUAKES | $50.7K | FY2011 | Jul 2011 – Jun 2012 |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: VORTEX DYNAMICS AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY IN THE LABRADOR SEA | $47.8K | FY2010 | May 2010 – Feb 2011 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE PRESENT PROPOSAL WILL PRODUCE CALCULATIONS OF THE SOLAR SPECTRAL IRRADIANCE (SSI) USING THE SRPM MODEL OVER HISTORICAL PERIODS. THE DATA FOR TH | $39.9K | FY2017 | Dec 2016 – — |
| National Science Foundation | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF SMALL-SCALE STIRRING: INTERNAL WAVES, DIAPYCNAL MIXING, AND HORIZONTAL FINE STRUCTURE | $39K | FY2007 | Oct 2006 – Sep 2009 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THIS IS A REQUEST FOR A MODEST NASA SUPPORT FOR THE PAN OCEAN REMOTE SENSING CONFERENCE (PORSEC) AND ASSOCIATED TUTORIAL COURSE AND WORKSHOPS TO BE U | $38.1K | FY2010 | Jul 2010 – Jan 2014 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | DATA SERVICES UPGRADE: THE MEES CCD HALPHA IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY DATABASE THE U. HAWAII MEES CCD IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH ("MCCD", PENN ET AL, 1991) CR | $34.7K | FY2016 | Aug 2016 – — |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING STUDIES REVEAL LARGE UNCERTAINTIES IN CHANGES IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERIC/LOWER STRATOSPHERIC (UTLS) JETS AND THE TROPOPAUSE. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE UTLS JETS AND THE TROPOPAUSE TO TRACE GAS DISTRIBUTIONS IS CRITICAL TO ASSESSING THE COMPOSITION OF THE UTLS AND ITS RADIATIVE IMPACTS. WE WILL USE ANALYSES OF THE CLIMATOLOGY AND VARIABILITY OF UTLS TRACE GASES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE JETS AND TROPOPAUSE BASED ON AURA AND COMPLEMENTARY SATELLITE DATASETS TO ASSESS THE REPRESENTATION OF UTLS COMPOSITION IN CLIMATE MODELS AND DATA ASSIMILATION SYSTEMS. SPECIFICALLY WE WILL: TASK 1: CARRY OUT COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES OF TRACE-GAS DISTRIBUTIONS IN RELATION TO THE UTLS JETS AND THE TROPOPAUSE USING DATA FROM THE AURA INSTRUMENTS AND OTHER SATELLITE DATASETS. TASK 2: USE RESULTS FROM TASK 1 TO ASSESS THE REPRESENTATION OF UTLS OZONE AND OTHER TRACES GASES IN DATA ASSIMILATION SYSTEMS (DAS) BOTH FOR LONG-TERM REANALYSES AND SHORTER-TERM ANALYSES THAT FOCUS ON PROCESS STUDIES AND DAS IMPROVEMENTS. TASK 3: DEVELOP AND APPLY METHODS FOR EVALUATING UTLS COMPOSITION IN CHEMISTRY CLIMATE MODELS (CCMS) BY COMPARING WITH SATELLITE DATA USING THE JET/TROPOPAUSE VIEW. INFORMATION CHARACTERIZING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF MEASUREMENTS TO THE UTLS JETS AND TROPOPAUSE HAS BEEN CATALOGED FOR THE AURA MICROWAVE LIMB SOUNDER (MLS) AND HIGH RESOLUTION DYNAMICS LIMB SOUNDER (HIRDLS) INSTRUMENTS AND THE ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT FOURIER TRANSFORM SPECTROMETER (ACE-FTS). SIMILAR INFORMATION WILL BE PRODUCED FOR THE AURA TROPOSPHERIC EMISSION SPECTROMETER (TES) AND OZONE MONITORING INSTRUMENT (OMI) THE ODIN OPTICAL SPECTROGRAPH AND INFRARED IMAGING SYSTEM (OSIRIS) AND THE STRATOSPHERIC GAS AND AEROSOL EXPERIMENT (SAGE) MISSIONS. ANALYSES OF CLIMATOLOGY AND VARIABILITY IN TRACE GASES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE JETS AND TROPOPAUSE WILL COMBINE THESE COMPLEMENTARY DATASETS. DAS PRODUCTS TO BE ANALYZED INCLUDE COMMONLY-USED REANALYSES AND SEVERAL RESEARCH PRODUCTS. THE VALUE OF ASSIMILATING AURA MLS AND OMI DATA IN THE GODDARD EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM--VERSION 5 (GEOS-5) DAS WILL BE ASSESSED. DETAILED DAILY OUTPUT FROM THE GEOS-CCM AND THE CANADIAN MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE MODEL CCM (BOTH MODELS BEING USED IN STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE PROCESSES AND THEIR ROLE IN CLIMATE CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODEL INITIATIVE CCMI) FOR LIMITED PERIODS INCLUDING THE AURA MISSION WILL BE USED TO ASSESS HOW THE DAILY DIAGNOSTICS PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED CAN BE ADAPTED TO CHARACTERIZE UTLS COMPOSITION IN FULL SUITE OF CCMI MODELS FOR WHICH MORE LIMITED OUTPUT WILL BE AVAILABLE. | $33.9K | FY2018 | Nov 2017 – — |
| National Science Foundation | INTERNATIONAL: STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN A UNIQUE METEOR RADAR FOR ATMOSPHERIC STUDIES IN ARGENTINA | $32.6K | FY2008 | Aug 2008 – Jul 2011 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | THE ENERGY TO POWER SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS MUST ULTIMATELY ORIGINATE AT OR BELOW THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE AND IS LIKELY TO BUILD UP IN THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD BEFORE RELEASE IN AN EVENT. IN ORDER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND FLARES AND CMES IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY STORED IN THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD. ONE OF THE MAJOR CHALLENGES IN ESTIMATING THE CORONAL ENERGY IS THAT THE RESULTS CANNOT EASILY BE TESTED ON DATA FOR WHICH THE ANSWER IS KNOWN. HOWEVER BY COMPARING THE FLUX INTO AND OUT OF THE CORONA WITH ESTIMATES OF THE ENERGY AT SPECIFIC TIMES OBTAINED FROM A VARIETY OF APPROACHES WE CAN CONSTRAIN THE RESULTS OF THE METHODS. FOR EXAMPLE IF THE FLUX INTO THE CORONA SUBSTANTIALLY EXCEEDS THE FLUX OUT OF THE CORONA OVER AN EXTENDED TIME INTERVAL THEN EITHER THE INPUT FLUX IS BEING OVERESTIMATED OR THE OUTPUT FLUX IS BEING UNDERESTIMATED. THE PROPOSED WORK ADDRESSES THE FIRST AND FOURTH HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY 1. "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" AND 4. "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL MODEL HOW THE ENERGY WHICH POWERS SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS IS STORED IN THE CORONA AND MAY LEAD TO NEW TOOLS FOR PREDICTING THE VARIATIONS IN THE X-RAY FLUX IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT. INSOFAR AS OTHER STARS ALSO HAVE MAGNETIZED CORONAE IT MAY CHARACTERIZE A PROCESS OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. TO TRACK THE FLOW OF FREE ENERGY THROUGH THE PHOTOSPHERE WE WILL USE DAVE4VM TO ESTIMATE THE PHOTOSPHERIC FLOWS AND FROM THESE COMPUTE THE POYNTING FLUX INTO THE CORONA. TO ESTIMATE THE ENERGY IN THE CORONA AT A GIVEN TIME WE WILL USE NONLINEAR FORCE-FREE FIELD (NLFFF) EXTRAPOLATIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL MAGNETOGRAMS. IN ADDITION WE WILL MODEL THE EVOLUTION OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD USING A SEQUENCE OF MAGNETOGRAMS AS THE BOUNDARY CONDITION FOR AN MHD SIMULATION AND A TOPOLOGICAL METHOD; THE CORONAL ENERGY FROM THESE INDEPENDENT METHODS CAN BE EVALUATED AT THE SAME TIMES AS THE NLFFF EXTRAPOLATIONS. FINALLY WE WILL ESTIMATE THE ENERGY LOST FROM THE CORONA. THE RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE LOSSES FOR EXAMPLE CAN BE ESTIMATED BASED ON DOING A DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE ANALYSIS TO EXTRACT CORONAL TEMPERATURE AND DENSITY ESTIMATES AND USING THESE TO ESTIMATE RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE LOSSES. FOR THIS INVESTIGATION WE WILL CONSIDER A SMALL SAMPLE OF ACTIVE REGIONS ON THE ORDER OF TEN AND FOCUS ON REGIONS WHICH ARE NOT THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLICATED TO MAXIMIZE THE CHANCES OF SUCCESSFULLY MODELING THEM. WE WILL FOLLOW EACH REGION FOR AT LEAST A WEEK TRACKING THE FLUX OF ENERGY INTO THE CORONA AND THE ENERGY RELEASED FROM THE CORONA AS WELL AS ESTIMATING THE ENERGY CONTENT OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD AT SPECIFIC TIMES. OUR INVESTIGATION WILL PRIMARILY UTILIZE DATA FROM NASA'S SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY BOTH SEQUENCES OF MAGNETOGRAMS FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) AND CORONAL IMAGES FROM THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY (AIA). THESE WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED BY MAGNETOGRAMS FROM THE SOLAR OPTICAL TELESCOPE (SOT) ON THE JOINT JAXA/NASA HINODE MISSION AND BY CORONAL IMAGES FROM HINODE'S X-RAY TELESCOPE (XRT). | $30.9K | FY2017 | Apr 2017 – — |
National Science Foundation
$1.1M
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FRAMEWORK: IMPROVING THE UNDERSTANDING AND REPRESENTATION OF ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVES USING HIGH-RESOLUTION OBSERVATIONS AND MACHINE LEARNING
Department of Defense
$1M
PREDICTING THE TURBULENT AIR-SEA SURFACE FLUXES, INCLUDING SPRAY EFFECTS, FROM WEAK TO STRONG WINDS
National Science Foundation
$1M
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL IMPACTS OF EDDIES ON INERTIAL OSCILLATIONS OF THE MIXED LAYER
National Science Foundation
$981.6K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL ESTIMATES OF ENERGY PATHWAYS AND STIRRING BY INTERNAL WAVES AND VORTICAL MODE
Department of Defense
$970.6K
A FINE-WIRE SENSOR ARRAY FOR GROUND-BASED AND AIRBORNE IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS OF OPTICAL TURBULENCE IN THE ATMOSPHERE
National Science Foundation
$958.2K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A CONSORTIUM OF RESONANCE AND RAYLEIGH LIDARS
National Science Foundation
$853.7K
TURBULENCE GENERATION IN COMMON NEAR-CALM CONDITIONS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$828.9K
ACTIVE REGION DYNAMICS AND THE VARIABILITY OF MERIDIONAL AND ZONAL FLOWS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$824.9K
INVESTIGATION OF THE SOURCES AND EFFECTS OF THE LARGE SCALE GRAVITY WAVES OBSERVED BY ICON MIGHTI IN THE QUIET TIME THERMOSPHERE
Department of Defense
$792.5K
CHICKEN VS. EGG, AGAIN: THE EARLY CHROMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS OF SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS
National Science Foundation
$773.9K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL ESTIMATION OF LAGRANGIAN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OCEAN CIRCULATION
National Science Foundation
$768.9K
STRATEOLE-2: ATMOSPHERIC WAVE INFLUENCES ON CIRRUS, WATER VAPOR, AND GLOBAL CIRCULATION NEAR THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE -THIS AWARD SUPPORTS ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS COLLECTED IN THE FIRST TWO DEPLOYMENTS OF THE STRATEOLE-2 FIELD CAMPAIGN, WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE WINTERS OF 2019/2020 (8 FLIGHTS) AND 2021/2022 (17 FLIGHTS). STRATEOLE-2 IS A LONG-DURATION BALLOONING CAMPAIGN ORGANIZED BY THE CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES (CNES), THE FRENCH NATIONAL SPACE AGENCY. THE BALLOONS WERE LAUNCHED FROM THE SEYCHELLES AND DRIFTED AROUND THE EQUATOR FOR UP TO TWO MONTHS FOLLOWING THE WINDS OF THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE. THE CAMPAIGN USED A VARIETY OF INSTRUMENTS TO OBSERVE THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE LAYER (TTL), THE TRANSITION ZONE BETWEEN THE TROPOSPHERE (THE DOMAIN OF CLOUDS, PRECIPITATION, AND WEATHER SYSTEMS) AND THE STRATOSPHERE (THE COLD AND DRY REGION ABOVE IT WHICH CONTAINS THE OZONE LAYER). A PRIMARY FOCUS OF STRATEOLE-2 IS GRAVITY WAVES, MEANING WAVE MOTIONS IN THE ATMOSPHERE FOR WHICH THE PRIMARY RESTORING FORCE IS GRAVITY. SUCH WAVES ARE GENERATED BY VERTICAL MOTIONS OCCURRING IN THE DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS OVER TROPICAL OCEANS BUT THEY CAN HAVE HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS MUCH LARGER THAN CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS, WITH SUFFICIENT EXTENT IN LATITUDE TO BE AFFECTED BY THE CORIOLIS FORCE AND ITS VARIATION WITH LATITUDE. THESE WAVES ARE OF INTEREST BECAUSE THEY PROVIDE THE VERTICAL TRANSPORT OF HORIZONTAL MOMENTUM WHICH DRIVES THE QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATION (QBO), A REVERSAL OF THE WINDS IN THE EQUATORIAL STRATOSPHERE THAT STARTS AT HIGH LEVELS AND DESCENDS OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS. THE UP-AND-DOWN MOTIONS IN THE WAVES ALSO AFFECT THE TEMPERATURE OF THE TTL, AND THE COLDER TEMPERATURES OCCURRING IN THE UPWARD DISPLACEMENTS PROMOTE THE CONDENSATION OF AMBIENT WATER VAPOR, PROMOTING THE FORMATION OF THIN CIRRUS CLOUDS WHICH BLOCK OUTGOING INFRARED RADIATION AND THUS HAVE AN EFFECT ON EARTH'S ENERGY BALANCE. THE FORMATION OF ICE PARTICLES IN CIRRUS CLOUDS ALSO REDUCES THE AMOUNT OF WATER VAPOR ENTERING THE STRATOSPHERE, WHERE IT HAS ADDITIONAL EFFECTS ON THE PLANETARY ENERGY BALANCE. WORK PERFORMED HERE FOCUSES SPECIFICALLY ON WAVES WHICH ARE LONG, WITH HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS OF PERHAPS 1,000KM, BUT SHALLOW, WITH VERTICAL WAVELENGTHS LESS THAN A KILOMETER, AND PERIODS OF A FEW DAYS. THE PROJECT TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE NSF-FUNDED SUITE OF INSTRUMENTS FLOWN IN THE DEPLOYMENTS, INCLUDING THE RADIO OCCULTATION RECEIVER (ROC) SUPPORTED UNDER AGS-1642650, THE FIBER OPTIC TEMPERATURE PROFILER (FLOATS) DEVELOPED UNDER AGS-1642277, AND THE REEL-DOWN INSTRUMENT PACKAGE (RACHUTS) DEVELOPED UNDER AGS-1643022. IT ALSO USES DATA FROM INSTRUMENTS DEVELOPED BY RESEARCHERS IN FRANCE, INCLUDING A BALLOON-BORNE LIDAR (BECOOL) AND AN INFRARED WATER VAPOR SENSOR (PICOSTRAT), AS WELL AS ONBOARD THERMOMETERS, BAROMETERS, AND GPS RECEIVERS. THESE DATA SOURCES ARE USED IN COMBINATION WITH SATELLITE DATA AND REANALYSIS PRODUCTS, AND SPECIALIZED SIMULATIONS WITH ENHANCED VERTICAL RESOLUTION ARE PERFORMED BY UNFUNDED COLLABORATORS AT THE EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS. ONE ISSUE TO BE ADDRESSED IS THE GENERATION OF THESE PANCAKE-LIKE WAVES, WHICH MUST SOMEHOW BE GENERATED BY LOCALIZED CONVECTION DESPITE THEIR LONG HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS. WORK ON MOMENTUM TRANSPORT CONSIDERS WAVE BREAKING AND SUBSEQUENT GENERATION OF TURBULENCE AS WELL AS THE CALCULATION OF WAVE MOMENTUM FLUX. THE WORK HAS BROADER IMPACTS THROUGH ITS POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVING THE REPRESENTATION OF THE QBO IN MODELS USED FOR LONG-RANGE WEATHER PREDICTION. MODELS HAVE DIFFICULTY REPRESENTING THE QBO, IN PART DUE TO THE DIFFICULTY OF REPRESENTING THE EFFECT OF GRAVITY WAVE MOMENTUM TRANSPORT, AND THE QBO PLAYS IMPORTANT ROLES IN MODULATING THE POTENTIALLY PREDICTABLE FORMS OF SUBSEASONAL WEATHER VARIATIONS. IN ADDITION, THE RADIATIVE EFFECTS OF CIRRUS CLOUDS AND STRATOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR ARE AMONG THE FACTORS THAT MATTER FOR UNDERSTANDING AND ANTICIPATING ANTHROPOGENIC CLIMATE CHANGE. IN ADDITION, THE PIS CONDUCT PUBLIC OUTREACH AND EDUCATION BY PARTICIPATING IN AN EFFORT TO CORRECT SCIENTIFIC MISUNDERSTANDING IN SOCIAL MEDIA, WORKING WITH COLLEAGUES TO DEVELOP EASY-TO-USE TUTORIALS THAT GIVE USERS ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC DATA AND INFORMATION. THE PROJECT PROVIDES SUPPORT AND TRAINING TO A POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, THEREBY PROMOTING THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE IN THIS RESEARCH AREA. 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.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$767.9K
MOUNTAIN WAVES (MWS) ARE CREATED FROM WIND FLOW OVER OROGRAPHY. BECAUSE THEY HAVE NEAR-ZERO PHASE SPEEDS AND BREAK/ATTENUATE BELOW THE TURBOPAUSE AT Z~107 KM THEY DO NOT PROPAGATE INTO THE THERMOSPHERE. YET THE LARGEST QUIET-TIME ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVE (GW) WINTERTIME HOTSPOT OBSERVED BY GOCE AT Z=250-300 KM AND BY CHAMP AT Z=280-450 KM OCCURS OVER THE SOUTHERN ANDES. THE SOURCE OF THESE HOTSPOT GWS IS CURRENTLY UNKNOWN. HOWEVER RECENT MODELING STUDIES OF THE SOUTHERN ANDES AND MCMURDO STATION DURING THE WINTER FIND THAT MW BREAKING/ATTENUATION CREATES LOCAL BODY FORCES (I.E. HORIZONTAL ACCELERATIONS OF THE FLUID) THAT EXCITE SPECTRA OF LARGER-SCALE SECONDARY GWS SOME OF WHICH PROPAGATE INTO THE THERMOSPHERE. ALSO A RECENT GOCE CASE STUDY ON 5 JULY 2010 FOUND THAT BOTH OF THE ANALYZED GWS OVER THE SOUTHERN ANDES AT Z~280 KM HAD HORIZONTAL INTRINSIC PHASE SPEEDS LARGER THAN THE SOUND SPEED BELOW THE TURBOPAUSE; THEREFORE THESE GWS MUST HAVE BEEN CREATED IN THE THERMOSPHERE. FINALLY THEORY AS WELL AS A RECENT MODEL STUDY SHOW THAT IT IS PROBABLE THAT THE DISSIPATION OF THESE SECONDARY GWS IN THE THERMOSPHERE CREATES BODY FORCES THAT EXCITE SPECTRA OF TERTIARY GWS SOME OF WHICH HAVE INTRINSIC HORIZONTAL PHASE SPEEDS LARGER THAN THE SOUND SPEED BELOW THE TURBOPAUSE. THE KEY SCIENCE QUESTION WE INVESTIGATE IN THIS RESEARCH PROPOSAL IS: ARE THE QUIET-TIME WINTER CHAMP HOTSPOT GWS OVER THE SOUTHERN ANDES SECONDARY AND/OR TERTIARY GWS FROM OROGRAPHIC FORCING? IN THE PROCESS OF INVESTIGATING THIS PROCESS WE WILL ALSO OBTAIN AN IMPROVED FORMULA FOR THE MOLECULAR VISCOSITY IN THE MID/UPPER THERMOSPHERE. THE METHODS/TECHNIQUES WE USE ARE: 1) EXTRACT QUIET-TIME WINTERTIME GWS OVER THE SOUTHERN ANDES AND OTHER MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS FROM CHAMP DATA. DETERMINE THEIR HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS INTRINSIC PERIODS AND PROPAGATION DIRECTIONS USING A PREVIOUSLY-DEVELOPED METHOD THAT UTILIZES THE GW DISSIPATIVE DISPERSION AND POLARIZATION RELATIONS. DETERMINE THE GW PARAMETERS AS FUNCTIONS OF ALTITUDE LATITUDE LONGITUDE AND TIME. REVERSE RAY-TRACE THE GWS TO POSSIBLE SOURCES. 2) QUANTIFY THE MWS DURING SELECT EVENTS USING AIRS AND MERRA-2 DATA. CALCULATE THE EXCITATION PROPAGATION AND DISSIPATION OF SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GWS USING THE PI'S BODY FORCE AND RAY TRACE MODELS. FORWARD RAY TRACE THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GWS TO CHAMP ALTITUDES. COMPARE THE CHAMP AND MODELED GWS. IF THERE ARE DIFFERENCES ADJUST THE MODELS OVER A REASONABLE RANGE TO SEE IF AGREEMENT IS POSSIBLE. ESTIMATE THE NEUTRAL WIND CHANGES CREATED WHERE THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GWS DISSIPATE IN THE THERMOSPHERE. 3) DETERMINE THE ALTITUDINAL PROFILE OF THE MOLECULAR VISCOSITY FROM Z=280-450 KM AS A FUNCTION OF THE BACKGROUND DENSITY USING THE ANALYZED CHAMP GWS. THIS PROPOSED WORK SATISFIES THE CRITERIA OF THIS SOLICITATION BECAUSE IT INCLUDES A) NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND MODELING AND B) THE ANALYSIS OF NASA-SPACECRAFT DATA. CHAMP AND AQUA ARE LISTED AS HISTORICAL AND CURRENT NASA MISSIONS AT HTTPS://WWW.NASA.GOV/ MISSIONS. THE DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING PROPOSED HERE ADDRESS THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY GOAL: "DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS" BECAUSE WE SEEK TO DETERMINE HOW MWS (WHICH ARE TERRESTRIAL INPUTS OF ENERGY AND MOMENTUM) VERTICALLY-COUPLE WITH GWS IN THE MID/UPPER THERMOSPHERE. A KEY FACILITATOR OF THIS COUPLING PROCESS IN THE THERMOSPHERE IS MOLECULAR VISCOSITY WHICH WE SEEK TO FURTHER QUANTIFY. THE PROPOSAL TEAM COVERS THE NECESSARY EXPERTISE THAT THE TECHNIQUES REQUIRE: PI VADAS HAS THE IN-HOUSE BODY FORCE AND RAY TRACE MODELS AND EXPERTISE ANALYZING GWS CO-I YUE HAS EXPERTISE EXTRACTING WAVES FROM SATELLITE DATA AND CO-I BOSSERT HAS EXPERTISE QUANTIFYING MWS IN AIRS DATA. THE MODELING STUDIES WILL ALSO UTILIZE PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE MERRA-2 HWM AND MSIS DATA.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$751.7K
21-HSR21_2-0088 UP UP & AWAY! RELATING EARLY CME ACCELERATION TO CORONAL MAGNETIC TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES..
National Science Foundation
$750K
LARGE- AND SMALL-SCALE DYNAMICS AND METEOR STUDIES IN THE MLT WITH A NEW-GENERATION METEOR RADAR ON KING GEORGE ISLAND
National Science Foundation
$747.4K
THE TRUE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRECURSOR PHENOMENA, MAGNETIC TOPOLOGY, AND SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS -SMALL-SCALE CHANGES OCCUR ON THE SUN PRIOR TO THE ONSET OF POWERFUL AND IMPACTFUL EVENTS LIKE SOLAR FLARES AND CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS (CMES). THESE CHANGES ARE KNOWN AS A ?PRECURSOR? AND INDICATE PROCESSES OCCURRING THAT MAY TRIGGER THE LARGER ENERGETIC EVENTS. THIS PROJECT INVESTIGATES PRECURSOR EVENTS TO DETERMINE WHICH CAN LEAD TO THESE IMPACTFUL EVENTS. POWERFUL SOLAR FLARES AND CMES CREATE MAJOR SPACE WEATHER IMPACTS THAT CAUSE DIVERSE EFFECTS FOR HUMAN TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING DAMAGE TO SATELLITES AND POWER GRID SYSTEMS. THE BROADER IMPACTS OF THE PROJECT INCLUDE UNDERSTANDING THESE IMPORTANT NATURAL PHENOMENA, TRAINING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, SUPPORTING AN EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER, AND CREATION OF TUTORIALS FOR THE PUBLIC ON SCIENCE TOPICS. THE SCIENCE GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO ESTABLISH THE UNIQUENESS AND CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP OF PRECURSOR TRANSIENT ACTIVITY TO SOLAR FLARES AND CMES IN ORDER TO BETTER UNDERSTAND MAGNETIC RECONNECTION AND THE SUBSEQUENT INITIATION OF SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS. THE OBJECTIVES TO MEET THIS GOAL ARE (1) QUANTIFY THE DIFFERENCES IN TEMPORAL, SPATIAL, AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PRECURSORS AGAINST SIMILAR PHENOMENA DURING ACTIVITY-QUIET EPOCHS, THUS SOLIDIFYING A STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION AND IDENTIFYING PHYSICAL UNIQUENESS, AND (2) INVESTIGATE THE MAGNETIC CONNECTION BETWEEN PRECURSORS AND A SUBSEQUENT EVENT?S ENERGY RELEASE AND ERUPTION DYNAMICS, THUS SOLIDIFYING A CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP. TO ACHIEVE THESE OBJECTIVES THE RESEARCHERS WILL ANALYZE ~1000 EVENTS AND MATCHED EVENT-QUIET CONTROLS (BOTH FLARE-QUIET EPOCHS AND CME-LESS FLARE EVENTS) IN COORDINATION WITH A NEWLY-FUNDED NASA EFFORT (HGI#80NSSC21K0738). THE PRE-EVENT SIGNATURES? TEMPORAL BEHAVIOR, PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC CONTEXT, CORONAL DYNAMICS, TEMPERATURE AND DENSITY WILL BE INVESTIGATED USING HIGH-ORDER MOMENT ANALYSIS OF THEIR PHOTOSPHERIC VECTOR MAGNETIC FIELD AND EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET (EUV) EMISSION APPLYING DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE (DEM) ANALYSIS. ESTABLISHED STATISTICAL CLASSIFIER CODES AND BAYESIAN COUNTING STATISTICS WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FLARE/CME-RELATED PRECURSORS AND TRANSIENTS FROM ACTIVITY-QUIET CONTROLS. MAGNETIC ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PRE-EVENT BRIGHTENINGS AND DIMMINGS AND THE INITIAL FLARE/ERUPTION SITE WILL BE ESTABLISHED USING MAGNETIC CHARGE TOPOLOGY (MCT) ANALYSIS, VALIDATED BY NONLINEAR FORCE-FREE CORONAL MODELS. 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.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$745.3K
THE AVISO MAPPED SEA LEVEL ANOMALY (SLA) DATASET IS PROBABLY THE MOST WIDELY USED ALTIMETRIC DATA PRODUCT BY THE OCEANOGRAPHIC COMMUNITY AND THE HIGHER RESOLUTION OF FUTURE ALTIMETRIC MISSIONS (INCLUDING SENTINEL-6 AND SWOT) WILL ONLY INCREASE USE.
National Science Foundation
$732.7K
EFFECTS OF STRATOSPHERIC CHANGE ON THE ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT
National Science Foundation
$720K
A VORTEX CENSUS FROM LAGRANGIAN FLOATS
National Science Foundation
$720K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR--HIGHER-ORDER CONCENTRIC GRAVITY WAVES IN THE NORTHERN WINTER THERMOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE -THIS AWARD WILL DETERMINE HOW THE BREAKING OF MOUNTAIN WAVES AFFECTS SPACE WEATHER APPROXIMATELY 100-200 MILES ABOVE THE EARTH?S SURFACE. MOUNTAIN WAVES ARE CREATED FROM THE WIND FLOWING OVER MOUNTAINS. MOUNTAIN WAVES BREAK AND OVERTURN WHEN THEY GET HIGH ENOUGH ABOVE THE MOUNTAINS, SIMILAR TO AN OCEAN WAVE BREAKING ON A BEACH. THIS PROCESS GENERATES TURBULENCE AND LARGE-SCALE WAVES WHICH TRAVEL TO HIGHER HEIGHTS ABOVE EARTH. AT 100-200 MILES ABOVE THE EARTH?S SURFACE, THE NEUTRAL MOLECULES IN THE WAVES COLLIDE WITH IONS, WHICH CREATES WAVES IN THE PLASMA CALLED TRAVELING IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES (TIDS). SOME OF THESE TIDS LOOK LIKE CIRCULAR RINGS ON MAPS OF THE TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT FROM GPS RECEIVERS. TIDS CAN CAUSE STORMS IN THE SPACE WEATHER THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SATELLITES THAT ORBIT EARTH. UNDERSTANDING HOW ENERGY AND MOMENTUM ARE TRANSFERRED THROUGH ATMOSPHERIC REGIONS VIA SEVERAL GRAVITY WAVE GENERATION AND DISSIPATION CYCLES INCLUDING SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GRAVITY WAVE PROCESSES (MULTI-STEP VERTICAL COUPLING PROCESSES) IS IMPORTANT. THIS PROJECT INCLUDES 2 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS DURING THE SUMMERTIME FOR THE 3-YEAR DURATION OF THIS GRANT. THIS RESEARCH WILL THEREFORE FURTHER THE DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION OF A GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE STEM WORKFORCE AND WILL PROMOTE THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. THE TEAM WILL SHARE GPS/TEC SIGNAL PROCESSING ROUTINES WHICH WILL BENEFIT THE COMMUNITY. THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH ARE TO DETERMINE 1) THE GRAVITY WAVE (GW) CHARACTERISTICS AND SOURCES OF CONCENTRIC TRAVELING IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES OVER THE QUIETTIME WINTER CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES (CONUS) AND EUROPE THROUGH DETAILED OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES, AND 2) THE ?MULTI-STEP VERTICAL COUPLING? (MSVC) PROCESSES WHICH CREATE HIGHER-ORDER GWS IN THE THERMOSPHERE FROM OROGRAPHIC FORCING OVER THE WINTER CONUS AND EUROPE THROUGH DETAILED MODELING STUDIES. BECAUSE GPS/TEC OBSERVATIONS ARE DENSE OVER THE CONUS AND EUROPE, THESE LOCATIONS PROVIDE IDEAL LOCATIONS TO STUDY THESE CONCENTRIC TIDS. THE TEAM WILL IDENTIFY AND ANALYZE CONCENTRIC TID EVENTS OBSERVED BY GPS/TEC DURING QUIETTIME DECEMBER-FEBRUARY FOR 5 WINTERS DURING 2012-2023, AND WILL SIMULATE AND ANALYZE 6-9 ONE-WEEK MOUNTAIN WAVE (MW) EVENTS WITH THE GW-RESOLVING HIGH ALTITUDE MECHANISTIC GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL (HIAMCM). THEY WILL ADDRESS SQ1: WHAT ARE THE GW CHARACTERISTICS, LOCATIONS, OCCURRENCE RATES, AND SOURCES OF THE QUIETTIME CONCENTRIC TIDS OBSERVED BY GPS OVER THE WINTER CONUS AND EUROPE? AND SQ2: WHAT ARE THE SIMULATED COUPLING PROCESSES BY WHICH OROGRAPHIC FORCING OVER THE CONUS AND EUROPE CREATES HIGHER-ORDER CONCENTRIC GWS IN THE THERMOSPHERE, AND WHAT ARE THE LARGE-SCALE CHANGES THAT RESULT IN THE THERMOSPHERE? THE METHODOLOGY INCLUDES HIAMCM, A RAY TRACE MODEL (THE MODEL FOR GRAVITY WAVE SOURCE, RAY TRACING AND RECONSTRUCTION (MESORAC)), AND PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE NRLMSISE-00 AND HWM14 MODELS, MERRA-2 REANALYSIS DATA, GOES AND EUMETSAT SATELLITE DATA AND GPS/TEC DATA. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.
National Science Foundation
$700.5K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MODELING INTERNAL WAVES FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE
Department of Defense
$687.9K
PARAMETERIZATION OF SUBGRID CONDENSATION IN CUMULUS CONVECTION FOR MESOSCALE FORECAST MODELS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$682.3K
THE GEOMETRY CONNECTIVITY AND TOPOLOGY OF THE LARGE-SCALE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD PLAY A KEY ROLE IN DETERMINING WHETHER A SOLAR RECONNECTION EVENT WILL RESULT IN AN ERUPTION EITHER BY INFLUENCING THE LOCATION WHERE MAGNETIC RECONNECTION RELEASES ENERGY FOR AN EVENT OR BY DETERMINING THE PATHWAYS AND ACCESS TO OPEN FIELD THAT ALLOW AN ERUPTION TO PROCEED. THE RESEARCH PROPOSED HERE INVOLVES STUDYING A LARGE SAMPLE OF FLARING ACTIVE REGIONS TO DETERMINE WHICH TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES ARE MOST CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH ERUPTIVE AND NON-ERUPTIVE EVENTS. KNOWLEDGE OF TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES THAT AFFECT THE ERUPTIVITY OF ACTIVE REGIONS WILL PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THEIR CAUSE EITHER IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TYPE OF RECONNECTION GENERATING THE EVENT (E.G. WHETHER CORONAL NULL POINTS ARE MOST STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH ERUPTIONS AS IN THE BREAKOUT MODEL) OR IN THE CONTEXT OF UNDERSTANDING WHY SOME FLARES LEAD TO ERUPTIONS BUT OTHERS DON'T (E.G. WHETHER ACCESS TO OPEN MAGNETIC FLUX FACILITATES OR ENHANCES THE CHANCES OF AN ERUPTION). BY DETERMINING HOW OFTEN BALD PATCHES EXIST THE QUESTION OF WHETHER A FLUX ROPE MUST BE PRESENT PRIOR TO AN ERUPTION OR IF IT CAN FORM DURING THE ERUPTION WILL BE ADDRESSED. ESTIMATING THE RATE AT WHICH ERUPTIONS OCCUR WITH AND WITHOUT PARTICULAR TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES WILL YIELD PROBABILISTIC FORECASTS OF WHETHER THE CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR AN ERUPTION SHOULD A FLARE OCCUR. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST WOULD BE A TOPOLOGICAL FEATURE ASSOCIATED WITH VERY LOW ERUPTION RATES AS THIS CAN BE USED TO IMPROVE THE ABILITY TO ISSUE ALL-CLEAR FORECASTS.
National Science Foundation
$663.4K
DYNAMICS AND METEOR STUDIES USING A NOVEL RADAR AT A CRITICAL SOUTHERN LATITUDE
National Science Foundation
$659K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NUMERICAL MODELING OF THE INTERNAL-WAVE CASCADE AND SUBMESOSCALE LATERAL DISPERSION IN THE OCEAN
Department of Defense
$651.5K
IMPROVEMENT, COUPLING, AND VALIDATION OF THE MESORAC-HIAMCM FOR SIMULATING ACCURATE THERMOSPHERIC GWS FROM THE MOST COMMON TROPOSPHERIC/STRATOSPHERIC GW SOURCES
National Science Foundation
$638.4K
A GLOBAL GEOGRAPHY OF INTERNAL-WAVE STRAIN AND MIXING FROM WOCE CTD HYDROGRAPHY
National Science Foundation
$638.4K
HELIOSEISMIC ANALYSES OF SUBSURFACE FLOWS ASSOCIATED WITH FLARING AND QUIESCENT ACTIVE REGIONS
Department of Defense
$637.6K
LATERAL STIRRING BY INTERNAL WAVES
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$636.4K
SATELLITE-BASED OBSERVATIONS OF SEA SURFACE HEIGHT OCEAN COLOR AND SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE HAVE PROVIDED A WEALTH OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPERTIES OF NONLINEAR MESOSCALE EDDIES AT THE OCEAN SURFACE. RECENT STUDIES ALSO NOW INCLUDE IN SITU MEASUREMENTS FROM CO-LOCATED ARGO FLOAT PROFILES REVEALING THE RICH INTERNAL STRUCTURES OF THESE EDDIES BOTH NEAR THE SURFACE AND AT DEPTH. THESE ADVANCES ALLOW ESTIMATES OF GLOBAL AND LOCAL TRANSPORT BY INFERRING THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURES FROM A FEW SIMPLE OCEAN SURFACE OBSERVATIONS. DESPITE THIS PROGRESS THE DYNAMICAL PROPERTIES AND STABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE EDDY STRUCTURES ARE ALMOST COMPLETELY UNEXPLORED. FURTHERMORE IT IS NOT EVEN KNOWN WHETHER THE IMPLIED EDDY SOLUTIONS ARE DYNAMICALLY CONSISTENT CALLING INTO QUESTION THE ACCURACY OF ANY ESTIMATES OF THEIR IMPACT. IN ORDER TO RESOLVE THESE OUTSTANDING ISSUES AND FACILITATE FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS WE PROPOSE A RESEARCH PLAN WITH THE FOLLOWING PRIMARY OBJECTS.
National Science Foundation
$619.7K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DEVELOPMENT OF AIRBORNE LIDAR AND TEMPERATURE MAPPER "FACILITY" INSTRUMENTS FOR THE NSF GV AND MEASUREMENTS DURING SAANGRIA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$618.1K
EFFECTS OF OROGRAPHY ON REGIONAL GRAVITY WAVE BREAKING MIXING CHEMICAL TRACERS TRANSPORT AND CIRCULATION
National Science Foundation
$611.6K
SECONDARY CIRCULATIONS ON THE POTENTIAL VORTICITY STAIRCASE: A THEORY OF ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT
Department of Defense
$607K
PARAMETERIZATION OF SUB-GRID LATENT HEAT RELEASE IN TRADE WIND CUMULUS CLOUDS
National Science Foundation
$603.1K
FREQUENT WEAK-WIND BOUNDARY LAYERS USING NEW ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES IN THE SPACE-TIME DOMAIN
National Science Foundation
$600K
PASSIVE OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING OF WIND VELOCITIES AND TURBULENCE BY SPATIOTEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF IMAGE DISTORTIONS OF RANDOM SCENES
National Science Foundation
$599.3K
STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE COUPLING STUDIES
National Science Foundation
$594.1K
OPTICAL TOMOGRAPHY OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SURFACE LAYER
National Science Foundation
$592.9K
GRAVITY WAVE SOURCES AND PARAMETERIZATION
National Science Foundation
$589.8K
LAGRANGIAN FLOW BOUNDARIES, TRANSPORT, AND VORTEX CORES IN PRE-GENESIS DISTURBANCES
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$584.8K
WE PROPOSE A FOCUSED STUDY OF HIGH-RESOLUTION GODDARD EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM (GEOS) MODELING VALIDATION AND ANALYSIS TO INVESTIGATE ATMOSPHERIC WAVES AND THEIR INFLUENCES ON WINDS IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERE AND STRATOSPHERE. WINDS AT THESE LEVELS GUIDE ROSSBY WAVE PROPAGATION AND TELECONNECTION PATTERNS THAT STRONGLY INFLUENCE THE SIMULATION OF REGIONAL-SCALE CLIMATE PATTERNS AND SKILL OF LONG-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS. MOST CLIMATE AND WEATHER FORECASTING CENTERS HAVE RAISED THEIR MODEL LIDS IN RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE UPPER LEVEL WINDS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SIMULATING THE PROCESSES THAT CONTROL THEM. AT SEASONAL FORECAST MODEL RESOLUTIONS SMALL-SCALE WAVES REMAIN SEVERELY UNDER-RESOLVED YET THE INFLUENCE OF THEIR DRAG FORCES ON THE CIRCULATION IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERE AND STRATOSPHERE MAKE THEM A KEY PLAYER IN PREDICTABILITY. GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PARAMETERIZATIONS THAT TREAT OROGRAPHIC AND NON-OROGRAPHIC WAVES ARE USED TO TUNE BOTH CLIMATE AND FORECAST MODELS WITH DEMONSTRATED EFFECTS ON BIAS REDUCTION AND FORECAST SKILL. THIS PROJECT WILL INFORM IMPROVED METHODS FOR SIMULATING SMALL-SCALE WAVE EFFECTS ON TWO IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE CIRCULATION WITH DEMONSTRATED INFLUENCE ON SEASONAL PREDICTABILITY: THE TROPICAL LOWER STRATOSPHERE AND THE WINTER SEASON STRATOSPHERIC VORTEX. THIS PUTS OUR FOCUS ON OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVES AND THOSE GENERATED BY LOCALIZED INTENSE RAIN EVENTS. THE NASA GLOBAL MODELING AND ASSIMILATION OFFICE S (GMAO S) GEOS-5 MODEL IS DESIGNED FOR SIMULATION AT A WIDE RANGE OF ATMOSPHERIC RESOLUTIONS: FOR EXAMPLE IT IS CURRENTLY CONFIGURED FOR CLIMATE SIMULATIONS WITH ~100 KM RESOLUTION AND SPECIALIZED HINDCASTING EXPERIMENTS ARE ROUTINELY RUN IN THE GRAY ZONE (FOR BOTH DEEP CONVECTION AND GRAVITY WAVES) AT ~6 KM. VERTICAL RESOLUTION IS CURRENTLY 72 LEVELS WITH EFFORTS TO DOUBLE THAT UNDERWAY. ATMOSPHERIC WAVES AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CIRCULATION ARE QUITE SENSITIVE TO THESE RESOLUTION CHOICES BUT ALSO SENSITIVE TO MOIST PROCESSES SURFACE DRAG DIVERGENCE DAMPING AND OTHER DISSIPATION MECHANISMS. AS A RESULT RESOLUTION ALONE DICTATES NEITHER THE SCALES OF THE WAVES THAT CAN BE RESOLVED NOR OTHER WAVE PROPERTIES INCLUDING THEIR SOURCES GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS AND DRAG ON THE CIRCULATION. FOR EXAMPLE PREVIOUS HIGHRESOLUTION EXPERIMENTS LIKE THE 7-KM RESOLUTION NATURE RUN NEEDED STRONG PARAMETERIZED GRAVITY WAVES TO COUNTERACT THE EFFECTS OF EXPLICIT PLUS IMPLICIT DISSIPATION ON WAVES RESOLVED IN THE MODEL. THE PROJECT APPROACH INCLUDES (I) OBSERVATIONAL VALIDATION OF GRAVITY WAVES AND SMALL-SCALE HEAVY PRECIPITATION EVENTS IN EXISTING AND FUTURE HIGH-RESOLUTION SIMULATIONS WITH DIFFERENT DISSIPATION SETTINGS (II) EXPLORATORY LIMITED-AREA HIGH-RESOLUTION GEOS EXPERIMENTS TO PROBE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT PHYSICS DISSIPATION AND RESOLUTION SETTINGS ON SMALL-SCALE RESOLVED GRAVITY WAVES AND LATENT HEATING SOURCES (III) AN UPDATE TO THE EXISTING OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PARAMETERIZATION TO INCLUDE EFFECTS OF ANISOTROPY AND LOW-LEVEL WAVE TRAPPING AND (IV) ANALYSIS OF VALIDATED GLOBAL MODEL EXPERIMENTS TO INFER THE ROLES OF SMALL-SCALE WAVES ON MAJOR MODES OF VARIABILITY AND ON WIND BIASES. THE WORK IS EXPECTED TO RESULT IN A DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT IN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRECISE ROLES OF SMALL-SCALE WAVES ON CIRCULATION AND WILL ALSO INFORM THE GMAO S PLANNED FY 2019 TESTS OF A NEW PROTOTYPE GEOS MODEL THROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF A VARIETY OF MODEL SETTING CHOICES ON SMALL-SCALE WAVES AND GRID-SCALE PRECIPITATION.
National Science Foundation
$562.1K
AGS-FIRP TRACK 2: UNDERSTANDING VERTICAL VARIATION OF ENERGY DISSIPATION NEAR THE SURFACE FOR SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF THE OBSERVED SURFACE ENERGY IMBALANCE -THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS AND THE VERTICAL VARIATION OF ENERGY DISSIPATION NEAR THE SURFACE. UNDERSTANDING ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS, ESPECIALLY THE LINKAGE BETWEEN KINETIC AND THERMAL ENERGY, IS CRITICAL FOR COMPREHENDING EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE. SCIENTISTS HAVE TRACKED HEAT EXCHANGE AT THE SURFACE, WHICH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WARMING/COOLING THE SOIL BENEATH AND THE ATMOSPHERE ABOVE FOR OVER 80 YEARS. WITH CONSIDERATION OF ALL POSSIBLE HEAT SOURCES AND SINKS, THEY HAVE FOUND THAT HEAT SOURCES DO NOT MATCH ALL THE HEAT USAGES BY THE SOIL AND THE ATMOSPHERE AND THAT THERE IS A MISSING LINK IN THE ENERGY BALANCE EQUATION. BASED ON LATEST UNDERSTANDING OF HOW HEAT IS TRANSFERRED, THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR SUGGESTS A NEW THEORY FOR EXPLAINING THE MISSING PIECE IN THE ENERGY BALANCE EQUATION. RESULTS FROM THIS STUDY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW HEAT AND AIR MOVEMENTS ARE CONNECTED, AND THEREBY IMPROVE WEATHER AND CLIMATE MODELS, AND SEVERE WEATHER FORECASTS. AS PART OF THIS PROJECT, THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR WILL ENGAGE IN EDUCATION AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES WITH STUDENT PARTICIPANTS FROM A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION, LOCAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, AND PUBLIC OUTREACH EVENTS. THIS AWARD PROVIDES FUNDING TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT OF HYDROSTATIC IMBALANCE ON ENERGY TRANSFER AND VALIDATING THE CONTRIBUTION OF ENERGY DISSIPATION TO THE SURFACE ENERGY IMBALANCE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT IS THREEFOLD: 1) TO CONDUCT A FIELD EXPERIMENT TO DIRECTLY OBSERVE THE NON-HYDROSTATIC ENERGY TRANSFER AND ENERGY DISSIPATION, 2) TO INVESTIGATE THE HYDROSTATIC IMBALANCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY PARTITION BETWEEN KINETIC AND THERMAL ENERGY AS WELL AS ENERGY DISSIPATION AS A FUNCTION OF HEIGHT AND ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY, AND 3) TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING A SIMPLE ONE DIMENSIONAL MODEL TO VALIDATE THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING OF ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS AS WELL AS MOMENTUM AND MASS CONSERVATION IN COMPARISON TO OBSERVATIONS. DATA COLLECTED FROM FIELD OBSERVATIONS WILL BE USED TO MEASURE HOW MUCH ENERGY FROM AIR MOTIONS IS REDUCED DUE TO SURFACE FRICTION TO SEE WHETHER THE DIURNAL PATTERN OF THIS ENERGY DISSIPATION MATCHES THE OBSERVED IMBALANCE CYCLE. RESULTS FROM THE FIELD STUDY WILL BE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ONE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL AND FOR IMPROVING UNDERSTANDING OF TOTAL ENERGY CONSERVATION. 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.
National Science Foundation
$550.7K
COMMON VARIABILITY IN THE STABLE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER ON SMALL SPACE AND TIME SCALES
National Science Foundation
$547.1K
TROPICAL GRAVITY WAVES AND LATENT HEATING: MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$538.9K
WE PROPOSE SATELLITE OBSERVATIONAL ANALYSIS AND MODELING STUDIES TO INFORM THE ROLES OF GRAVITY WAVE DYNAMICS ON CHEMICAL TRANSPORT WHICH HAVE IMPACTS ON STRATOSPHERIC CHEMICAL LIFETIMES STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE VARIABILITY IN RADIATIVELY ACTIVE GASES AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON CLIMATE. WHILE THE TRADITIONAL VIEW OF STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT PRIMARILY HIGHLIGHTS THE ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVES IN DRIVING THE MESOSPHERIC CIRCULATION RECENT RESEARCH HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVE DRAG DIRECTLY IN THE STRATOSPHERE AND ADDITIONAL RESEARCH SUGGESTS IMPORTANT ROLES IN FINE-SCALE STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE PROCESSES. THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL UTILIZE A VARIETY OF NASA SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS INCLUDING RECORDS LONGER THAN A DECADE TO ADDRESS PROCESSES WITHIN LOCAL EVENTS AS WELL AS LONG-TERM GLOBAL VARIABILITY. OUR WORK VERY DIRECTLY ADDRESSES ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS FOR THE COMING DECADE REPORTED FOLLOWING THE 2014 WORKSHOP ON ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION CHEMISTRY DYNAMICS AND RADIATION AT NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER NAMELY WHAT ROLE DO GRAVITY WAVES PLAY IN DRIVING THE LARGE-SCALE CIRCULATION? SPECIFIC TO THE AURA SCIENCE TEAM/ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION MODELING AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM (AST/ACMAP) ANNOUNCEMENT THE WORK FOCUSES ON MEASUREMENTS FROM THE HIGH RESOLUTION DYNAMICS LIMB SOUNDER (HIRDLS) AND MICROWAVE LIMB SOUNDER (MLS) INSTRUMENTS ON AURA TOGETHER WITH OTHER SATELLITE-BASED PRODUCTS AND PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED IDEALIZED MODEL TOOLS TO CONSTRAIN REGIONAL GRAVITY WAVE DRAG EVENTS STUDY THEIR DYNAMICAL INTERACTIONS WITH ROSSBY WAVES AND ASSESS EFFECTS IN CHEMICAL TRACER MEASUREMENTS. GRAVITY WAVE DRAG IS ONE COMPONENT OF THE WAVE-DRIVEN FORCE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GLOBAL STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT CIRCULATION THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION NAMED FOR THE PIONEERING WORK OF A.W. BREWER AND G.M.B. DOBSON WHO INFERRED THIS GLOBAL EQUATOR-TOPOLE CIRCULATION FROM MEASUREMENTS OF OZONE AND WATER VAPOR. THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION HAS A RANGE OF IMPACTS ON ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND CLIMATE. TO FIRST ORDER IT EXPLAINS THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE AGE OF STRATOSPHERIC AIR WHICH HAS IMPORTANT EFFECTS ON THE LIFETIMES OF OZONE-DEPLETING SUBSTANCES AND SOME GREENHOUSE GASES. IT HAS A DOMINANT INFLUENCE ON THE TEMPERATURE OF THE VERY COLD TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE AND CORRESPONDING INFLUENCES ON TROPICAL CIRRUS CLOUDS AND GLOBAL WATER VAPOR WITH ASSOCIATED RADIATIVE EFFECTS AND ROLE IN SURFACE TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY. IN GENERAL THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION DESCRIBES THE RECIRCULATION PATHWAYS AND THE PROCESSING TIME OF CHEMICAL TRACERS THROUGH THE STRATOSPHERE AND THEIR EVENTUAL RETURN TO THE TROPOSPHERE THEREBY ALSO COMPRISING A MAJOR COMPONENT OF STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE. THE CURRENT PARADIGM REPRESENTED IN THE WAY SMALL-SCALE GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PROCESSES ARE TREATED IN GLOBAL MODELS SUGGESTS THAT ONLY OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG AFFECTS THE STRATOSPHERE WHILE WAVES FROM OTHER SOURCES LIKE CONVECTION PRIMARILY ONLY AFFECT THE MESOSPHERE DIRECTLY. RECENT OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE TELLS A VERY DIFFERENT STORY: INFREQUENT BUT VERY LARGE AMPLITUDE NON-OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVES CARRY A LARGE FRACTION OF THE CIRCULATION-DRIVING FLUX UPWARD ACROSS THE TROPOPAUSE. HENCE THESE LARGE EVENTS VERY LIKELY FORCE THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE DIRECTLY WITH LOCALIZED INTERMITTENT DRAG FORCES. SUCH REALISTIC GRAVITY WAVE-DRIVEN FORCES IN THE STRATOSPHERE ARE NOT CURRENTLY REPRESENTED IN GLOBAL MODELS. OUR WORK WILL QUANTIFY THESE EVENTS USING AURA AND OTHER SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS EXAMINE THEIR INTERACTION WITH LARGER-SCALE SYNOPTIC AND PLANETARY WAVES AND INVESTIGATE THEIR EFFECTS ON CHEMICAL TRACERS IN THE STRATOSPHERE. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT REALISTICALLY INTERMITTENT GRAVITY WAVE DRAG WILL GIVE RISE TO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE VARIABILITY IN CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELS THAN IS CURRENTLY REPRESENTED WITHIN THE CURRENT PARADIGM.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$527.5K
THIS PROJECT IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE NASA HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$524.8K
SOLAR FLARES ARE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR SOME ASPECTS OF SPACE WEATHER AND CAN INDICATE OTHER IMPENDING PHENOMENA (CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS AND SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE EVENTS). PREDICTING SOLAR FLARES IS CHALLENGING DUE TO THE REMOTE-SENSING NATURE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$524K
WE PROPOSE TO STUDY THE ORIGIN OF TRANSIENT ACOUSTIC EMISSION FROM FLARES. THIS UNDERTAKING IS MOTIVATED BY RECENT NEW OBSERVATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS BY THE INVESTIGATORS REVEALING A NEW CLASS OF HIGHLY IMPULSIVE ACOUSTIC EMISSION OF ACOUSTIC WAVES
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$521.4K
THE INVESTIGATORS WILL USE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) ON BOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY TO CHARACTERIZE THE SUBSURFACE PROPERTIES OF SUPERGRANULAR (SG) AND ACTIVE-REGION (AR) FLOWS. THE TEAM WILL MAKE
National Science Foundation
$519.6K
THE POTENTIAL VORTICITY STAIRCASE: FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF ZONAL JETS
National Science Foundation
$511.6K
PATHWAYS TO CORONAL MAGNETIC ENERGY STORAGE AND RELEASE
National Science Foundation
$509.5K
WINDS AND THE WEATHER: EVALUATING THREE DIMENSIONAL (3D) STRATOSPHERIC / TROPOSPHERIC JET RELATIONSHIPS AND THEIR ROLES IN EXTREME COOL-SEASON WEATHER EVENTS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$508.4K
THE ENERGY TO POWER SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS MUST ULTIMATELY ORIGINATE AT OR BELOW THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE AND IS LIKELY TO BUILD UP IN THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD BEFORE RELEASE IN AN EVENT. IN ORDER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND FLARES AND CMES IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY STORED IN THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD. ONE OF THE MAJOR CHALLENGES IN ESTIMATING THE CORONAL ENERGY IS THAT THE RESULTS CANNOT EASILY BE TESTED ON DATA FOR WHICH THE ANSWER IS KNOWN. HOWEVER BY COMPARING THE FLUX INTO AND OUT OF THE CORONA WITH ESTIMATES OF THE ENERGY AT SPECIFIC TIMES OBTAINED FROM A VARIETY OF APPROACHES WE CAN CONSTRAIN THE RESULTS OF THE METHODS. FOR EXAMPLE IF THE FLUX INTO THE CORONA SUBSTANTIALLY EXCEEDS THE FLUX OUT OF THE CORONA OVER AN EXTENDED TIME INTERVAL THEN EITHER THE INPUT FLUX IS BEING OVERESTIMATED OR THE OUTPUT FLUX IS BEING UNDERESTIMATED. THE PROPOSED WORK ADDRESSES THE FIRST AND FOURTH HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY 1. "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" AND 4. "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL MODEL HOW THE ENERGY WHICH POWERS SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS IS STORED IN THE CORONA AND MAY LEAD TO NEW TOOLS FOR PREDICTING THE VARIATIONS IN THE X-RAY FLUX IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT. INSOFAR AS OTHER STARS ALSO HAVE MAGNETIZED CORONAE IT MAY CHARACTERIZE A PROCESS OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. TO TRACK THE FLOW OF FREE ENERGY THROUGH THE PHOTOSPHERE WE WILL USE DAVE4VM TO ESTIMATE THE PHOTOSPHERIC FLOWS AND FROM THESE COMPUTE THE POYNTING FLUX INTO THE CORONA. TO ESTIMATE THE ENERGY IN THE CORONA AT A GIVEN TIME WE WILL USE NONLINEAR FORCE-FREE FIELD (NLFFF) EXTRAPOLATIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL MAGNETOGRAMS. IN ADDITION WE WILL MODEL THE EVOLUTION OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD USING A SEQUENCE OF MAGNETOGRAMS AS THE BOUNDARY CONDITION FOR AN MHD SIMULATION AND A TOPOLOGICAL METHOD; THE CORONAL ENERGY FROM THESE INDEPENDENT METHODS CAN BE EVALUATED AT THE SAME TIMES AS THE NLFFF EXTRAPOLATIONS. FINALLY WE WILL ESTIMATE THE ENERGY LOST FROM THE CORONA. THE RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE LOSSES FOR EXAMPLE CAN BE ESTIMATED BASED ON DOING A DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE ANALYSIS TO EXTRACT CORONAL TEMPERATURE AND DENSITY ESTIMATES AND USING THESE TO ESTIMATE RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE LOSSES. FOR THIS INVESTIGATION WE WILL CONSIDER A SMALL SAMPLE OF ACTIVE REGIONS ON THE ORDER OF TEN AND FOCUS ON REGIONS WHICH ARE NOT THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLICATED TO MAXIMIZE THE CHANCES OF SUCCESSFULLY MODELING THEM. WE WILL FOLLOW EACH REGION FOR AT LEAST A WEEK TRACKING THE FLUX OF ENERGY INTO THE CORONA AND THE ENERGY RELEASED FROM THE CORONA AS WELL AS ESTIMATING THE ENERGY CONTENT OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD AT SPECIFIC TIMES. OUR INVESTIGATION WILL PRIMARILY UTILIZE DATA FROM NASA'S SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY BOTH SEQUENCES OF MAGNETOGRAMS FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) AND CORONAL IMAGES FROM THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY (AIA). THESE WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED BY MAGNETOGRAMS FROM THE SOLAR OPTICAL TELESCOPE (SOT) ON THE JOINT JAXA/NASA HINODE MISSION AND BY CORONAL IMAGES FROM HINODE'S X-RAY TELESCOPE (XRT).
National Science Foundation
$507.1K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: TROPICAL WAVES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CIRCULATION FROM 3D GPS RADIO OCCULTATION SAMPLING FROM STRATOSPHERIC BALLOONS IN STRATEOLE-2
National Science Foundation
$499K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IMPROVING THE REPRESENTATION OF THE QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATION AND ITS SURFACE IMPACTS IN NCAR CLIMATE MODELS
National Science Foundation
$498.7K
THE ROLE OF INERTIAL INSTABILITY AND BOUNDARY-LAYER PROCESSES IN EQUATORIAL MONSOON REGIONS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$494.6K
THE MEAN MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION OF THE STRATOSPHERE, KNOWN AS THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION, WAS NAMED FOR THE PIONEERING DEDUCTIONS OF A. M. BREWER
National Science Foundation
$489.8K
EXAMINING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN OBSERVED ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVES AND CONVECTIVE CLOUDS FOR IMPROVED CLIMATE SIMULATIONS
National Science Foundation
$486.7K
FUNDAMENTAL STUDIES OF DISTURBED TROPICAL CYCLONES: A DEEPER LOOK INTO THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF ASYMMETRIC STRUCTURE UNDER VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTA
National Science Foundation
$479.5K
MESOSCALE VORTEX INTERACTIONS IN TROPICAL SYSTEMS
National Science Foundation
$473K
MICROFRONTS AND OTHER NOCTURNAL SUBMESO MOTIONS OVER MICROTOPOGRAPHY -THIS AWARD EXAMINES THE BOUNDARY LAYER OF AIR ADJACENT TO THE GROUND SURFACE THAT COOLS AT NIGHT. STRONGEST COOLING OCCURS WITH CLEAR SKIES AND LOW WIND SPEEDS. THIS SITUATION IS POORLY UNDERSTOOD COMPARED TO OTHER BOUNDARY LAYERS WITH MORE SIGNIFICANT WINDS OR DAYTIME HEATING. THE STRONG COOLING LEADS TO PRACTICAL ISSUES INCLUDING FREEZING STREET SURFACES AND FROST DAMAGE TO SENSITIVE CROPS. THE STRONG SURFACE COOLING ALSO REDUCES VERTICAL MIXING AND THUS INCREASES THE PROBABILITY OF HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF POLLUTANTS. THE WEAK WINDS CORRESPOND TO LARGE VARIABILITY OF WIND DIRECTION THAT SPREADS THE POLLUTANTS OVER A VARIETY OF WIND DIRECTIONS. THIS PROCESS IS CURRENTLY HARD TO PREDICT. FORMATION OF DENSE FOG IS ANOTHER OUTCOME OF THE STRONG COOLING AND WEAK VERTICAL MIXING. LOCAL SPATIAL VARIATION OF THE SURFACE COOLING IS AN IMPORTANT FEATURE REQUIRING MORE ATTENTION. THIS PROJECT WILL INCREASE UNDERSTANDING THROUGH ANALYSIS OF INTENSE MEASUREMENTS FROM DIFFERENT SITES. EACH SITE CONTAINS A NETWORK OF CLUSTERED STATIONS. THE ABOVE ANALYSES WILL IMPROVE THE BOUNDARY-LAYER PART OF FORECAST COMPUTER MODELS. THE GENERAL ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT SUBCLASSES OF VERY STABLE NOCTURNAL BOUNDARY LAYERS, AND THE RELATION OF SUBMESO MOTIONS TO THESE SUBCLASSES, WILL BE INVESTIGATED. VERY STABLE NOCTURNAL BOUNDARY LAYERS MOST OFTEN OCCUR WITH STRONG STABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH LOW WIND SPEEDS AND CLEAR SKIES. SUBMESO MOTIONS OCCUR ON SCALES JUST LARGER THAN THE LARGEST TURBULENT EDDIES BUT SMALLER THAN THE MESOSCALE MOTIONS. SUBMESO MOTIONS INCLUDE MICROFRONTS, WAVE MOTIONS, MEANDERING MOTIONS, AND MORE COMPLEX STRUCTURES. THESE MOTIONS DENSELY POPULATE THE VERY STABLE BOUNDARY LAYER. THE ANALYSES WILL BE BASED ON TIME SERIES, SPATIAL INFORMATION ACROSS NETWORKS, AND COMBINED TIME-SPACE DOMAINS FROM DIFFERENT DATASETS. THE ANALYSIS WILL FIRST CONCENTRATE ON MICROFRONTS. THE FIRST STAGE FOCUSSES ON INCREASING HORIZONTAL GRADIENTS OF TEMPERATURE. THE SECOND STAGE INCLUDES HORIZONTAL CONVERGENCE THAT CONCENTRATES HORIZONTAL GRADIENTS INTO MICROFRONTS. ANALYSIS OF OTHER SUBMESO MOTIONS WILL FOLLOW WITH BOTH INDIVIDUAL ANALYSES OF EACH TYPE OF SUBMESO MOTION AND COLLECTIVE ANALYSIS OF ALL SUBMESO MOTIONS. EXAMINATION OF THE LARGE WIND-DIRECTION VARIABILITY CAUSED BY SUBMESO MOTIONS WILL BE EXAMINED IN DETAIL. ADDITIONAL DATA SETS WILL BE EVALUATED WITH POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION OF A NEW TAILORED FIELD PROGRAM. 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.
National Science Foundation
$466.9K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: LEE WAVES AND TURBULENCE FORCED BY THE KUROSHIO
National Science Foundation
$464.6K
GRAVITY WAVES ABOVE DEEP CONVECTIVE STORMS: DYNAMICS AND IMPACTS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$450K
VERY RECENT HELIOSEISMIC AND OTHER OBSERVATIONAL ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THAT THE CONVENTIONAL PICTURE OF LARGE-SCALE TURBULENT MOTIONS IN THE SUN IS COMPLICATED BY THE PRESENCE OF ROSSBY WAVES.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$449.8K
JOAN ALEXANDER AND THE POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER WILL COLLABORATE WITH GMAO SCIENTISTS ON A VARIETY OF ISSUES RELATED TO GRAVITY WAVE DYNAMICS AND GENE
National Science Foundation
$444.4K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CHARACTERIZING ATMOSPHERIC TROPICAL-WAVES OF THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE WITH REEL-DOWN ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE SENSING FOR STRATEOLE-2--RATS CHASING CATS! -THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE CONTINUED PARTICIPATION OF THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS (PIS) IN THE STRATEOLE-2 FIELD CAMPAIGN, ORGANIZED BY THE FRENCH SPACE AGENCY (CNES, FOR CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES) AND THE LABORATORY FOR DYNAMIC METEOROLOGY (LMD) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS-SACLAY. THE CAMPAIGN MAKES OBSERVATIONS OF THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE LAYER (TTL), THE LAYER OF THE ATMOSPHERE FROM ROUGHLY 14KM TO 18KM BETWEEN THE TROPICAL TROPOSPHERE AND STRATOSPHERE, USING BALLOONS DESIGNED TO FLOAT AT A CONSTANT ALTITUDE FOR FLIGHTS OF UP TO 3 MONTHS. THE BALLOONS ARE LAUNCHED FROM THE SEYCHELLES AND FLOAT AROUND THE EQUATOR JUST ABOVE THE TOP OF THE TTL OR IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE AT AN ALTITUDE NEAR 20KM. STRATEOLE-2 WAS PLANNED AS A SET OF THREE DEPLOYMENTS, A PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING DEPLOYMENT WITH 8 BALLOON FLIGHTS FOLLOWED BY TWO SCIENCE DEPLOYMENTS WITH 20 FLIGHTS EACH. THE FIRST TWO DEPLOYMENTS TOOK PLACE IN 2019 AND 2021 AND FUNDS FOR THE PIS' PARTICIPATION IN THESE DEPLOYMENTS WERE PROVIDED THROUGH AGS-1642277. THE THIRD DEPLOYMENT IS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN OCTOBER 2025. FUNDS PROVIDED HERE SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF A NEW INSTRUMENT WITH THE ACRONYM RATS, FOR REEL-DOWN ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE SENSOR. ROUGHLY SPEAKING RATS IS A THERMOMETER LOWERED ON A LONG TETHER BELOW A BALLOON GONDOLA WHICH CONTAINS A SECOND THERMOMETER. THE DIFFERENCE IN TEMPERATURE BETWEEN THE TWO THERMOMETERS CAN BE USED TO DETECT GRAVITY WAVES, ATMOSPHERIC WAVES SIMILAR TO OCEAN SURFACE WAVES ONLY THEY CAN PROPAGATE VERTICALLY AS WELL AS HORIZONTALLY. RATS CAN DETECT GRAVITY WAVES BECAUSE THE UP AND DOWN MOTIONS OF THE WAVES CAUSE COOLING AND WARMING, THUS THE DIFFERENCE IN TEMPERATURE BETWEEN TWO APPROPRIATELY SEPARATED THERMOMETERS CAN RECORD THE PASSAGE OF A WAVE. THE TITLE OF THE PROPOSAL REFERS TO THE USE OF THE RATS THERMOMETERS FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ATMOSPHERIC TROPICAL WAVES OF THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE (CATS). MOTIVATION FOR THE WORK COMES FROM THE ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVES IN DRIVING THE QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATION (QBO), THE REVERSAL IN ZONAL WIND DIRECTION OVER THE EQUATOR THAT BEGINS IN THE UPPER STRATOSPHERE AND DESCENDS TO THE TROPOPAUSE OVER A PERIOD SLIGHTLY LONGER THAN TWO YEARS. THE QBO MATTERS FOR SUBSEASONAL WEATHER PREDICTION BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN LINKED TO MODES OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY THAT INFLUENCE WEATHER AROUND THE WORLD. MODELS USED FOR WEATHER PREDICTION HAVE DIFFICULTY CAPTURING THE QBO, IN PART BECAUSE THE WAVES THAT DRIVE IT HAVE WAVELENGTHS THAT ARE SMALLER THAN TYPICAL MODEL GRID SPACINGS, PARTICULARLY IN THE VERTICAL. RATS CAN DETECT WAVES WITH VERTICAL WAVELENGTHS BETWEEN 2 AND 30 TIMES THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE TWO THERMOMETERS, WHICH IS SET TO EITHER 200M OR 300M TO CAPTURE WAVELENGTHS FROM 400M TO 6KM OR 600M TO 9KM. THE LONGER WAVELENGTHS CAN BE RESOLVED BY OPERATIONAL MODELS AND THUS COMPARED WITH THE MODEL OUTPUT WHILE THE SHORTER ONES ARE UNRESOLVED. THE AWARD COVERS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RATS HARDWARE, WHICH INCLUDES A LOWER MEASURING UNIT (LMU) CONTAINING A THERMOMETER (DEVELOPED BY CNES) ALONG WITH AN RS41 RADIOSONDE SENSOR MODULE (FROM VAISALA) TO MEASURES TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY, AND PRESSURE, AND A GPS RECEIVER FOR DETERMINING POSITION. THE LMU IS RAISED AND LOWERED USING A SPOOL AND PULLEY SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS IT TO BE DOCKED TO THE GONDOLA FOR LAUNCH AND REELED DOWN WHEN THE BALLOON REACHES ITS FLIGHT ALTITUDE. THE GONDOLA CONTAINS A SECOND THERMOMETER ALONG WITH A BAROMETER AND GPS RECEIVER. THE WORK IS OF SOCIETAL INTEREST GIVEN THE PROSPECTS FOR BETTER LONG-RANGE WEATHER PREDICTIONS THROUGH IMPROVED REPRESENTATION OF THE WAVE DRIVING OF THE QBO. THE STRATEOLE-2 FIELD CAMPAIGN INVOLVES COLLABORATIONS WITH TWO OPERATIONAL WEATHER PREDICTION CENTERS, THEREBY PROVIDING A CONNECTION FROM RESEARCH TO OPERATIONS. ALL FIELD CAMPAIGN DATA IS MADE AVAILABLE TO THE GLOBAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY TO PURSUE ADDITIONAL RESEARCH TOPICS ON TTL PHYSICS AND DYNAMICS. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.
National Science Foundation
$434.3K
STOKES DRIFT FLUCTUATIONS AND UPPER OCEAN DIFFUSION
National Science Foundation
$434.1K
GRAVITY WAVE SOURCES AND PARAMETERIZATION
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$423.3K
DIRECTLY CONSTRAINING GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PARAMETERIZATIONS IN GEOS WITH AIRS OBSERVATIONS USING OSSE METHODS
National Science Foundation
$420.1K
NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF GRAVITY WAVE INSTABILITIES, WAVE-WAVE AND WAVE MEAN FLOW INTERACTIONS, MOMENTUM TRANSPORT, AND SPECTRAL EVOLUTION IN THE MES
National Science Foundation
$401.9K
DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATIONS OF EMBEDDED SPECTRAL-ELEMENT AND FOURIER-RAY CODES FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION DYNAMICS STUDIES WITHIN WHOLE ATMOSPHERE COMMUNIT
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$401.7K
22-NUP2022-0102 CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT OF OROGRAPHIC AND NONOROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE PARAMETERIZATIONS AND RESOLVED GRAVITY WAVES IN GEOS
National Science Foundation
$400K
SCIENTIFIC, EDUCATIONAL AND LOGISTICAL PREPARATION FOR ADVANCED MODULAR INCOHERENT SCATTER RADAR (AMISR) RELOCATION TO ARGENTINA
National Science Foundation
$400K
ORBITAL STUDIES OF INTERPLANETARY AND INTERSTELLAR DUST UPGRADING A SOPHISTICATED METEOR RADAR
National Science Foundation
$399.9K
MODELING STUDIES OF TRANSITIONS FROM SLOW TO FAST TROPICAL CYCLONE INTENSIFICATION -THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS PART OF A BROADER EFFORT TO ADVANCE CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF HOW UNDERDEVELOPED TROPICAL CYCLONES INTENSIFY INTO POTENTIALLY DEVASTATING HURRICANES. COMPUTER MODELING STUDIES WILL BE CONDUCTED TO ADDRESS DEFICIENCIES IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATURE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTENSIFICATION PROCESS THAT OPERATES WHEN THERE EXISTS MARKEDLY ASYMMETRIC CONVECTION LINKED TO SUBSTANTIAL MISALIGNMENT OF THE MID-LEVEL AND LOW-LEVEL CYCLONIC CIRCULATIONS (TILT). CHANGES TO THE ASYMMETRIC STATE THAT ARE REQUIRED FOR A FAST INTENSIFICATION MECHANISM TO SUPERSEDE A SLOW MECHANISM, AND THE TIME SCALE FOR SUCH CHANGES TO OCCUR UNDER A VARIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS WILL BE ELUCIDATED. KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM THIS PROJECT WILL ASSIST COMPLEMENTARY EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE ACCURACY OF OPERATIONAL INTENSIFICATION FORECASTS THAT DETERMINE THE PREPARATIONS NEEDED TO ADEQUATELY MITIGATE DAMAGE TO COASTAL OR ISLAND COMMUNITIES THAT LIE IN THE PREDICTED PATH OF A TROPICAL CYCLONE. IN ADDITION TO OFFERING NEW INSIGHTS RELEVANT TO FORECASTING, THIS PROJECT WILL SUPPORT STUDENT INTERNSHIPS THAT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF ATMOSPHERIC SCIENTISTS. THE RESEARCH STRATEGY WILL ENTAIL A COMBINATION OF REDUCED AND FULL-PHYSICS MODELING STUDIES. THE REDUCED MODELING STUDIES WILL ADD PARAMETERIZED DIABATIC FORCING TO THE DRY PRIMITIVE EQUATIONS PRIMARILY TO REPRESENT THE HEATING ASSOCIATED WITH CONVECTION CONCENTRATED DOWNTILT OF THE LOWER TROPOSPHERIC VORTEX CENTER. A VARIETY OF INTENSIFICATION MECHANISMS ARE EXPECTED TO EXIST OVER THE EXPANSIVE MULTIDIMENSIONAL PARAMETER SPACE OF THE DIABATIC FORCING, THE STATE OF THE VORTEX, AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL VERTICAL WIND SHEAR. THE SPECTRUM OF POSSIBILITIES RANGES FROM VERY SLOW ASYMMETRIC MODES OF SPINUP TO A FAST MODE ASSOCIATED WITH CORE REFORMATION. THE DOMAIN OF APPLICABILITY FOR EACH DISTINCT INTENSIFICATION MECHANISM WILL BE DETERMINED THROUGH EXTENSIVE NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS. THEORETICAL FORMULAS WILL BE SOUGHT FOR THE HYPERSURFACES THAT SEPARATE REGIONS OF PARAMETER SPACE IN WHICH DIFFERENT INTENSIFICATION MECHANISMS OPERATE. THE FULL-PHYSICS SIMULATIONS WILL BE USED TO ELUCIDATE THE MOIST THERMO-FLUID DYNAMICS GOVERNING THE CONVECTION THAT DRIVES EACH INTENSIFICATION MECHANISM, AND TO ELUCIDATE THE PROCESSES THAT LEAD A TROPICAL CYCLONE TO TRANSITION FROM SLOW TO FAST SPINUP. THE SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND VERTICAL WIND SHEAR WILL BE VARIED TO UNCOVER AN ASSORTMENT OF TRANSITION-TYPES AND THE ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH THEY OCCUR. MANY OF THE TRANSITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO TRANSPIRE THROUGH CONTRACTION OR SHEAR-RELATIVE REORIENTATION OF THE TILT VECTOR THAT CHARACTERIZES THE MISALIGNMENT OF THE TROPICAL CYCLONE. THUS, TO BETTER UNDERSTAND WHAT CONTROLS THE TIMING OF A TRANSITION TO FAST SPINUP, A SIZEABLE PART OF THIS PROJECT WILL INVOLVE ANALYZING HOW DIABATIC PROCESSES REGULATE THE DECAY AND PRECESSION RATES OF THE TILTS OF THE SIMULATED TROPICAL CYCLONES. 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.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$396.6K
DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING STUDIES REVEAL LARGE UNCERTAINTIES IN CHANGES IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERIC/LOWER STRATOSPHERIC (UTLS) JETS AND THE TROPOPAUSE
National Science Foundation
$389.6K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MODELING OF SECONDARY AND TERTIARY GRAVITY WAVES FROM OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE FORCING AND COMPARISON WITH SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS
National Science Foundation
$388.5K
SPATIAL VARIABILITY IN THE ATMOSPHERIC SURFACE LAYER AND IN THE SURFACE HEAT EXCHANGE OVER ARCTIC SEA ICE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$384.2K
SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE MECHANISMS BY WHICH DISTURBANCES IN ONE REGION OF THE ATMOSPHERE PRODUCE A RESPONSE IN A DISTANT REGION. OUR INTEREST IS TO EXAMINE THE SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF VARIOUS LARGE AMPLITUDE WAVES ON THE MLT: THE QUASI TWO-DAY WAVE (2DW); THE NONMIGRATING SEMIDIURNAL TIDE (SW1) NONLINEARLY GENERATED THROUGH INTERACTION OF THE MIGRATING SW2 AND WINTER PLANETARY WAVES; THE TOTALITY OF THE TROPICAL WAVE SPECTRUM. WE WILL EXAMINE THE FULL LIFE CYCLE OF THESE THREE WAVE PHENOMENA: SOURCE PROPAGATION CHARACTERISTICS AND THE GLOBAL EFFECT OF THEIR DISSIPATION ON MEAN FLOW AND MEAN MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION (MMC). MMCS FORCED BY TRANSIENT MOMENTUM DEPOSITION INTO A MEAN FLOW SUBJECT TO DIFFUSIVE MECHANISMS CAN EXTEND LATERALLY FAR FROM THE FORCING REGION AND CONTAIN UPWARD CIRCULATION CELLS. THE MMC GENERATED BY THE 2DW IS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST. AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT REQUIRES UNDERSTANDING ITS EXCITATION MECHANISMS. THE SW1 IS A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF WAVE PROPAGATION FROM THE WINTER STRATOSPHERE TO THE SUMMER POLAR MESOSPHERE WHERE ITS WIND COMPONENTS HAVE STRONG MAGNITUDE. TROPICAL WAVES THAT DEPOSIT MOMENTUM IN THE THERMOSPHERE ARE FILTERED BY A MEAN FLOW THAT VARIES ON MULTIPLE TIME SCALES AND WHICH IS SUBJECT TO FORCING BY WINTER HEMISPHERE PW. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS 1) DOES THE EXISTENCE OF THE 2DW DEPEND ON THE BAROCLINIC/BAROTROPIC INSTABILITY OF THE SUMMER MESOSPHERE MEAN FLOW? WHAT ROLE DO TROPICAL OR SYNOPTIC WAVES PLAY IN THE EXCITATION OF THE 2DW? HOW DOES THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE 2DW CONTRIBUTE TO THE MMC OVER THE SUMMER POLE? 2) WHAT ARE THE DETAILS OF THE FORCING OF SW1 THROUGH NONLINEAR INTERACTION BETWEEN PW1 AND SW2? HOW DOES THE STRUCTURE OF THE MEAN FLOW CONTROL THE TRANSMISSION OF SW1? WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE MMC FORCED BY THE DISSIPATION OF SW1? 3) TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE FILTERING OF TROPICAL WAVES BY THE SSAO MODULATE THE MSAO? DO SEASONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE MSAO CONTRIBUTE THROUGH LATERAL EXTENSION OF THE MMC TO VARIABILITY AT THE POLES AND ASYMMETRY BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SUMMER CONDITIONS? METHODOLOGY OUR DATA TOOL WILL BE SABER TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS SUPPLEMENTED BY MLS TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS OVER THE POLE NOT COVERED BY SABER. SATELLITE TEMPERATURES WILL BE UTILIZED FOR ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS WAVES. THESE WAVE DEFINITIONS WILL PROVIDE GUIDANCE FOR SELECTING CASE STUDIES AND THE VALIDATION OF NUMERICALLY PREDICTED MERIDIONAL CIRCULATIONS VIA SHORT-TERM CHANGES IN THE ZONAL MEAN TEMPERATURE. OUR MODELLING TOOLS WILL BE: 1) A SPECIFIED DYNAMICS MECHANISTIC WAVE MODEL FORCED WITH TROPICAL AND SOLAR HEATING WITH MEAN FLOW AND STATIONARY PW DERIVED FROM OBSERVATIONS. IT WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE THE 2DW LIFE CYCLE ASPECTS OF MSAO DYNAMICS RELATED TO TROPICAL WAVE PROPAGATION AND DEPOSITION NONMIGRATING TIDE PROPAGATION THROUGH MEAN FLOW VARIATIONS AND NONLINEAR TIDE GENERATION. 2) A TIME-DEPENDENT ZONALLY SYMMETRIC TRANSFORMED EULERIAN MEAN MODEL FORCED BY THE EP FLUX DIVERGENCE CALCULATED FROM THE MODEL OR DATA STUDIES TO CALCULATE THE MMC AND MEAN FLOW PERTURBATION THAT RESULT FROM THE WAVE FORCING. SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE TO NASA OBJECTIVES OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDY WILL QUANTIFY THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF WAVE DRIVEN CIRCULATIONS TO GLOBAL TELECONNECTIONS. THIS WILL ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE; NEUTRAL ATMOSPHERE FORCING OF THE IONOSPHERE; PMC AS GLOBAL CHANGE PROXIES. WE ADDRESS KEY NASA DECADAL SURVEY SCIENCE GOALS: DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS; DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. OUR PROPOSED WORK IS PERTINENT TO SCIENCE GOAL AIMI-2 METEOROLOGICAL DRIVING OF THE IT SYSTEM: HOW DOES LOWER ATMOSPHERE VARIABILITY AFFECT GEOSPACE?
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$384.1K
OUR PLAN IS SIGNIFICANT TO ONE OF THE THREE MAJOR OBJECTIVES OF THE NASA HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM B.1: TO "ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUNS ACTIVITY AND THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SOLAR VARIABILITY AND EARTH AND PLANETARY SPACE ENVIRONMENTS".
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$372.4K
THE PROPOSED STUDY COMBINES THE ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM A CURRENT NASA SPACECRAFT (SDO) WITH NUMERICAL SIMULATION TO ADDRESS TWO OF THE HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY: "(1) DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" (BY UNDERSTANDING SURFACE MANIFESTATIONS OF FUTURE FLUX EMERGENCE WE GAIN INSIGHT INTO THE SOLAR DYNAMO AND THE SOLAR MAGNETIC ACTIVITY CYCLES POSSIBLY HELPING TO PREDICT THE ARRIVAL OF NEW SOLAR ACTIVE REGIONS); "(4) DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." (FLUX EMERGENCE IS A FUNDAMENTAL ASPECT OF SOLAR MAGNETIC ACTIVITY AND PRESUMABLY OF ALL DYNAMO-ACTIVE STARS).
National Science Foundation
$369.7K
DIABATIC EKMAN TURBULENCE
National Science Foundation
$367K
A HELIOSEISMIC STUDY OF ACTIVE REGION FLOWS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL DYNAMICS
National Science Foundation
$366K
PROGRESSIVELY COMPLEX NUMERICAL STUDIES OF INFRASOUND GENERATED BY ATMOSPHERIC CONVECTION
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$364.6K
REGIMES OF UPPER TROPOSPHERE / LOWER STRATOSPHERE (UTLS) SATELLITE-DERIVED TRENDS IN COMPOSITION (RUSTIC)
National Science Foundation
$363.1K
STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE COUPLING STUDIES
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$359K
EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.
National Science Foundation
$355.4K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR: MODELING AND OBSERVATION OF SECONDARY GRAVITY WAVES IN THE THERMOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE GENERATED FROM DEEP CONVECTION
National Science Foundation
$351.6K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BALLOON CAMPAIGN TO QUANTIFY THUNDERSTORM EFFECTS ON THE GLOBAL ELECTRIC CIRCUIT
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$350.4K
THIS PROJECT WILL USE SEVERAL CONTINUOUS MULTI-MONTH LONG INTERVALS OF MAGNETOGRAMS AND DOPPLERGRAMS MADE WITH THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER ONBOARD THE CURRENTLY OPERATING SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY. THESE INTERVALS WILL SAMPLE THE ENTIRE 6+ YEARS OF THE SDO MISSION SPANNING FROM A PERIOD OF EXTREME SOLAR QUIESCENCE TO THE SOLAR MAXIMUM AND INTO THE DECLINING PHASE OF CYCLE 24. THERE ARE FOUR MAIN COMPONENTS TO THE PROJECT: 1) WE WILL USE LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC TECHNIQUES INCLUDING BOTH TIME-DISTANCE AND HOLOGRAPHY MEASUREMENTS TO OBTAIN ACOUSTIC (P-MODE) TRAVEL TIMES FOR WAVES PROPAGATING THROUGH SUPERGRANULES. WE WILL EMPLOY ENSEMBLE AVERAGING OF MEASUREMENTS OVER TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SUPERGRANULES TO MINIMIZE NOISE. WE WILL MAKE TRAVEL-TIME MEASUREMENTS OF WAVES WITH A WIDE RANGE OF SKIP-DISTANCE IN ORDER TO SEPARATE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MEASUREMENTS OF VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL MOTIONS WITHIN THE CONVECTIVE CELLS. 2) WE WILL INFER THE DEPTH VARIATION OF THE ENSEMBLE-AVERAGED SUPERGRANULAR FLOWS USING EXISTING AND EASILY FINE TUNED FORWARD MODELS OF THE FLOWS WHICH USE SENSITIVITY FUNCTIONS DERIVED THROUGH AN EMPIRICALLY-BASED SCHEME BASED ON THE BORN APPROXIMATION. VALIDATION OF THE MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH SIMULATIONS OF WAVE PROPAGATION THROUGH THE BEST MATCHED FLOWS. 3) WE WILL EXAMINE HOW TRAVEL-TIME MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS VARY AMONGST DIFFERENT SUBSETS OF SUPERGRANULES SELECTED ACCORDING TO THE STRENGTH OF THEIR HORIZONTAL DIVERGENCE. 4) WE WILL COMPARE MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS FOR SUPERGRANULES WITH VARYING AMOUNTS OF NEARBY MAGNETIC FLUX. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SUPERGRANULATION FLOWS WITH MAGNETIC FIELD WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED BY LOOKING AT VARIATIONS OF THEIR PROPERTIES WITH TIME OVER THE SOLAR CYCLE. UNDESIRED EFFECTS OF THE MAGNETIC NETWORK ON TRAVEL TIMES AND INFERRED FLOWS WILL BE ASSESSED THROUGH NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS.
National Science Foundation
$350.1K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL EDDY-DRIVEN TRANSPORT ESTIMATED FROM IN SITU LAGRANGIAN OBSERVATIONS
Department of Defense
$349.1K
NEW ANALYSIS OF FLUX DATA TOWARD SIMPLER ALGORITHMS FOR AIR-SEA SURFACE FLUXES
National Science Foundation
$346.7K
CEDAR: GLOBAL CLIMATOLOGY OF MESOSPHERIC INVERSION LAYERS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$345.2K
EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$343.8K
EXAMINATION OF TIMED/SABER TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS IN THE MESOSPHERE AND LOWER THERMOSPHERE INDICATES THAT SOME NON-MIGRATING TIDE AMPLITUDES VARY O
National Science Foundation
$341.5K
CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3D) STANDARD MODEL OF SOLAR ERUPTIONS USING A DATA-DRIVEN MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC (MHD) APPROACH
National Science Foundation
$340.9K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FIELD MEASUREMENTS OF CLOUDS AND AEROSOL PARTICLES OVER THE SOUTHERN OCEAN IN SOCRATES
National Science Foundation
$333.9K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A STUDY OF SUBMESOSCALE MIXED-LAYER DYNAMICS AT A MID-LATITUDE OCEANIC FRONT: ISOLATING THE SUB- AND SUPER-INERTIAL RESPONSE
National Science Foundation
$330K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE INFLUENCE OF TROPICAL CONVECTION ON THE EVOLUTION AND TRANSPORT OF THE SAHARAN AIR LAYER
National Science Foundation
$328.2K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ISOPYCNAL SPECTRA AND STIRRING ON THE SUBMESOSCALE AND FINESCALE IN THE UPPER OCEAN
National Science Foundation
$325.1K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ESTIMATING ECOSYSTEM MODEL UNCERTAINTIES IN PAN-REGIONAL SYNTHESES AND CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON COASTAL DOMAINS OF THE NORT
Department of Defense
$325K
MEASUREMENT SCIENCE OF THE INTERMITTENT ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
National Science Foundation
$324K
MESOSCALE VORTEX DYNAMICS IN TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS
National Science Foundation
$323.9K
EAGER: IMPACTS OF FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF ATMOSPHERIC ENERGETICS AND NON-LOCAL EDDIES ON FRONTIER ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$316.3K
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE INTERNAL AND SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS, SUCH AS SUNSPOTS
National Science Foundation
$315.1K
SHINE: DISTINGUISHING RECONNECTION SCENARIOS FOR SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS
National Science Foundation
$311.4K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EVOLUTION AND FATE OF WIND-DERIVED INTERNAL WAVE ENERGY -THIS PROJECT WILL STUDY THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF TWO MAIN OCEAN PROPERTIES. ONE IS THE FRACTION OF WIND-RELATED ENERGY THAT PROPAGATES INTO THE OCEAN?S INTERIOR COMPARED TO THE ENERGY THAT IS DISSIPATED NEAR THE OCEAN?S SURFACE, REFERRED TO AS ?TRANSMISSIVITY?. THE SECOND PROPERTY TO STUDY, ALSO RELATED TO WIND-INDUCED ENERGY IN THE OCEAN, IS THE FRACTION OF ENERGY THAT GOES INTO MIXING COMPARED TO THE TOTAL DISSIPATIVE ENERGY (MIXING PLUS DISSIPATION), ALSO KNOWN AS ?MIXING EFFICIENCY?. THE STUDY WILL USE A HIGH-RESOLUTION (ORDER FEW METERS), PROCESS-BASED NUMERICAL MODEL, THE ?WAVE-VORTEX MODEL? TO DETERMINE THE INTERACTION MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSMISSIVITY AND MIXING EFFICIENCY, AND TO CALCULATE THEM ON A GLOBAL SCALE. THE RESULT WILL ASSESS THE ROLE OF WIND-DRIVEN OSCILLATIONS, IN THE INTERIOR OF THE OCEAN, ON THE OCEAN?S ENERGY BUDGET, WHICH SHALL IMPROVE MODELS OF OCEAN CIRCULATION AND CLIMATE. THE STUDY WILL SUPPORT AN EARLY-CAREER FEMALE RESEARCHER, WHO WILL HELP OTHER JUNIOR SCIENTISTS IMPROVE PRESENTATION SKILLS THROUGH AN ANNUAL MENTORING PROGRAM, ALSO SPONSORED BY NSF (MPOWIR). THE PROJECT WILL PRODUCE MATERIALS FOR AN ADDITIONAL YEARLONG MENTORSHIP PROGRAM, AS WELL AS ENHANCE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS THAT ARE DISSEMINATED VIA A WEB SITE. THIS STUDY WILL INVESTIGATE THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF TWO PARAMETERS RELATED TO WIND FORCING ON THE OCEAN. ONE GLOBAL PARAMETER IS THE ?TRANSMISSIVITY,? WHICH IS THE PORTION OF WIND-RELATED ENERGY THAT PROPAGATES INTO THE OCEAN?S INTERIOR COMPARED TO THE ENERGY THAT IS DISSIPATED NEAR THE OCEAN?S SURFACE. THE SECOND GLOBAL PARAMETER IS THE ?MIXING EFFICIENCY,? WHICH IS THE FRACTION OF ENERGY THAT GOES INTO MIXING COMPARED TO THE TOTAL DAMPENING ENERGY (MIXING AND DISSIPATION). THE STUDY WILL USE A HIGH-RESOLUTION, PROCESS-BASED NUMERICAL MODEL, THE ?WAVE-VORTEX MODEL? TO DETERMINE THE NONLINEAR INTERACTION MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TWO GLOBAL PARAMETERS, AND TO CALCULATE THEM ON A GLOBAL SCALE. THE RESULT WILL BE A QUANTIFICATION OF THE ROLE OF WIND-DRIVEN NEAR-INERTIAL OSCILLATIONS IN THE OCEAN?S ENERGY BUDGET. THIS QUANTIFICATION SHALL BENEFIT OCEAN-BASIN CIRCULATION AND CLIMATE MODELS. THE STUDY WILL SUPPORT AN EARLY-CAREER FEMALE RESEARCHER, WHO WILL HELP OTHER JUNIOR SCIENTISTS IMPROVE PRESENTATION SKILLS THROUGH THE MPOWIR PROGRAM. THE PROJECT WILL PRODUCE MATERIALS FOR A YEARLONG MENTORSHIP PROGRAM, AS WELL AS ENHANCE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS IN A WEB SITE. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$309.8K
THE ENERGY TO POWER SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS IS DERIVED FROM THE RELATIVELY SLOW EVOLUTION OF THE PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD. YET THE CHROMOSPHERIC AND CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD AS INFERRED BY DYNAMIC BRIGHT CORONAL LOOP STRUCTURES AND RAPIDLY APPEARING CHROMOSPHERIC BRIGHT POINTS CAN EVOLVE VERY QUICKLY THROUGH MAGNETIC RECONNECTION EVENTS. OBSERVATIONAL CASE STUDIES AND MODEL EFFORTS HINT AT INCREASED LEVELS OF MAGNETIC REORGANIZATION AND RECONNECTION DYNAMICS AND TEMPERATURE VARIATION OCCURRING IN THESE ATMOSPHERIC LAYERS PRIOR TO LARGER ENERGETIC EVENTS SUCH AS SOLAR FLARES AND CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE INITIATION OF THESE SUDDEN ENERGY RELEASES (SOLAR FLARES CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS) AND THUS SET EMPIRICALLY-DERIVED STANDARDS FOR PRE-EVENT CHROMOSPHERIC AND CORONAL BEHAVIOR TO WHICH PHYSICAL MODELS THEN NEED TO SPEAK. THE OBJECTIVES TOWARD THIS GOAL CENTER ON A STATISTICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE AND CORONA IN THE HOURS BEFORE ENERGETIC EVENTS. THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED BY QUANTITATIVELY CHARACTERIZING DYNAMIC AND HEATING EVENTS IN THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE AND THE BEHAVIOR OF CORONAL STRUCTURE TEMPERATURE AND INTENSITY. WE PROPOSE TO ANALYZE A LARGE SAMPLE OF EVENTS AND CONTROLS WITH A STATISTICAL CLASSIFIER INVOKED IN TWO COMPLEMENTARY ANALYSIS MODES TO SPECIFICALLY IDENTIFY BEHAVIOR UNIQUE TO THE PRE-EVENT EPOCH. THE SOLE DATA SOURCE IS THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY (AIA) ON BOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) SPECIFICALLY ARCHIVE DATA IN MULTIPLE WAVELENGTH BANDS. SUB-IMAGE EXTRACTIONS OF AIA TIME-SERIES FULL DISK DATA BASED ON HMI ACTIVE-REGIONPATCH (HARP) DEFINITIONS WILL CREATE AIA ACTIVE REGION PATCHES (AARPS) TO ALLOW TENABLE DATA REQUIREMENTS. PRE-EVENT DYNAMICS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED THROUGH THE PARAMETRIZATION OF BRIGHTNESS IMAGES RUNNING-DIFFERENCE IMAGES DEM ANALYSIS - AND THEIR TEMPORAL EVOLUTION - USING BOTH PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE ALGORITHMS AND ALREADY-DEVELOPED CODE. ANALYSIS WILL INCLUDE SAMPLES OF BOTH EVENT-PRODUCING AND EVENT-QUIET TARGET REGIONS AND EPOCHS FOR "CONTROL" DATA. ALL PARAMETERS WILL UNDERGO STATISTICAL EVALUATION USING THE NWRA CLASSIFICATION INFRASTRUCTURE (NCI) BASED ON NON-PARAMETRIC DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS (NPDA). THIS PROPOSED PROJECT INVESTIGATES THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE PRIOR TO SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS WITH A FOCUS ON THE DYNAMICS AND HEATING OF THE SOLAR CORONA AND CHROMOSPHERE; IT IS BASED ON POSITIVE INITIAL RESULTS FROM PRELIMINARY RESEARCH CONDUCTED UNDER EARLIER NON-NASA FUNDING. THE RESULTS WILL PROVIDE CONSTRAINTS FOR MODELS AND THE DERIVED DATA PRODUCTS INCLUDING A NEW TIME-SERIES "AARP" AIA DATA SERIES WILL BE AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY. THIS PROJECT IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE NASA HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM: IT ADDRESSES THE NASA STRATEGIC GOALS FOR HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM SCIENCE GOAL #1 TO "EXPLORE THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH [...]" AND GOAL #3 TO "DEVELOP THE KNOWLEDGE AND CAPABILITY TO DETECT AND PREDICT EXTREME CONDITIONS IN SPACE [...]". THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL CONTRIBUTE TOWARD SDO'S MISSION SCIENCE GOAL #7 TO INVESTIGATE "WHEN WILL ACTIVITY OCCUR AND IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE ACCURATE AND RELIABLE FORECASTS OF SPACE WEATHER [...]?" IT IS RELEVANT TO GOAL #3 "HOW DOES MAGNETIC RECONNECTION ON SMALL SCALES REORGANIZE THE LARGE-SCALE FIELD TOPOLOGY AND CURRENT SYSTEMS?" AND GOAL #5 "WHAT MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS LEAD TO THE CMES FILAMENT ERUPTIONS AND FLARES THAT PRODUCE ENERGETIC PARTICLES AND RADIATION?" ADDITIONALLY THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ADDRESSES TWO HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY #1 "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" AND #4 "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE."
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$307.7K
WE PROPOSE A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM OF INNOVATIVE OBSERVATION ANALYSIS AND THEORETICAL INTERPRETATION TO ATTACK THE CENTRAL GOAL OF THE FOCUSED SCIENCE TOPIC: ADVANCES TOWARD A NEAR REAL-TIME DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE AND INNER HELIOSPHERE. WE WILL MAKE TWO CRITICALLY REQUIRED CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD ACHIEVING THIS GOAL: (1) DEVELOP TEMPORALLY STABLE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) HELIOSEISMIC MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) VECTOR MAGNETOGRAMS AND (2) DEVELOP ACCURATE SELF-CONSISTENT PHOTOSPHERIC OWS IN ACTIVE REGIONS (ARS) THAT CAN BE USED TO CALCULATE ESTIMATES OF THE ENERGY AND HELICITY TRANSPORT THROUGH THE PHOTOSPHERE FOR CHARACTERIZING THE NEAR REAL-TIME STATE OF THE CORONA. THE PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC ELDS PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN MANY MODELS OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE. THEREFORE IMPROVING PHOTOSPHERIC VECTOR MAGNETOGRAMS HAS A CASCADING IMPACT ON ALL MODELING THAT DEPENDS ON THIS BOUNDARY.
Department of Defense
$305.3K
PREDICTABILITY AND DIAGNOSTIC SIGNALS OF ACTIVE AND BREAK CYCLES IN MONSOON IN THE NORTHERN INDIAN OCEAN BAY OF BENGAL AND ARABIAN SEA
National Science Foundation
$298.4K
NUMERICAL STUDIES OF METEOR CRATER COLD POOL RESPONSES TO REALISTIC DYNAMICAL AND RADIATIVE FORCING AND COMPARISONS WITH METCRAX MEASUREMENTS
National Science Foundation
$295.7K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HIGH-TIME-RESOLUTION RESONANCE LIDAR DETECTION OF METEOR TRAILS
National Science Foundation
$289.6K
LOCAL HELIOSEISMOLOGY WITH GONG
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$289K
TO COMPUTE THE LORENTZ FORCE DENSITY WE PROPOSE TO RETRIEVE THE VARIATION IN HEIGHT (AS WELL AS LATERAL SPACE) OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD VECTOR THROUGH THE USE OF ESTABLISHED INVERSION CODES APPLIED TO HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION POLARIMETRIC DATA ACQUIRED BY THE HINODE/SOT SPECTROPOLARIMETER. BY RETRIEVING THE HEIGHT VARIATION OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE FULL CURRENT DENSITY AND THUS GENERATE MAPS OF THE LORENTZ FORCE DENSITY ITSELF WITHOUT MAKING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD. WE WILL EMPLOY THE NICOLE INVERSION CODE BUT DEVELOP IMPROVED IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES WITH THE GOAL OF MORE ROUTINE PRODUCTION OF HEIGHT DEPENDENT INVERSION PRODUCTS. THE ACTIVE REGION TARGETS FOR THIS PROJECT HAVE HINODE/SP SCANS TAKEN BEFORE AND AFTER A SELECTION OF MAJOR FLARES THAT VARY IN THEIR FLARE-RELATED ACOUSTIC ACTIVITY. THE PRIMARY EMPHASIS OF THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS A NOVEL ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM THE HINODE MISSION SUPPLEMENTED BY ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM SDO WHICH ARE BOTH CURRENTLY-OPERATING MISSIONS OF THE HELIOPHYSICS SYSTEM OBSERVATORY (HSO). THE ANTICIPATED RESULTS WOULD ADDRESS THE FIRST AND FOURTH HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY TO "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" AND TO "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES OCCURRING AT THE PHOTOSPHERE DURING A FLARE POTENTIALLY LEADING TO INSIGHT INTO ONE MANIFESTATION OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY. INSOFAR AS FLARES ALSO OCCUR ON OTHER STARS IT MAY CHARACTERIZE A PROCESS OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE.
National Science Foundation
$287.8K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: LEE WAVES AND SHEARED MEAN FLOW: INTERACTIONS AND IMPACTS OF TOPOGRAPHY -LEE WAVES ARE AN EXAMPLE OF INTERNAL GRAVITY WAVES FORCED BY STABLY STRATIFIED FLOW OVER BATHYMETRY. OCEANIC INTERNAL LEE WAVES HAVE HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTHS BETWEEN O(1?10) KM THAT BRIDGE MESOSCALE CURRENTS AND SMALLSCALE TURBULENCE AND PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN THE OCEAN?S ENERGY CASCADE. THEIR GENERATION EXERTS WAVE DRAG ON BALANCED FLOW AND EXTRACTS MESOSCALE ENERGY, AND THEIR PROPAGATION TRANSPORTS THIS ENERGY THROUGH WAVE-FLUXES. WHEN THEY BREAK, THEY CONVERT ENERGY DOWNSCALE TO TURBULENT DISSIPATION AND MIXING, MAINTAINING OCEAN?S STRATIFICATION AND IN TURN CONTRIBUTING TO THE LARGESCALE CIRCULATION. THIS PROJECT WILL EXAMINE WHY OBSERVED DISSIPATION IN THE DEEP OCEAN DOWNSTREAM FROM FLOW-TOPOGRAPHY INTERACTIONS IS SMALLER THAN PREDICTED BY THE COMMON ASSUMPTION OF EQUATING LEE-WAVE GENERATION WITH DISSIPATION. THIS RESEARCH WILL DETERMINE THE ROLE OF LEE WAVES IN DISSIPATING VERSUS REDISTRIBUTING ENERGY FOR BETTER PARAMETERIZATIONS OF WAVE DRAG AND MIXING FOR OCEANIC GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS. THIS PROJECT WILL SUPPORT AN EARLY-CAREER LEAD PI, A GRADUATE AND TWO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TO BE TRAINED ON WAVE DYNAMICS AND OCEAN MODELING. REGIONAL NUMERICAL MODELING WITH PROCESS STUDY OCEAN MODEL (PSOM) WILL SIMULATE THE GENERATION, PROPAGATION, INTERACTION AND DISSIPATION OF LEE WAVES IN MEAN SHEAR. PSOM IS A NON-HYDROSTATIC OCEAN MODEL THAT HAS BEEN WIDELY USED TO STUDY SUBMESOSCALE PROCESSES. THE PIS WILL EXTEND PRIOR IDEALIZED SIMULATIONS TO EXPLORE A RANGE OF TOPOGRAPHIC VARIATIONS TO EXAMINE MECHANISMS THAT MAY SUPPRESS TURBULENCE IN THE LEE OF FLOW-TOPOGRAPHY INTERACTIONS. THESE MECHANISMS ARE: (I) NONLINEAR GENERATION DUE TO TOPOGRAPHIC BLOCKING AND SPLITTING, (II) REABSORPTION OF LEE-WAVE ENERGY BACK TO THE SHEARED MEAN FLOW, (III) REMOTE DISSIPATION IN THE FORM OF FREE WAVES THAT ESCAPE THE LOCALIZED GENERATING CURRENT, AND (IV) DOWNSTREAM ADVECTION OF LEE-WAVE ENERGY FROM LOCALIZED GENERATING TOPOGRAPHY. AMONG THESE MECHANISMS, REABSORPTION WILL OCCUR FOR TRAPPED LEE WAVES IN BOTTOM-INTENSIFIED CURRENTS, WHILE NONLINEAR GENERATION AND DOWNSTREAM ADVECTION HAVE A STRONG DEPENDENCE ON SPECIFIC, AS OPPOSED TO RANDOM, TOPOGRAPHIES. THE PRIMARY ANALYSIS TOOL WILL BE ENERGY CONSERVATION BUDGETS FOR DIFFERENT COMPONENTS (MEAN JET, LEE WAVES, AND FREE WAVES) TO QUANTIFY THE DISSIPATIVE AND NON-DISSIPATIVE FATES OF LEE WAVES. 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.
National Science Foundation
$279.8K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE ROLE OF EDDIES IN THE PROPAGATION AND DISSIPATION OF WIND-DRIVEN NEAR-INERTIAL ENERGY: A NUMERIAL STUDY BRIDGING OGCM AND PROCESS SIMULATIONS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$274.7K
THE PROPOSED HELIOSEISMIC ANALYSIS IS INTENDED TO PRODUCE NEW AND DEFINITIVE ESTIMATES OF THE TURBULENT FLOW VELOCITY ON LARGE ANGULAR SCALES AS A FU
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$269.9K
THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL COMBINE NASA SATELLITE DATA AND MODEL OUTPUT FROM THE CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELING INITIATIVE (CCMI) TO INVESTIGATE ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CIRCULATION AND ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT LARGE-AMPLITUDE GRAVITY WAVES GENERATED BY CONVECTION ARE IMPORTANT DRIVERS OF CIRCULATION TEMPERATURES AND TRANSPORT IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE WHICH INFLUENCE ATMOSPHERIC CONSTITUENTS SUCH AS OZONE AND WATER VAPOR. HOWEVER MOST ATMOSPHERIC MODELS HAVE BIASES IN TEMPERATURES AND WINDS BECAUSE OF DEFICIENCIES IN THE WAY THAT GRAVITY WAVES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CIRCULATION ARE REPRESENTED. THIS PROBLEM IS ESPECIALLY PRONOUNCED IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE STRATOSPHERE WHERE WINDS ARE GENERALLY TOO STRONG AND TEMPERATURES TOO COLD IN MOST CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELS. ADDITIONALLY THE STRATOSPHERIC FINAL WARMING IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE IS TYPICALLY ONE OR TWO WEEKS LATE IN MODELS COMPARED TO OBSERVATIONS. THIS LEADS TO MAJOR TEMPERATURE BIASES IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON OZONE CHEMISTRY. THE REASONS FOR THESE BIASES ARE NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD ALTHOUGH IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT MISSING SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE GRAVITY WAVE DRAG IN MODELS IS A MAJOR CULPRIT. POSSIBLE SOURCES OF THE MISSING GRAVITY WAVE DRAG INCLUDE INADEQUATE CONTINENTAL OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG FROM SMALL UNRESOLVED ISLANDS LATERAL PROPAGATION OF GRAVITY WAVES GENERATED AT OTHER LATITUDES AND NONOROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVES GENERATED BY FRONTS AND CONVECTION. DEFICIENCIES IN MODELED GRAVITY WAVE EFFECTS AND THE RESULTING MODEL BIASES IN WIND AND TEMPERATURE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE HINDER OUR ABILITY TO ACCURATELY MODEL THE OZONE HOLE AND ITS RECOVERY WHICH ALSO HAS IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR ABILITY TO MODEL SURFACE CLIMATE CHANGE. THIS PROJECT WILL IDENTIFY THE IMPORTANT SOURCES OF THE MISSING GRAVITY WAVE DRAG IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE AND IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GRAVITY WAVE SOURCES AND GRAVITY WAVE IMPACTS ON CIRCULATION TRANSPORT AND COMPOSITION. THE METHODS WILL FOCUS ON DATA FROM NASA SATELLITE INSTRUMENTS INCLUDING PRECIPITATION AND LATENT HEATING FROM THE GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT (GPM) MISSION INFRARED BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURES FROM THE ATMOSPHERIC INFRARED SOUNDER (AIRS) AND TEMPERATURES FROM THE HIGH RESOLUTION DYNAMICS LIMB SOUNDER (HIRDLS). FOR EXAMPLE AT THE EXTREMES OF THE HIRDLS MEASUREMENT LATITUDES (NEAR 63 DEGREES IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE) THE ZONAL SAMPLING IS VERY DENSE AND PROVIDES AN ABUNDANCE OF INFORMATION ON WAVES SPANNING MANY SPATIAL SCALES. THIS INFORMATION HAS NOT YET BEEN EXPLOITED TO INVESTIGATE THE MISSING SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE DRAG. THE GRAVITY WAVE INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE SATELLITE INSTRUMENTS WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE THE SOURCES OF MISSING DRAG IN THE CCMI MODELS. THIS WILL RESULT IN RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED GRAVITY WAVE PARAMETERIZATIONS WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO SIMULATE THE OZONE HOLE AND ITS RECOVERY IN A CHANGING CLIMATE.
National Science Foundation
$262.4K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON OCEANIC RESPONSE TO WIND FORCING
Department of Defense
$260.8K
OBSERVATIONS OF SURFACE WAVES AND WAVE-DRIVEN TRANSPORT ON THE INNER SHELF
Department of Defense
$260K
ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS AND COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF TURBULENCE IN THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$259.3K
THE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN THE TRANSPORT OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM AND MAGNETIC FLUX ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF LATITUDES WITHIN THE CONVECTION ZONE AND IS A MAJOR COMPONENT OF MODELS OF THE DYNAMICS OF ROTATING STELLAR CONVECTION ZONES DYNAMOS AND THE SOLAR CYCLE. WE PROPOSE TO DETERMINE THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SUBSURFACE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF TWO LOCAL-HELIOSEISMIC PROCEDURES TO DOPPLERGRAMS FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) ONBOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) AS WELL AS ARCHIVED DATA FROM THE MICHELSON DOPPLER IMAGER (MDI) ONBOARD THE SOLAR AND HELIOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY (SOHO). THE TWO MAIN METHODS WE WILL EMPLOY ARE LEGENDRE FUNCTION DECOMPOSITION AND HELIOSEISMIC HOLOGRAPHY. INVERSE AND FORWARD MODELING WILL BE CARRIED OUT TO INFER DEPTH LATITUDE AND TEMPORAL PROPERTIES OF THE MERIDIONAL FLOW OVER A SPAN OF ALMOST TWO SOLAR CYCLES. THE TWO MAIN CHALLENGES TO A RELIABLE DETERMINATION OF THE MERIDIONAL FLOW - NAMELY A POOR SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO AND THE PRESENCE OF SYSTEMATIC ARTIFACTS - WILL BE ADDRESSED BY 1) USING SUFFICIENTLY LONG DATASETS 2) IMPLEMENTING CONTROL MEASUREMENTS 3) PERFORMING COMPARISONS BETWEEN MULTIPLE METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS AND 4) CARRYING OUT VALIDATION TESTS WITH ARTIFICIAL DATA. OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE IS THE IDENTIFICATION AND REMOVAL OF SYSTEMATIC ARTIFACTS WHICH CAN MIMIC LARGE-SCALE FLOWS AND DETRIMENTALLY IMPACT THE MEASUREMENT OF THE LOW-AMPLITUDE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION. THIS INVESTIGATION IS TIMELY IN THAT THE SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT OF RESOURCES INTO THE SOHO AND SDO MISSIONS IS NOW YIELDING THE DECADES-LONG DATASET REQUIRED FOR THE RELIABLE DETERMINATION OF THE PROPERTIES OF THESE FLOWS. THE PROJECT IS APPROPRIATE AND OF HIGH PRIORITY FOR THE HELIOPHYSICS SUPPORTING RESEARCH PROGRAM USING DATA FROM CURRENT NASA SPACECRAFT (SOHO AND SDO) IN COMBINATION WITH THEORY (INVERSIONS AND FORWARD MODELING) TO DIRECTLY ADDRESS THE GOALS OF THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY. SPECIFICALLY THE DETERMINATION OF THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOLAR MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION IS CRITICAL FOR KEY SCIENCE GOAL 1: "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT." THE ROLE OF THE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION IS SPECIFICALLY CALLED OUT IN THE DECADAL SURVEY REPORT WHICH NOTES THAT "THE DEEP PONDEROUS FLOWS THAT CARRY PATTERNS OF MAGNETIC FLUX TO THE POLES REGULATE THE SEEDING OF THE DEEP-SEATED DYNAMO THAT GENERATES SUBSEQUENT SOLAR CYCLES."
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$257.6K
THE ABUNDANCE, PRECISION, AND PRECISE ERROR INFORMATION THAT CHARACTERIZEOCEAN SURFACE VECTOR WIND (SVW) RETRIEVALS FROM SCATTEROMETER DATA WILLBE
National Science Foundation
$257.1K
TROPICAL CYCLOGENESIS IN THE PRE-DEPRESSION INVESTIGATION OF CLOUD-SYSTEMS IN THE TROPICS PROGRAM (PREDICT): THE MARSUPIAL PARADIGM IN ACTION
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$250K
NWRA TASKS FOR COMMUNITY COORDINATED MODELING CENTER (CCMC)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$246.5K
"AIR-ICE SURFACE ENERGY EXCHANGE AND SEA ICE-MASS REDISTRIBUTION IN THE ARCTIC" SUMMARY: MEASUREMENTS OF THE ARCTIC SEA ICE COVER FROM BUOYS, SUBMARI
National Science Foundation
$246K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INTERNAL LEE-WAVE DISSIPATION IN OCEANIC FLOWS WITH MEAN SHEAR
National Science Foundation
$244.1K
WAVE CHARACTERISTICS FROM THE COSMIC AND CHAMP GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) TEMPERATURE PROFILES
Department of Defense
$238.9K
OBSERVATION AND MODELING OF TSUNAMI-GENERATED GRAVITY WAVES IN THE EARTH S UPPER ATMOSPHERE
National Science Foundation
$238.6K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: POLAR (NSF 19-601): RUI: COMPUTATIONAL POLAR ENGAGEMENT THROUGH GUIDED INQUIRY (COMPUTATIONAL PENGUIN)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$236.9K
21-LWS21_2-0042 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD: MAPPING CURRENTS IN THE CHROMOSPHERE AND CORONA
Department of Defense
$232.4K
PARAMETERIZATION OF SUB-GRID LATENT HEAT RELEASE IN TRADE WIND CUMULUS CLOUDS
National Science Foundation
$219.9K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITIES AT A KUROSHIO SEAMOUNT (KHIKS)
National Science Foundation
$219K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NUMERICAL EVALUATION OF RADAR BACKSCATTER FROM KH INSTABILITY AND GRAVITY WAVE BREAKING FOR REALISTIC RADAR PARAMETERS AND CO
National Science Foundation
$211.2K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CLOUD RADIATIVE IMPACT ON THE SURFACE ENERGY BUDGET OF THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA
National Science Foundation
$210.5K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR--LOWER ATMOSPHERIC SOURCE REGIONS OF MEDIUM-SCALE GRAVITY WAVES
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$205.4K
INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF SURFACE RADIATION BUDGET AND CLIMATE FEEDBACK CONTINUATION OF THE RESEAR
Department of Defense
$204.7K
TURBULENT AIR-SEA EXCHANGE IN EXTREME WINDS AND ITS EFFECT ON STORM STRUCTURE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$200.3K
UNDERSTANDING DYNAMICAL, TRANSPORT AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES IN THE EXTRA-TROPICAL UPPER TROPOSPHERE/LOWER STRATOSPHERE(UTLS) IS ESSENTIAL TO ADVANCING
National Science Foundation
$200K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION OF DIURNAL COLD-AIR POOLS AND SEICHES IN SMALL, CLOSED BASINS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$199.9K
EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$199.9K
UNDERSTANDING THE APPEARANCE AND EVOLUTION OF SOLAR ACTIVE REGIONS, AND PARTICULARLY THE ENERGETIC EVENTS THAT THEY CAN PRODUCE, ARE KEY TOPICS IN SO
National Science Foundation
$199.5K
MICROMETEORS AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH THE ATMOSPHERE: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY USING THE ARECIBO AND JICAMARCA OBSERVATORIES
National Science Foundation
$197.4K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FOUR-DIMENSIONAL (4D) INVESTIGATION OF TROPICAL WAVES USING HIGH-RESOLUTION GNSS RADIO OCCULTATION FROM STRATEOLE2 BALLOONS -THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE CONTINUED PARTICIPATION OF THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS (PIS) IN THE STRATEOLE-2 FIELD CAMPAIGN, ORGANIZED BY THE FRENCH SPACE AGENCY (CNES, FOR CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES) AND THE DYNAMIC METEOROLOGY LABORATORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS-SACLAY. THE CAMPAIGN MAKES OBSERVATIONS OF THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE LAYER (TTL), THE LAYER OF THE ATMOSPHERE FROM ROUGHLY 14KM TO 18KM BETWEEN THE TROPICAL TROPOSPHERE AND STRATOSPHERE, USING BALLOONS DESIGNED TO FLOAT AT A CONSTANT ALTITUDE FOR FLIGHTS OF UP TO 3 MONTHS. THE BALLOONS ARE LAUNCHED FROM THE SEYCHELLES AND FLOAT AROUND THE EQUATOR AT THE TOP OF THE TTL (18KM) OR IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE (20KM). STRATEOLE-2 WAS PLANNED AS A SET OF THREE DEPLOYMENTS, A PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING DEPLOYMENT WITH 8 BALLOON FLIGHTS FOLLOWED BY TWO SCIENCE DEPLOYMENTS WITH 20 FLIGHTS EACH. THE FIRST TWO DEPLOYMENTS TOOK PLACE IN 2019 AND 2021 AND THE PIS PARTICIPATED IN THESE DEPLOYMENTS USING FUNDS FROM AGS-1642650 AND AGS-1642644. THE PIS' PARTICIPATION IN THE THIRD DEPLOYMENT, SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN OCTOBER 2025, IS SUPPORTED HERE. THE PIS' ROLE IN STRATEOLE-2 IS TO BUILD AND FLY A RADIO OCCULTATION RECEIVER CALLED ROC, WHICH DETECTS THE REFRACTION OF RADIO WAVES TRANSMITTED BY SATELLITES FROM THE GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM (GNSS, WHICH INCLUDES THE GPS SATELLITES LAUNCHED BY THE US). THE STRENGTH OF THE REFRACTION CAN BE USED TO INFER ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE ALONG THE LINE OF SIGHT BETWEEN ROC AND A TRANSMITTER SATELLITE, THUS ROC CAN CREATE TEMPERATURE PROFILES BY TRACKING A GNSS SATELLITE AS IT DESCENDS TO THE HORIZON OR RISES FROM BELOW IT. FUNDS FROM THIS AWARD ARE USED TO BUILD SIX ROC RECEIVERS, MANAGE THEIR FIELD DEPLOYMENT, AND COLLECT AND ANALYZE THE DATA THEY GENERATE. THE TEMPERATURE PROFILES FROM ROC ARE OF INTEREST BECAUSE THEY SHOW TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH WAVE MOTIONS IN THE TTL GENERATED BY LARGE AREAS OF TROPICAL CONVECTION. ONE REASON THESE WAVES ARE OF INTEREST IS THAT THEY DRIVE THE QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATION (QBO), AN ALTERNATION BETWEEN EASTWARD AND WESTWARD WINDS IN THE EQUATORIAL STRATOSPHERE WHICH BEGINS IN THE UPPER STRATOSPHERE AND DESCENDS TO THE TROPOPAUSE OVER THE COURSE OF ROUGHLY TWO YEARS. THE QBO IS CONFINED TO THE TROPICS BUT IT AFFECTS WEATHER AND CLIMATE AROUND THE WORLD. IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT THE QBO IS DRIVEN BY VERTICAL MOMENTUM FLUX FROM WAVES THAT PROPAGATE UPWARD FROM THE TTL, BUT IT IS NOT CLEAR WHAT TYPES OF WAVES, PARTICULARLY IN TERMS OF WAVELENGTHS AND FREQUENCIES, ARE MOST IMPORTANT FOR DRIVING THE QBO. ANOTHER REASON THE WAVES ARE OF INTEREST IS THAT THEIR UP-AND-DOWN MOTIONS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH COOLING AND WARMING OF THE AMBIENT AIR, AND COOLING INDUCED BY RISING MOTIONS CAN CAUSE WATER VAPOR TO FREEZE INTO ICE PARTICLES (A PROCESS CALLED DEPOSITION). ICE FORMATION MATTERS BECAUSE IT DEHYDRATES AIR AS IT ENTERS THE STRATOSPHERE, THEREBY REGULATING THE HUMIDITY OF THE STRATOSPHERE, AND BECAUSE ICE PARTICLES FORM CIRRUS CLOUDS WHICH AFFECT EARTH'S CLIMATE BY TRAPPING OUTGOING INFRARED RADIATION. WORK ON THE WAVE DRIVING OF THE QBO FOCUSES ON WAVES WITH PERIODS OF THREE OR FOUR DAYS WHICH WERE FOUND TO BE PROMINENT IN THE PREVIOUS DEPLOYMENTS. THE PIS SEEK TO DETERMINE THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE WAVES AND THEIR INTRINSIC FREQUENCIES, FACTORS WHICH TOGETHER DETERMINE THEIR WAVE MOMENTUM FLUX AND THUS THEIR POTENTIAL IMPORTANCE FOR QBO DRIVING. THE PIS HAVE DEVELOPED TECHNIQUES FOR PROBING WAVE STRUCTURE USING THE FACT THAT THE RO PROFILES ARE SIDE-LOOKING FROM THE BALLOON AND MEASURE TEMPERATURE AT SUCCESSIVELY LOWER HEIGHTS WITH DISTANCE FROM THE BALLOON GONDOLA. THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE WAVES CAN THUS BE RECONSTRUCTED BY COMBINING CONSECUTIVE RO PROFILES ALONG THE BALLOON FLIGHT PATH. AS FOR CIRRUS CLOUD FORMATION, FOUR OF THE SIX ROC RECEIVERS WILL BE FLOWN WITH A DOWNWARD-POINTING LIDAR CALLED BECOOL, THE BALLOON-BORNE CLOUD OVERSHOOT OBSERVATION LIDAR (BECOOL), DEVELOPED BY A FRENCH TEAM. BECOOL OBSERVATIONS OF CIRRUS CLOUDS CAN BE COMBINED WITH ROC OBSERVATIONS OF WAVE-INDUCED TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH CIRRUS CLOUDS OCCUR IN THE COLD PHASES OF WAVES IN THE TTL. THE WORK HAS SOCIETAL VALUE THROUGH ITS CONNECTIONS TO WEATHER FORECASTING. RADIO OCCULTATION RECEIVERS ON SATELLITES ARE AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF OBSERVATIONS USED IN OPERATIONAL WEATHER PREDICTION AND WORK PERFORMED HERE INCLUDES AN EFFORT TO ASSIMILATE ROC OBSERVATIONS INTO WEATHER MODELS AND TEST THEIR VALUE FOR PREDICTION. THE DATA ASSIMILATION AND PREDICTION EFFORT INVOLVES COLLABORATIONS WITH TWO OPERATIONAL CENTERS. IN ADDITION, WEATHER MODELS HAVE DIFFICULTY SIMULATING THE QBO AND ITS GLOBAL IMPACTS, THUS BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAVE DRIVING OF THE QBO CAN CONTRIBUTE TO BETTER FORECAST MODELS. ALL DATA FROM THE CAMPAIGN ARE MADE FREELY AVAILABLE TO THE GLOBAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY AND CAN BE USED IN A VARIETY OF WAYS THAT GO BEYOND THE GOALS OF THE CAMPAIGN. THE PROJECT ALSO BUILDS THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE BY SUPPORTING TWO GRADUATE STUDENTS AND PROVIDING INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATES INCLUDING TWO STUDENTS FROM THE SEYCHELLES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.
National Science Foundation
$196.8K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR--THE SOURCES OF GRAVITY WAVES OBSERVED IN THE THERMOSPHERE AT THE ARECIBO OBSERVATORY
National Science Foundation
$191.8K
POLAR (DCL- 16-119): COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: COMPUTATIONAL GUIDED INQUIRY FOR INCORPORATING POLAR RESEARCH INTO UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULA
National Science Foundation
$190.5K
WAVE-TOPOGRAPHY INTERACTION AND IMPACT ON OCEANIC KINETIC ENERGY DISTRIBUTION
Department of Energy
$189.5K
TITLE: DISSEMINATION OF CLIMATE MODEL OUTPUT TO THE PUBLIC AND COMMERCIAL SECTOR; PI: ROBERT STOCKWELL
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$189.3K
FASTER BETTER DEEPER: UTILIZING DEEP LEARNING TO PRODUCE ENHANCED NEAR REAL TIME INVERSIONS FROM HMI DATA FOR SPACE- WEATHER MODELING
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$188.9K
UNDERSTANDING AND MODELING THE BACKGROUND SOLAR WIND IS KEY FOR MODELING THE PROPAGATION OF CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS. TO MODEL THE SOLAR WIND IT IS COMMON TO FIRST MODEL THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD USING POTENTIAL FIELD SOURCE SURFACE (PFSS) TYPE MODELS DRIVEN BY OBSERVATIONS OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD AT THE SOLAR SURFACE. FROM THE OUTER BOUNDARY OF THE PFSS BASED MODEL ASSUMING RADIAL SOLAR WIND STREAMS AND A SIMPLE MODEL FOR THEIR INTERACTIONS LEADS TO PREDICTIONS OF THE SOLAR WIND SPEED IN THE HELIOSPHERE. THIS APPROACH FORMS THE BASIS FOR THE WANG-SHEELEY-ARGE (WSA) MODEL. WITHIN THIS BASIC FRAMEWORK THERE ARE A NUMBER OF CHOICES IN HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE MODELS PARTICULARLY IN HOW TO GENERATE THE RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD BOUNDARY CONDITION FOR THE WSA MODEL. SINCE ONLY HALF OF THE SURFACE OF THE SUN IS TYPICALLY OBSERVED AT ANY GIVEN TIME ASSUMPTIONS MUST BE MADE ABOUT THE MAGNETIC FIELD ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN. THE AIR FORCE DATA ASSIMILATIVE PHOTOSPHERIC FLUX TRANSPORT (ADAPT) MODEL IS ONE APPROACH FOR ASSIMILATING NEW OBSERVATIONS INTO A FULL-SUN MAGNETIC FIELD MAP. RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD OBSERVATIONS ARE AVAILABLE BUT ARE TYPICALLY NOISIER THAN LINE OF SIGHT MAGNETIC FIELD OBSERVATIONS PARTICULARLY IN CRITICAL AREAS LIKE THE POLAR REGIONS AND THERE IS PRESENTLY NO OPERATIONAL DATA SOURCE FOR VECTOR MAGNETOGRAMS. SEVERAL WAYS OF ESTIMATING THE RADIAL COMPONENT OF THE FIELD FROM THE LINE OF SIGHT COMPONENT EXIST INCLUDING THE RADIAL FIELD APPROXIMATION AND USING THE RADIAL COMPONENT OF A POTENTIAL MAGNETIC FIELD WHOSE LINE OF SIGHT COMPONENT MATCHES THE OBSERVATIONS. THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL TEST HOW TO GENERATE THE BEST INSTANTANEOUS RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD MAP FOR THE VISIBLE HEMISPHERE FROM THE AVAILABLE OBSERVATIONS BY COMBINING DIFFERENT APPROXIMATIONS IN DIFFERENT AREAS OF THE SUN. FOR EXAMPLE WE ANTICIPATE THAT THE RADIAL FIELD APPROXIMATION WILL WORK BEST IN NOISY WEAK FIELD AREAS SUCH AS PLAGE FARTHER FROM DISK CENTER WHILE THE POTENTIAL FIELD APPROXIMATION MAY BE BETTER SUITED TO SUNSPOTS. THE INSTANTANEOUS MAPS WILL BE USED AS INPUT FOR ADAPT WHICH IN TURN WILL BE USED AS INPUT FOR THE WSA MODEL. THE QUALITY OF THE INSTANTANEOUS MAPS WILL BE EVALUATED BY COMPARING WSA PREDICTIONS FOR OPEN FIELD REGIONS TO OBSERVED CORONAL HOLES AND COMPARING PREDICTED WIND PROPERTIES WITH IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS OF THE SOLAR WIND. THE INVESTIGATION WILL USE MAGNETIC FIELD DATA FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) ON BOARD NASA'S SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) MISSION. VALIDATION OF THE RESULTS WILL BE BASED ON EUV IMAGES FROM SDO'S ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY AND FROM THE SOLAR TERRESTRIAL RELATION OBSERVATORY SPACECRAFT (STEREO) AS WELL AS IN-SITU SOLAR WIND DATA FROM THE ADVANCED COMPOSITION EXPLORER (ACE) AND STEREO. THE CENTRAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP AN ALGORITHM TO BEST MELD THE DIFFERENT METHODS FOR ESTIMATING THE RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD ON THE VISIBLE HEMISPHERE OF THE SUN. ALTHOUGH THE VALIDATION WILL BE PERFORMED USING THE WSA MODEL IMPROVED RADIAL MAGNETIC FIELD MAPS WILL LIKELY BE OF BENEFIT TO ALL SOLAR WIND AND CME PROPAGATION MODELS. THE ADAPT MAPS GENERATED AS PART OF THE INVESTIGATION WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY WEBSITE SIMILAR TO HOW THEY ARE PRESENTLY PROVIDED FOR USE WITH WSA OR OTHER SOLAR WIND MODELS RUN AT THE COMMUNITY COORDINATED MODELING CENTER (CCMC). THE CODE FOR PRODUCING THE MAPS INCLUDING THE POTENTIAL FIELD CODE WILL ALSO BE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE NWRA WEBSITE.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$188.5K
WE WILL DEVELOP AND APPLY TO DOPPLER SEISMIC OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY A NEW ALGORITHM FORCOMPUTING HELIOSEISMIC MAPS OF THE SUN'S FAR HEMISPHERE. THE NEW ALGORITHM TAKES ADVANTAGE OF MULTIPLE "OPTICAL VANTAGES" OF THE SOLAR ACOUSTIC FIELD TO PRODUCE MAPS THAT HAVE 2--4 TIMES THE SENSITIVITY OF THOSE CURRENTLY DISTRIBUTED BY JOINT SCIENCE OPERATIONS CENTER (JSOC) FOR THE SDO PROJECT. GIVEN THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF ACTIVE REGIONS WITH A RAPIDLY INCREASING POPULATION WITH DECREASINGMAGNETIC FLUX THIS WILL CONSIDERABLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ACTIVE REGIONS RELIABLY IDENTIFIABLE IN MAPS OF THE SUN'S FAR HEMISPHERE AND GIVE US A MORE ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF PARAMETERS SUCH AS TEMPORAL RESOLUTION AND GROWTH RATE. THESE IMPROVEMENTS OFFER MAJOR BENEFITS TO A RAPIDLY GROWING ARRAY OF APPLICATIONS OF FAR-SIDE HELIOSEISMOLOGY IN DIVERSE AREAS OF RESEARCH SUCH AS UV-IRRADIANCE FLARE POTENTIALITY THE CORONAL MAGNETIC CONFIGURATION AND SPACE WEATHER IN THE NEAR-EARTH NEIGHBORHOOD. THE PROJECT IS THUS HIGHLYAND DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO KEY SCIENCE GOAL 1 OF THE 2012 DECADAL SURVEY: "DETERMINE THE ORIGIN OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT."
Department of Defense
$186.9K
INCLUSION OF NON-STATIONARITY OF THE WIND AND WAVE FIELDS IN THE BULK FORMULA FOR SURFACE FLUXES: A NEW DIRECTION
National Science Foundation
$185.9K
THE INFRARED RADIATIVE IMPACT OF ANTARCTIC CLOUDS
National Science Foundation
$185.6K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE IMPACT OF STRATOSPHERIC OZONE DEPLETION/RECOVERY ON ANTARCTIC CLIMATE
National Science Foundation
$181.4K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NONLINEAR WAKE OBSERVATIONS AT A KUROSHIO SEAMOUNT (NOKS) -OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA COLLECTED IN THE LEE OF HIRASE SEAMOUNT IN TOKARA STRAIT, SOUTH OF JAPAN, DURING 2021-2022 WILL BE ANALYZED TO INVESTIGATE STRONG NONLINEAR KUROSHIO-SEAMOUNT INTERACTIONS AND ASSOCIATED TURBULENCE. THE DATA INCLUDE HIGHLY RESOLVED OBSERVATIONS OF TEMPERATURE, SALINITY, VELOCITY, AND TURBULENT DISSIPATION MEASURED FROM SHIP, MOORINGS, AND PROFILING FLOAT ARRAYS. THE DATA WILL BE USED TO IDENTIFY THE DOMINANT NONLINEAR TERMS IN THE MOMENTUM AND BUOYANCY EQUATIONS, QUANTIFY POTENTIAL VORTICITY ANOMALIES, AND DETERMINE THE VERTICAL AND LATERAL INSTABILITY MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENERGETIC TURBULENCE LAYERS EXTENDING 20 KM DOWNSTREAM OF THE SEAMOUNT. ELUCIDATING TURBULENCE GENERATION MECHANISMS, ESPECIALLY IN NONLINEAR WAKES, IS AN ESSENTIAL TASK TO IMPROVE EXISTING TURBULENT DISSIPATION AND MIXING PARAMETERIZATIONS, AND THEREFORE HAS BROAD IMPLICATION FOR THE ENERGY CASCADE, MASS AND NUTRIENT TRANSPORTS, AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL BUDGETS IN SIMULATIONS AND THE OCEAN. THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR EARLY-CAREER SCIENTIST DR. ANDA VLADOIU. ALL APL-UW PIS ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN OUTREACH AT UW AND LOCAL SCIENCE CENTERS AND SEATTLE K-12 CLASSROOMS. LIEN ALSO ACTIVELY SUPPORTS THE SUMMER PROGRAM FOR UW UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. KUNZE IS A SCIENCE COMMUNICATION FELLOW AT THE PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER IN SEATTLE, WHICH INVOLVES FOUR VOLUNTEER SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT ACTIVITIES PER YEAR, AND PARTICIPATION IN THE ANNUAL PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER-CLIMATE CURIOSITY WEEKEND, TO INTRODUCE THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO THE MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATION AND OCEAN TURBULENT MIXING. STRONG INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE KUROSHIO AND HIRASE SEAMOUNT PRODUCE A UNIQUELY NONLINEAR AND TURBULENT REGIME THAT ALLOWS STUDY OUTSIDE THE USUAL LINEAR INTERNAL-WAVE AND BALANCED DYNAMICS. FOUR-DIMENSIONAL FINE- AND MICROSTRUCTURE SURVEYS WILL BE ANALYZED TO INVESTIGATE STRONG NONLINEAR KUROSHIO-SEAMOUNT INTERACTIONS AND ASSOCIATED TURBULENCE WHERE ROSSBY NUMBERS EXCEED 1 AND GRADIENT FROUDE NUMBERS ARE ??(1). SHIPBOARD ADCP, UNDERWAY CTD AND UNDERWAY VMP RADIATOR SURVEYS, AS WELL AS FOUR FULL-DEPTH EM-APEX FLOAT BOX-ARRAYS, PROVIDE HORIZONTAL SUBMESOSCALE (~ 1 KM) AND VERTICAL FINESCALE (~ 10 M) FLOW STRUCTURES. TWO ADCP/CTD MOORINGS PROVIDE 6-MONTH TIME-SERIES OF THE BACKGROUND FLOW VARIABILITY AND SHEAR- UNSTABLE LAYERS. THESE DATA WILL BE USED TO (I) IDENTIFY THE DOMINANT NONLINEAR TERMS IN THE MOMENTUM AND BUOYANCY EQUATIONS, (II) QUANTIFY POTENTIAL VORTICITY (PV) ANOMALIES AND (III) DETERMINE THE VERTICAL AND LATERAL INSTABILITY MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENERGETIC TURBULENCE LAYERS WITH DIAPYCNAL DIFFUSIVITIES ?? ? 10?2 M2 S?1 EXTENDING 20 KM DOWNSTREAM OF THE SEAMOUNT. THE SIX-MONTH LONG MOORING TIME-SERIES IN THE LEE OF THE SEAMOUNT WILL ALLOW THE SEPARATION OF SUBINERTIAL AND INTERNAL-WAVE FLUCTUATIONS TO RESOLVE POSSIBLE TIME-SPACE ALIASING. THESE WILL GENERALLY IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF NONLINEAR FLOW-TOPOGRAPHY INTERACTIONS IN THE OCEAN. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.
National Science Foundation
$177.5K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SHINE: DRIVING SOLAR MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC (MHD) SIMULATIONS WITH VECTOR MAGNETOGRAM SEQUENCES
National Science Foundation
$177.1K
THERMOSPHERIC RESPONSES TO GRAVITY WAVES DISSIPATED BY MOLECULAR VISCOSITY AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
National Science Foundation
$173.3K
CEDAR POSTDOC: NUMERICAL MODELING OF MESOSPHERIC BORES, NONLINEAR DUCTED WAVES, AND INTERPRETATION OF OBSERVATIONS IN THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$166.2K
EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENC
National Science Foundation
$165.3K
CEDAR POSTDOC: METEORIC SMOKE STUDIES AT HIGH LATITUDE USING THE POKER FLAT ISR
Department of Health and Human Services
$164.9K
AMBULATORY DETECTION OF ASYMPTOMATIC ATRIAL FIBRILLATION
National Science Foundation
$164K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATING THERMAL STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS, AND DEHYDRATION IN THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE LAYER WITH FIBER OPTIC TEMPERATURE PROFILING FROM STRATEOLE-2 BALLOONS
National Science Foundation
$158.5K
OBSERVATIONS AND NUMERICAL MODELING OF ROTOR DYNAMICS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$155.5K
PROBING THE DEEP, PONDEROUS FLOWS: MEASUREMENT AND MODELING OF THE SOLAR MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION THE MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$146K
THE TOPOLOGY OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD IS DETERMINED IN PART BY THE PRESENCE OF MAGNETIC NULL POINTS, MAKING THEM OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE IN UN
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$145.8K
THE OBJECTIVE OF SDO IS TO INVESTIGATE AND UNDERSTAND THE LIFECYCLE OF THE SOLAR MAGNETIC FIELD. TO THIS END ONE OF THE INSTRUMENTS ON SDO (THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER OR HMI) PRODUCES GLOBAL MAPS OF THE SURFACE VECTOR MAGNETIC FIELD OF THE SUN. THESE MAPS ARE USED FOR MODELING OF THE SOLAR MAGNETIC FIELD INCLUDING HOW THE EFFECTS OF SOLAR ERUPTIONS PROPAGATE TO AND AFFECT THE EARTH AND SPACE?BASED ASSETS. THE NOISE PROPERTIES OF THESE GLOBAL MAPS ARE A NECESSARY INPUT TO THE ASSIMILATIVE MODELS USED FOR THAT PROPAGATION BUT THOSE PROPERTIES ARE POORLY UNDERSTOOD. THE GLOBAL MODELS THAT DEPEND ON THESE MAPS ARE USED TO DETERMINE THE MOTION OF MAGNETIC FIELD AND PLASMA THROUGHOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM. ALL ORBITAL ASSETS ARE AFFECTED BY THESE FIELDS AND PLASMA. UNDERSTANDING WHEN AND WHERE THE FIELD AND PLASMA WILL BE IS ESSENTIAL TO PREDICTING THE EFFECTS ON OUR ASSETS AND SOCIETY.
National Science Foundation
$144.1K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MESOSCALE AND MICROSCALE FLOWS IN THE STABLE BOUNDARY LAYER OVER SHALLOW TERRAIN -ATMOSPHERIC FLOWS UNDER UNSTABLE CONDITIONS (E.G., SUNNY DAYS) ARE BETTER UNDERSTOOD THAN THAT UNDER STABLE CONDITIONS WHICH OFTEN OCCUR AT NIGHT. IF THE TERRAIN IS NOT PERFECTLY FLAT OR THE SURFACE IS VEGETATED, FLOWS BECOME EVEN MORE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND. THIS UNCERTAINTY MEANS NIGHTTIME WEATHER FORECASTS CAN LACK ACCURACY. THIS IS PARTICULARLY TRUE IN SLIGHTLY SLOPING TOPOGRAPHY AS SEEN THROUGH MUCH OF THE CENTRAL US. THIS PROJECT WILL ANSWER FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS QUESTIONS THAT EXIST FOR STABLE CONDITIONS OVER MUCH OF THE PLANET INCLUDING: HOW DO PLANT, TERRAIN, AND ELEVATION CHANGES IMPACT ATMOSPHERIC FLOWS? HOW DO THE IMPACTED ATMOSPHERIC FLOWS INTERACT WITH FLOWS FROM OTHER REGIONS? WHAT SPECIAL FLOWS (LIKE DOWN GULLY COLD AIR FLOW; FLOWS COLLIDING) EXIST IN GENTLY SLOPED AREAS? THIS PROJECT WILL USE PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED EXPERIMENTAL DATA TO DEDUCE EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIPS DEFINING WHEN, WHERE, AND WHY THESE PHENOMENA ARE LIKELY TO OCCUR. THIS IMPROVEMENT OF CURRENT THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS WILL FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF NIGHTTIME POLLUTANT TRANSPORT AND TRANSFORMATION. PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY CAN BENEFIT FROM IMPROVED QUANTITATIVE PREDICTION OF TRANSPORT OF CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL HAZARDOUS POLLUTION. THE AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY WILL BENEFIT FROM INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES CONTROLLING FIELD-SCALE TEMPERATURE, INCLUDING THOSE AFFECTING CROP HEALTH AND THOSE LEADING TO PATCHES OF FROST AND SUBSEQUENT CROP LOSS, A MAJOR CHALLENGE IN ENSURING GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY. USING UNIQUE OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE NSF FUNDED STABLE ATMOSPHERIC VARIABILITY AND TRANSPORT (SAVANT) CAMPAIGN, THIS WORK WILL LEAD TO AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF IMPACTS OF SHALLOW COMPLEX TERRAIN ON MECHANICAL AND THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF THE STABLE BOUNDARY LAYER AND TO FILL THE KNOWLEDGE GAP IN SCALE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL AND LOCAL FLOWS, SPECIFICALLY WITH RESPECT TO FLOW PATTERNS THAT OCCUR IN SHALLOW TOPOGRAPHY. SAVANT COLLECTED CONCURRENT IN-SITU AND REMOTE SENSING OBSERVATIONS DURING TWO INTENSIVE MONTHS IN THE FALL OF 2018. THE FIELD SETUP WAS DESIGNED TO INVESTIGATE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF COLD AIR DRAINAGE (DOWN GULLY) FLOW IN A SHALLOW GULLY. TRACER PLUME RELEASES TRACKED WITH MULTIPLE LIDAR (LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING) SYSTEMS OFFER THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO EXAMINE INTERACTING FLOWS AT MULTIPLE SPATIAL SCALES. TWO CRITICAL FACTORS FOR STABLE-LAYER TURBULENT MIXING IN COMPLEX TERRAIN, WIND SHEAR AND THE STABLE STRATIFICATION, WILL BE USED TO STRATIFY OBSERVATIONS TO DESCRIBE THE MOST ENERGETIC TURBULENCE EDDIES USING THE TOWER DATA WITHIN AND ABOVE THE MAIN GULLY, AUGMENTED BY SPATIAL SHEAR OBSERVATIONS FROM LIDARS. VERTICAL SCALING FACTORS FOR TURBULENT EDDIES AND THE INFLUENCES OF DRAINAGE FLOWS WILL BE INVESTIGATED. FACTORS LEADING TO NON-UNIFORM DRAINAGE FLOWS (I.E., PULSING, MEANDERING, AND CONVERGING FLOWS) WILL BE DETAILED. THE UNIQUE COMBINATION OF TOWER AND 3-D LIDAR OBSERVATIONS WILL ALLOW FOR IMPROVED PARAMETERIZATIONS OF ENERGY AND MASS EXCHANGES, WHICH WILL IMPROVE PREDICTIVE MODEL CAPABILITIES. 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.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$141.8K
TO COMPUTE THE LORENTZ FORCE DENSITY WE PROPOSE TO RETRIEVE THE VARIATION IN HEIGHT (AS WELL AS LATERAL SPACE) OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD VECTOR THROUGH THE USE OF ESTABLISHED INVERSION CODES APPLIED TO HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION POLARIMETRIC DATA ACQUIRED BY THE HINODE/SOT SPECTROPOLARIMETER. BY RETRIEVING THE HEIGHT VARIATION OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE FULL CURRENT DENSITY AND THUS GENERATE MAPS OF THE LORENTZ FORCE DENSITY ITSELF WITHOUT MAKING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD. WE WILL EMPLOY THE NICOLE INVERSION CODE BUT DEVELOP IMPROVED IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES WITH THE GOAL OF MORE ROUTINE PRODUCTION OFHEIGHT DEPENDENT INVERSION PRODUCTS. THE ACTIVE REGION TARGETS FOR THIS PROJECT HAVE HINODE/SP SCANS TAKEN BEFORE AND AFTER A SELECTION OF MAJOR FLARES THAT VARY IN THEIR FLARE-RELATED ACOUSTIC ACTIVITY.
National Science Foundation
$135K
ROLE OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN CO2 SINK
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$121.4K
THE PROCESS OF FORMING A SOLAR ACTIVE REGION IS A FUNDAMENTAL ONE, YET SURPRISINGLY LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT ITS NATURE. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST ARE DETE
National Science Foundation
$106.6K
RAPID: MICROSTRUCTURE OBSERVATIONS OF RAPID SURFACE FRESHENING IN THE LABRADOR SEA
National Science Foundation
$103.4K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATING THE PHYSICAL ORIGINS OF SPATIAL STATISTICAL SCALING IN PEAK STREAMFLOWS FROM EVENT TO ANNUAL TIME SCALES
National Science Foundation
$102.2K
COLLABORATIVE REASEARCH: CEDAR--GRAVITY WAVE MOMENTUM FLUXES AND INSTABILITY STUDIES USING COUPLED LIDAR, TEMPERATURE MAPPER AND MODELING STUDIES AT
National Science Foundation
$99.4K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CHARACTERIZING SOURCES OF INFRAGRAVITY WAVES AND THE EARTH'S HUM USING DATA FROM THE CASCADIA AMPHIBIOUS ARRAY
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$88.9K
WE PROPOSE SATELLITE OBSERVATIONAL ANALYSIS AND MODELING STUDIES TO INFORM THE ROLES OF GRAVITY WAVE DYNAMICS ON CHEMICAL TRANSPORT WHICH HAVE IMPACTS ON STRATOSPHERIC CHEMICAL LIFETIMES STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE VARIABILITY IN RADIATIVELY ACTIVE GASES AND ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON CLIMATE. WHILE THE TRADITIONAL VIEW OF STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT PRIMARILY HIGHLIGHTS THE ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVES IN DRIVING THE MESOSPHERIC CIRCULATION RECENT RESEARCH HAS HIGHLIGHTED THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF GRAVITY WAVE DRAG DIRECTLY IN THE STRATOSPHERE AND ADDITIONAL RESEARCH SUGGESTS IMPORTANT ROLES IN FINE-SCALE STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE PROCESSES. THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL UTILIZE A VARIETY OF NASA SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS INCLUDING RECORDS LONGER THAN A DECADE TO ADDRESS PROCESSES WITHIN LOCAL EVENTS AS WELL AS LONG-TERM GLOBAL VARIABILITY. OUR WORK VERY DIRECTLY ADDRESSES ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS FOR THE COMING DECADE REPORTED FOLLOWING THE 2014 WORKSHOP ON ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION CHEMISTRY DYNAMICS AND RADIATION AT NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER NAMELY WHAT ROLE DO GRAVITY WAVES PLAY IN DRIVING THE LARGE-SCALE CIRCULATION? SPECIFIC TO THE AURA SCIENCE TEAM/ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION MODELING AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM (AST/ACMAP) ANNOUNCEMENT THE WORK FOCUSES ON MEASUREMENTS FROM THE HIGH RESOLUTION DYNAMICS LIMB SOUNDER (HIRDLS) AND MICROWAVE LIMB SOUNDER (MLS) INSTRUMENTS ON AURA TOGETHER WITH OTHER SATELLITE-BASED PRODUCTS AND PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED IDEALIZED MODEL TOOLS TO CONSTRAIN REGIONAL GRAVITY WAVE DRAG EVENTS STUDY THEIR DYNAMICAL INTERACTIONS WITH ROSSBY WAVES AND ASSESS EFFECTS IN CHEMICAL TRACER MEASUREMENTS. GRAVITY WAVE DRAG IS ONE COMPONENT OF THE WAVE-DRIVEN FORCE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GLOBAL STRATOSPHERIC TRANSPORT CIRCULATION THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION NAMED FOR THE PIONEERING WORK OF A.W. BREWER AND G.M.B. DOBSON WHO INFERRED THIS GLOBAL EQUATOR-TOPOLE CIRCULATION FROM MEASUREMENTS OF OZONE AND WATER VAPOR. THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION HAS A RANGE OF IMPACTS ON ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND CLIMATE. TO FIRST ORDER IT EXPLAINS THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE AGE OF STRATOSPHERIC AIR WHICH HAS IMPORTANT EFFECTS ON THE LIFETIMES OF OZONE-DEPLETING SUBSTANCES AND SOME GREENHOUSE GASES. IT HAS A DOMINANT INFLUENCE ON THE TEMPERATURE OF THE VERY COLD TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE AND CORRESPONDING INFLUENCES ON TROPICAL CIRRUS CLOUDS AND GLOBAL WATER VAPOR WITH ASSOCIATED RADIATIVE EFFECTS AND ROLE IN SURFACE TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY. IN GENERAL THE BREWER-DOBSON CIRCULATION DESCRIBES THE RECIRCULATION PATHWAYS AND THE PROCESSING TIME OF CHEMICAL TRACERS THROUGH THE STRATOSPHERE AND THEIR EVENTUAL RETURN TO THE TROPOSPHERE THEREBY ALSO COMPRISING A MAJOR COMPONENT OF STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE EXCHANGE. THE CURRENT PARADIGM REPRESENTED IN THE WAY SMALL-SCALE GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PROCESSES ARE TREATED IN GLOBAL MODELS SUGGESTS THAT ONLY OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG AFFECTS THE STRATOSPHERE WHILE WAVES FROM OTHER SOURCES LIKE CONVECTION PRIMARILY ONLY AFFECT THE MESOSPHERE DIRECTLY. RECENT OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE TELLS A VERY DIFFERENT STORY: INFREQUENT BUT VERY LARGE AMPLITUDE NON-OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVES CARRY A LARGE FRACTION OF THE CIRCULATION-DRIVING FLUX UPWARD ACROSS THE TROPOPAUSE. HENCE THESE LARGE EVENTS VERY LIKELY FORCE THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE DIRECTLY WITH LOCALIZED INTERMITTENT DRAG FORCES. SUCH REALISTIC GRAVITY WAVE-DRIVEN FORCES IN THE STRATOSPHERE ARE NOT CURRENTLY REPRESENTED IN GLOBAL MODELS. OUR WORK WILL QUANTIFY THESE EVENTS USING AURA AND OTHER SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS EXAMINE THEIR INTERACTION WITH LARGER-SCALE SYNOPTIC AND PLANETARY WAVES AND INVESTIGATE THEIR EFFECTS ON CHEMICAL TRACERS IN THE STRATOSPHERE. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT REALISTICALLY INTERMITTENT GRAVITY WAVE DRAG WILL GIVE RISE TO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE VARIABILITY IN CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODELS THAN IS CURRENTLY REPRESENTED WITHIN THE CURRENT PARADIGM.
National Science Foundation
$83.1K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BASIC STUDIES IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL TROPICAL CYCLONE INTENSIFICATION
National Science Foundation
$80K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HEATING THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE THROUGH PLASMA TURBULENCE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$77K
A DETAILED GLOBAL REPRESENTATION OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE STRATOSPHERE COMPRISING AVAILABLE OBSERVATIONS AND ADVANCED MODELING IS IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING STRATOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY RADIATIVE FORCING AND INDIRECTLY VIA ITS TRANSPORT EFFECTS DYNAMICS. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO TO DEVELOP THE CAPABILITY TO ASSIMILATE SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS OF WATER VAPOR
National Science Foundation
$75K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PFISR ION-NEUTRAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE THERMOSPHERE (PINOT)
National Science Foundation
$74.9K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR--LIFE CYCLE OF THE QUASI TWO-DAY WAVE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
National Science Foundation
$69.9K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PREDICTIVE UNDERSTANDING OF WILDFIRE SPOTTING AND SMOKE TRANSPORT WITHIN THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER -THE RAPID SPREAD OF WILDFIRES AND ASSOCIATED SMOKE PLUMES UNDERMINES THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF COMMUNITIES, THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FIREFIGHTING EFFORTS, AND COMPLICATES THE EVACUATION OF RESIDENTS. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO GAIN PREDICTIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES FOR RAPID WILDFIRE SPREADS. THIS WILL HELP TO GUIDE FIREFIGHTERS TO MORE SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY SUPPRESS FIRES WITH AN IMPROVED ADAPTATION TO DIVERSE SURROUNDING ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS. THE PREDICTIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS CONDUCTIVE TO RE-ENTRY OF SMOKE PLUMES BACK TO THE GROUND WILL HELP DEVELOP NEW TOOLS AND ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY OF PRACTITIONERS TO OPEN THE ?WINDOW OF PRESCRIPTION? FOR PRESCRIBED FIRE. THIS PROJECT WILL ENGAGE WITH NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER WORKSHOPS TO DEMONSTRATE THE IMPACT OF FIRE-GENERATED TURBULENT FLOWS ON SURFACE SMOKE DISPERSION, SPOTTING, AND FIRE SPREAD. LOCAL AND REGIONAL AGENCIES WILL BE EXPOSED DIRECTLY TO NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN WILDLAND FIRE RESEARCH THROUGH WORKSHOPS AND SITE VISITS. THIS PROJECT WILL TRAIN TWO PH.D. STUDENTS AND A POSTDOC IN FIELDS OF ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS, MODELING, AND DATA SCIENCE. THE RESEARCH FINDINGS WILL BE COMMUNICATED TO THE SCIENCE COMMUNITY VIA PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS AND TO COLLEGE STUDENTS VIA CLASSROOM TEACHING AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT. THE INNOVATION OF THIS PROJECT LIES IN THE CONSOLIDATION OF COMMON CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN TWO DISTINCT PHENOMENA?NATURALLY OCCURRING DENSITY CURRENTS AND FIRE-GENERATED WARM PLUMES. THIS ALLOWS FOR A DIRECT APPLICATION OF THE PHYSICAL UNDERSTANDING OF OBSERVED LARGE-SCALE TURBULENT FLOWS IN NATURALLY OCCURRING DENSITY CURRENTS TO THE RAPID GROWTH OF BILLOWS IN FIRE SMOKE PLUMES BY CONSIDERING ADDITIONAL PHYSICAL FACTORS THAT ARE UNIQUE TO FIRE-GENERATED PLUMES, SUCH AS NON-HYDROSTATIC CONDITIONS AND THERMAL EXPANSION. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS OF THIS RESEARCH LINKS RAPID ADVANCEMENT OF WILDFIRES TO THE RAPID NON-MODAL GROWTH OF LARGE-SCALE KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ BILLOWS BENEATH FIRE-GENERATED BUOYANT PLUMES. IN CONCERT WITH THE CONTINUOUS SURFACE FIRE SPREAD, SPOTTING OCCURS AS AIRBORNE BURNING EMBERS ENTER LARGE-SCALE BILLOW-LIKE TURBULENT EDDIES WITHIN SMOKE PLUMES. THE RAPID FALLING OF AIRBORNE BURNING EMBERS BACK TO THE GROUND IGNITE NEW FIRES AT A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE DOWNSTREAM FROM THE EXISTING FIRE FRONT. ADDITIONALLY, UNDER CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, SUCCESSIVE LARGE-SCALE BILLOW-LIKE TURBULENT EDDIES CAN CAUSE ELEVATED SMOKE CONCENTRATION NEAR THE GROUND OVER CONSIDERABLE DISTANCES FROM THE PRESCRIBED FIRE SITE. THIS PROJECT WILL PERFORM NON-MODAL INSTABILITY ANALYSIS OF FIRE SMOKE PLUMES TO DELINEATE THE KEY PROCESSES RESPONSIBLE FOR RAPID GROWTH OF BILLOW-LIKE LARGE-SCALE TURBULENT FLOWS UNDER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS. THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL UTILIZE LARGE-SCALE EDDY SIMULATIONS TO VALIDATE THE RESULTS OF NON-MODAL INSTABILITY ANALYSIS AND INVESTIGATE THEIR UNDERLYING DYNAMICS AND THERMODYNAMIC PROCESSES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.
National Science Foundation
$69.9K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CUBESAT--LOWER ATMOSPHERE/IONOSPHERE COUPLING EXPERIMENT (LAICE)
National Science Foundation
$68.7K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CHARACTERIZING SECONDARY GRAVITY WAVES AND INFLUENCES ON MOMENTUM TRANSPORT
National Science Foundation
$64.6K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SPRAY-MEDIATED GAS FLUXES ACROSS THE AIR-SEA INTERFACE
National Science Foundation
$64.2K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CEDAR: IDENTIFYING SOURCES OF MID-LATITUDE TRAVELING IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES
Department of the Interior
$63.7K
REPORTS OF MAGNETIC AND ATMOSPHERIC EARTHQUAKE PRECURSORS
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$63.4K
SPATIAL EMPIRICAL ORTHOGONAL FUNCTION (EOF) ANALYSIS WILL BE APPLIED TO MULTI-PLATFORM SATELLITE DATASETS TO DERIVE DIMENSION-REDUCED MODELS FOR SPAT
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$60.5K
THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI I MEES SOLAR OBSERVATORY (MSO) CCD IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH [MCCD; 35] CREATED A UNIQUE DATABASE OF SOLAR ACTIVE REGION HA IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY SPANNING 1989 2007. IN 2016 NWRA WON A NASA/HDEE GRANT1 TO RESCUE THESE DATA FROM INACCESSIBLE STORAGE AND PROVIDE THEM TO THE COMMUNITY. THE EFFORT HAS PROVEN PRODUCTIVE SCIENTISTS ARE NOW EXCITED TO USE THE DATA AND THUS WE REQUEST FUNDING TO FINISH THE DATA RESCUE AND PROCESS THE DATA TO A RESEARCH-READY LEVEL. THE MCCD DATA HAVE COME TO THE ATTENTION OF RESEARCH GROUPS INVESTIGATING PRE-FLARE SIGNATURES FLARE CHROMOSPHERE PHYSICS AND ACTIVE REGION EVOLUTION. ACHIEVING UNFETTERED ACCESS TO THE MCCD DATA IN ORDER TO FACILITATE INVESTIGATIONS INTO THESE TOPICS ADDRESSES SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DIVISION ROADMAP AND THE DECADAL SURVEY. THE MCCD WAS INSTALLED AND TESTED WITH FUNDING FROM NASA GRANT NAGW 1542; ITS DAILY FLARE-MODE OPERATION AS PART OF YOHKOH GROUND-BASED SUPPORT WAS FUNDED BY LOCKHEED UNDER NASA CONTRACT NAS8-37334 WITH MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER AND YOHKOH CONTRACT NAS8-40801 AND ANALYSIS DURING ITS OPERATION WAS PERFORMED WITH FUNDING FROM VARIOUS NASA SR&T GRANTS ALTHOUGH GENERALLY LIMITED TO RESEARCHERS WITH ACCESS TO THE DATA TAPES. IN SHORT THE DATABASE OF FLARE-MODE OBSERVATIONS EXTENDING MORE THAN 15 YEARS TRULY COMPRISED A NASA-FUNDED MISSION . THE MCCD SYSTEM CENTERED ON A 3.0M COUD E SPECTROGRAPH FED BY A 25CM REFRACTING CORONALQUALITY TELESCOPE THAT WAS MOUNTED ON A SOLAR-TRACKING SPAR. IN THE DEFAULT FLARE-MODE OPERATION THE SYSTEM WAS OPTIMIZED FOR SPEED AND BROAD SPECTRAL COVERAGE OF THE PHOTOSPHERE AND CHROMOSPHERE: HA 10 A SPECTRA WERE OBTAINED AT 0.37 A SAMPLING WITH A SCANNING SLIT SUCH THAT AN 220 220 FIELD-OF-VIEW WITH 2.4 PIXELS COULD BE SCANNED EVERY 15S (SEE QUICK-LOOK IMAGE FIGURE 1). THE DETAILS OF CADENCE AND COVERAGE WERE GOVERNED BY THE SIZE OF THE ACTIVE REGION AND THUS THE NUMBER (TO BUILD THE X-DIRECTION) OF SLIT-POSITIONS ([L Y]) FOR EACH SCAN. TO ENSURE FAST CADENCE THE FLARE-MODE PERFORMED ON-CHIP BINNING IN BOTH THE SPATIAL AND SPECTRAL DIMENSION REDUCING THE RESOLUTION OVER THE NATIVE INSTRUMENT CAPABILITY BUT ALLOWING FOR GOOD COVERAGE OF DYNAMIC EVENTS. OTHER PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR-LED OBSERVING PROGRAMS TARGETED (E.G.) QUIESCENT FILAMENTS ACTIVE REGION EVOLUTION HELIOSEISMOLOGY CORONAL IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY AND WOULD USE DIFFERENT SET-UPS INCLUDING LINES AT DIFFERENT SPECTRAL REGIONS BINNING CADENCE EXPOSURE ETC.; THIS INFORMATION IS RECORDED IN THE FITS HEADERS. THE SYSTEM INCLUDED A QUAD-CELL IMAGE-STABILIZER WHICH COMPENSATED FOR BULK ATMOSPHERE-CAUSED IMAGE TRANSLATION AND A SLIT-JAW IMAGER WHICH ACQUIRED SIMULTANEOUS DIGITAL IMAGES OF THE FULL FIELD OF VIEW THROUGH A 1 AHA FILTER. ALL MCCD DATA WERE WRITTEN DIRECTLY TO MAGNETIC EXABYTE -STYLE TAPE WITH RUDIMENTARY FITS-STYLE HEADERS WHICH NOMINALLY CONTAIN POINTING COORDINATES AND SOME OPERATIONAL SPECIFICS. THE MCCD WAS ONE OF A SUITE OF INSTRUMENTS AT MEES SOLAR OBSERVATORY WHICH WERE RUN (FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE TIME) IN A DAILY FLARE-WATCH MODE TYPICALLY TARGETING THE MOST ACTIVE OR FLARE-PRODUCTIVE ACTIVE REGION ON ANY GIVEN DAY (OFTEN COORDINATING WITH THE MAXMILLENIUM TARGET SELECTION [4]). CRUCIAL PRE-EVENT DATA ARE THUS GENERALLY AVAILABLE (FOR WHATEVER APPROPRIATE EVENT MAY BE THE TARGET) AS ARE THE DECAY PHASES. THESE DATA PROVIDE A WEALTH OF PHYSICAL INFORMATION DUE TO THE HIGH CADENCE FULL SPECTRAL-LINE SAMPLING AND DAILY ACQUISITION. THEY REPRESENT A UNIQUE LONG-RUNNING DATASET UNMATCHED BY ANY FORMER OR PRESENTLY-OPERATING FACILITY.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$58.2K
INVESTIGATING SOLAR SUPERGRANULATION WITH LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC ANALYSIS OF SDO/HMI DATA. SUPERGRANULATION IS A DISTINCT CELLULAR PATTERN OF FLOWS, DI
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$57.1K
SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE MECHANISMS BY WHICH DISTURBANCES IN ONE REGION OF THE ATMOSPHERE PRODUCE A RESPONSE IN A DISTANT REGION. OUR INTEREST IS TO EXAMINE THE SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF VARIOUS LARGE AMPLITUDE WAVES ON THE MLT: THE QUASI TWO-DAY WAVE (2DW); THE NONMIGRATING SEMIDIURNAL TIDE (SWT) NONLINEARLY GENERATED THROUGH INTERACTION OF THE MIGRATING SW2 AND WINTER PLANETARY WAVES; THE TOTALITY OF THE TROPICAL WAVE SPECTRUM. WE WILL EXAMINE THE FULL LIFE CYCLE OF THESE THREE WAVE PHENOMENA: SOURCE PROPAGATION CHARACTERISTICS AND THE GLOBAL EFFECT OF THEIR DISSIPATION ON MEAN FLOW AND MEAN MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION (MMC). MMCS FORCED BY TRANSIENT MOMENTUM DEPOSITION INTO A MEAN FLOW SUBJECT TO DIFFUSIVE MECHANISMS CAN EXTEND LATERALLY FAR FROM THE FORCING REGION AND CONTAIN UPWARD CIRCULATION CELLS. THE MMC GENERATED BY THE 2DW IS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST. AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT REQUIRES UNDERSTANDING ITS EXCITATION MECHANISMS. THE SWT IS A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF WAVE PROPAGATION FROM THE WINTER STRATOSPHERE TO THE SUMMER POLAR MESOSPHERE WHERE ITS WIND COMPONENTS HAVE STRONG MAGNITUDE. TROPICAL WAVES THAT DEPOSIT MOMENTUM IN THE THERMOSPHERE ARE FILTERED BY A MEAN FLOW THAT VARIES ON MULTIPLE TIME SCALES AND WHICH IS SUBJECT TO FORCING BY WINTER HEMISPHERE PW. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS T) DOES THE EXISTENCE OF THE 2DW DEPEND ON THE BAROCLINIC/BAROTROPIC INSTABILITY OF THE SUMMER MESOSPHERE MEAN FLOW? WHAT ROLE DO TROPICAL OR SYNOPTIC WAVES PLAY IN THE EXCITATION OF THE 2DW? HOW DOES THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE 2DW CONTRIBUTE TO THE MMC OVER THE SUMMER POLE? 2) WHAT ARE THE DETAILS OF THE FORCING OF SWT THROUGH NONLINEAR INTERACTION BETWEEN PWT AND SW2? HOW DOES THE STRUCTURE OF THE MEAN FLOW CONTROL THE TRANSMISSION OF SWT? WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE MMC FORCED BY THE DISSIPATION OF SWT? 3) TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE FILTERING OF TROPICAL WAVES BY THE SSAO MODULATE THE MSAO? DO SEASONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE MSAO CONTRIBUTE THROUGH LATERAL EXTENSION OF THE MMC TO VARIABILITY AT THE POLES AND ASYMMETRY BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SUMMER CONDITIONS? METHODOLOGY OUR DATA TOOL WILL BE SABER TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS SUPPLEMENTED BY MLS TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS OVER THE POLE NOT COVERED BY SABER. SATELLITE TEMPERATURES WILL BE UTILIZED FOR ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS WAVES. THESE WAVE DEFINITIONS WILL PROVIDE GUIDANCE FOR SELECTING CASE STUDIES AND THE VALIDATION OF NUMERICALLY PREDICTED MERIDIONAL CIRCULATIONS VIA SHORT-TERM CHANGES IN THE ZONAL MEAN TEMPERATURE. OUR MODELLING TOOLS WILL BE: T) A SPECIFIED DYNAMICS MECHANISTIC WAVE MODEL FORCED WITH TROPICAL AND SOLAR HEATING WITH MEAN FLOW AND STATIONARY PW DERIVED FROM OBSERVATIONS. IT WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE THE 2DW LIFE CYCLE ASPECTS OF MSAO DYNAMICS RELATED TO TROPICAL WAVE PROPAGATION AND DEPOSITION NONMIGRATING TIDE PROPAGATION THROUGH MEAN FLOW VARIATIONS AND NONLINEAR TIDE GENERATION. 2) A TIME-DEPENDENT ZONALLY SYMMETRIC TRANSFORMED EULERIAN MEAN MODEL FORCED BY THE EP FLUX DIVERGENCE CALCULATED FROM THE MODEL OR DATA STUDIES TO CALCULATE THE MMC AND MEAN FLOW PERTURBATION THAT RESULT FROM THE WAVE FORCING. SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE TO NASA OBJECTIVES OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDY WILL QUANTIFY THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF WAVE DRIVEN CIRCULATIONS TO GLOBAL TELECONNECTIONS. THIS WILL ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE; NEUTRAL ATMOSPHERE FORCING OF THE IONOSPHERE; PMC AS GLOBAL CHANGE PROXIES. WE ADDRESS KEY NASA DECADAL SURVEY SCIENCE GOALS: DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS; DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. OUR PROPOSED WORK IS PERTINENT TO SCIENCE GOAL AIMI-2 METEOROLOGICAL DRIVING OF THE IT SYSTEM: HOW DOES LOWER ATMOSPHERE VARIABILITY AFFECT GEOSPACE?
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$52.2K
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE INTERNAL AND SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS SUCH AS SUNSPOTS AND PLAGE. THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH A COMBINATION OF LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC DATA ANALYSIS AND THEORETICAL MODELING OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN SOLAR OSCILLATIONS AND MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS. WE WILL DEVELOP MODELS FOR THE INTERNAL AND SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS THAT ARE CONSISTENT WITH BOTH LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC MEASUREMENTS AND MEASUREMENTS OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD AT THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE. TO MAKE THESE MEASUREMENTS WE WILL USE THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) ON THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO). TO DETERMINE THE INTERNAL AND SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS WE WILL TAKE THE FOLLOWING APPROACH: (1) CONSTRUCT A SET OF MAGNETOHYDROSTATIC MODELS FOR A GIVEN MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATION USING THE MAGNETIC FIELD OBSERVED AT THE PHOTOSPHERE AS A CONSTRAINT. (2) USE NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF WAVE INTERACTIONS WITH THE MAGNETOHYDROSTATIC MODELS TO GENERATE SYNTHETIC HELIOSEISMIC DATA. (3) APPLY HELIOSEISMIC MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES TO BOTH THE OBSERVATIONAL DATA AND THE SYNTHETIC DATA. (4) SELECT THE MODELS THAT PROVIDE THE BEST AGREEMENT WITH OBSERVATIONS. THIS APPROACH WILL BE VALIDATED USING ARTIFICIAL DATA FROM REALISTIC MAGNETOCONVECTION SIMULATIONS WHERE THE SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE OF THE MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATION IS KNOWN.
Department of the Interior
$50.7K
STUDY OF INONSPHERIC-PRECURSORY SIGNALS TO LARGE EARTHQUAKES
National Science Foundation
$47.8K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: VORTEX DYNAMICS AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY IN THE LABRADOR SEA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$39.9K
THE PRESENT PROPOSAL WILL PRODUCE CALCULATIONS OF THE SOLAR SPECTRAL IRRADIANCE (SSI) USING THE SRPM MODEL OVER HISTORICAL PERIODS. THE DATA FOR TH
National Science Foundation
$39K
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF SMALL-SCALE STIRRING: INTERNAL WAVES, DIAPYCNAL MIXING, AND HORIZONTAL FINE STRUCTURE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$38.1K
THIS IS A REQUEST FOR A MODEST NASA SUPPORT FOR THE PAN OCEAN REMOTE SENSING CONFERENCE (PORSEC) AND ASSOCIATED TUTORIAL COURSE AND WORKSHOPS TO BE U
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$34.7K
DATA SERVICES UPGRADE: THE MEES CCD HALPHA IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY DATABASE THE U. HAWAII MEES CCD IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH ("MCCD", PENN ET AL, 1991) CR
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$33.9K
DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING STUDIES REVEAL LARGE UNCERTAINTIES IN CHANGES IN THE UPPER TROPOSPHERIC/LOWER STRATOSPHERIC (UTLS) JETS AND THE TROPOPAUSE. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE UTLS JETS AND THE TROPOPAUSE TO TRACE GAS DISTRIBUTIONS IS CRITICAL TO ASSESSING THE COMPOSITION OF THE UTLS AND ITS RADIATIVE IMPACTS. WE WILL USE ANALYSES OF THE CLIMATOLOGY AND VARIABILITY OF UTLS TRACE GASES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE JETS AND TROPOPAUSE BASED ON AURA AND COMPLEMENTARY SATELLITE DATASETS TO ASSESS THE REPRESENTATION OF UTLS COMPOSITION IN CLIMATE MODELS AND DATA ASSIMILATION SYSTEMS. SPECIFICALLY WE WILL: TASK 1: CARRY OUT COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES OF TRACE-GAS DISTRIBUTIONS IN RELATION TO THE UTLS JETS AND THE TROPOPAUSE USING DATA FROM THE AURA INSTRUMENTS AND OTHER SATELLITE DATASETS. TASK 2: USE RESULTS FROM TASK 1 TO ASSESS THE REPRESENTATION OF UTLS OZONE AND OTHER TRACES GASES IN DATA ASSIMILATION SYSTEMS (DAS) BOTH FOR LONG-TERM REANALYSES AND SHORTER-TERM ANALYSES THAT FOCUS ON PROCESS STUDIES AND DAS IMPROVEMENTS. TASK 3: DEVELOP AND APPLY METHODS FOR EVALUATING UTLS COMPOSITION IN CHEMISTRY CLIMATE MODELS (CCMS) BY COMPARING WITH SATELLITE DATA USING THE JET/TROPOPAUSE VIEW. INFORMATION CHARACTERIZING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF MEASUREMENTS TO THE UTLS JETS AND TROPOPAUSE HAS BEEN CATALOGED FOR THE AURA MICROWAVE LIMB SOUNDER (MLS) AND HIGH RESOLUTION DYNAMICS LIMB SOUNDER (HIRDLS) INSTRUMENTS AND THE ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT FOURIER TRANSFORM SPECTROMETER (ACE-FTS). SIMILAR INFORMATION WILL BE PRODUCED FOR THE AURA TROPOSPHERIC EMISSION SPECTROMETER (TES) AND OZONE MONITORING INSTRUMENT (OMI) THE ODIN OPTICAL SPECTROGRAPH AND INFRARED IMAGING SYSTEM (OSIRIS) AND THE STRATOSPHERIC GAS AND AEROSOL EXPERIMENT (SAGE) MISSIONS. ANALYSES OF CLIMATOLOGY AND VARIABILITY IN TRACE GASES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE JETS AND TROPOPAUSE WILL COMBINE THESE COMPLEMENTARY DATASETS. DAS PRODUCTS TO BE ANALYZED INCLUDE COMMONLY-USED REANALYSES AND SEVERAL RESEARCH PRODUCTS. THE VALUE OF ASSIMILATING AURA MLS AND OMI DATA IN THE GODDARD EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM--VERSION 5 (GEOS-5) DAS WILL BE ASSESSED. DETAILED DAILY OUTPUT FROM THE GEOS-CCM AND THE CANADIAN MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE MODEL CCM (BOTH MODELS BEING USED IN STRATOSPHERE-TROPOSPHERE PROCESSES AND THEIR ROLE IN CLIMATE CHEMISTRY-CLIMATE MODEL INITIATIVE CCMI) FOR LIMITED PERIODS INCLUDING THE AURA MISSION WILL BE USED TO ASSESS HOW THE DAILY DIAGNOSTICS PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED CAN BE ADAPTED TO CHARACTERIZE UTLS COMPOSITION IN FULL SUITE OF CCMI MODELS FOR WHICH MORE LIMITED OUTPUT WILL BE AVAILABLE.
National Science Foundation
$32.6K
INTERNATIONAL: STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN A UNIQUE METEOR RADAR FOR ATMOSPHERIC STUDIES IN ARGENTINA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$30.9K
THE ENERGY TO POWER SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS MUST ULTIMATELY ORIGINATE AT OR BELOW THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE AND IS LIKELY TO BUILD UP IN THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD BEFORE RELEASE IN AN EVENT. IN ORDER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND FLARES AND CMES IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY STORED IN THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD. ONE OF THE MAJOR CHALLENGES IN ESTIMATING THE CORONAL ENERGY IS THAT THE RESULTS CANNOT EASILY BE TESTED ON DATA FOR WHICH THE ANSWER IS KNOWN. HOWEVER BY COMPARING THE FLUX INTO AND OUT OF THE CORONA WITH ESTIMATES OF THE ENERGY AT SPECIFIC TIMES OBTAINED FROM A VARIETY OF APPROACHES WE CAN CONSTRAIN THE RESULTS OF THE METHODS. FOR EXAMPLE IF THE FLUX INTO THE CORONA SUBSTANTIALLY EXCEEDS THE FLUX OUT OF THE CORONA OVER AN EXTENDED TIME INTERVAL THEN EITHER THE INPUT FLUX IS BEING OVERESTIMATED OR THE OUTPUT FLUX IS BEING UNDERESTIMATED. THE PROPOSED WORK ADDRESSES THE FIRST AND FOURTH HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY NAMELY 1. "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN'S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" AND 4. "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE." THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL MODEL HOW THE ENERGY WHICH POWERS SOLAR ENERGETIC EVENTS IS STORED IN THE CORONA AND MAY LEAD TO NEW TOOLS FOR PREDICTING THE VARIATIONS IN THE X-RAY FLUX IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT. INSOFAR AS OTHER STARS ALSO HAVE MAGNETIZED CORONAE IT MAY CHARACTERIZE A PROCESS OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. TO TRACK THE FLOW OF FREE ENERGY THROUGH THE PHOTOSPHERE WE WILL USE DAVE4VM TO ESTIMATE THE PHOTOSPHERIC FLOWS AND FROM THESE COMPUTE THE POYNTING FLUX INTO THE CORONA. TO ESTIMATE THE ENERGY IN THE CORONA AT A GIVEN TIME WE WILL USE NONLINEAR FORCE-FREE FIELD (NLFFF) EXTRAPOLATIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL MAGNETOGRAMS. IN ADDITION WE WILL MODEL THE EVOLUTION OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD USING A SEQUENCE OF MAGNETOGRAMS AS THE BOUNDARY CONDITION FOR AN MHD SIMULATION AND A TOPOLOGICAL METHOD; THE CORONAL ENERGY FROM THESE INDEPENDENT METHODS CAN BE EVALUATED AT THE SAME TIMES AS THE NLFFF EXTRAPOLATIONS. FINALLY WE WILL ESTIMATE THE ENERGY LOST FROM THE CORONA. THE RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE LOSSES FOR EXAMPLE CAN BE ESTIMATED BASED ON DOING A DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE ANALYSIS TO EXTRACT CORONAL TEMPERATURE AND DENSITY ESTIMATES AND USING THESE TO ESTIMATE RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE LOSSES. FOR THIS INVESTIGATION WE WILL CONSIDER A SMALL SAMPLE OF ACTIVE REGIONS ON THE ORDER OF TEN AND FOCUS ON REGIONS WHICH ARE NOT THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLICATED TO MAXIMIZE THE CHANCES OF SUCCESSFULLY MODELING THEM. WE WILL FOLLOW EACH REGION FOR AT LEAST A WEEK TRACKING THE FLUX OF ENERGY INTO THE CORONA AND THE ENERGY RELEASED FROM THE CORONA AS WELL AS ESTIMATING THE ENERGY CONTENT OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD AT SPECIFIC TIMES. OUR INVESTIGATION WILL PRIMARILY UTILIZE DATA FROM NASA'S SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY BOTH SEQUENCES OF MAGNETOGRAMS FROM THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER (HMI) AND CORONAL IMAGES FROM THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY (AIA). THESE WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED BY MAGNETOGRAMS FROM THE SOLAR OPTICAL TELESCOPE (SOT) ON THE JOINT JAXA/NASA HINODE MISSION AND BY CORONAL IMAGES FROM HINODE'S X-RAY TELESCOPE (XRT).
Source: Federal Audit Clearinghouse (fac.gov)
No federal single audit records found for this organization.
Single audits are required for entities expending $750,000+ in federal awards annually.
Source: IRS e-Filed Form 990
No officer or director compensation data available for this organization.
This data is sourced from IRS Form 990, Part VII. It may not be available if the organization files Form 990-N (e-Postcard) or has not yet been enriched.
Source: IRS Publication 78, Auto-Revocation List & e-Postcard Data
Tax-deductible contributions: Yes
Deductibility code: SO
Sources: IRS e-Filed Form 990 (XML) & ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
Scroll →
| Year | Revenue | Contributions | Expenses | Assets | Net Assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $274.4K | $179.1K | $126.5K | $2.2M | $1.5M |
| 2023 | $277.6K | $184.8K | $140.7K | $2.2M | $1.3M |
| 2022 | $304.6K | $198.7K | $157.7K | $2.2M | $1.2M |
| 2021 | $287.1K | $206.8K | $140.2K | $2.2M |
Sources: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer & IRS e-File Index
| Tax Year | Form Type | Source | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 990 | IRS e-File | PDF not yet published by IRSView Filing → |
| 2024 | 990 | DataIRS e-File | PDF not yet published by IRSView Filing → |
| 2023 | 990 | DataIRS e-File |
Financial data: IRS Form 990 via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (Tax Year 2024)
Federal grants: USAspending.gov (live)
Organization info: IRS Business Master File · ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
Tax-deductibility: IRS Publication 78
| $1M |
| 2020 | $263.9K | $218.9K | $119.4K | $2.2M | $900.5K |
| 2019 | $308.1K | $223.6K | $161.4K | $2.2M | $756K |
| 2018 | $274.7K | $229.1K | $127.8K | $2.2M | $609.4K |
| 2017 | $323.6K | $233.6K | $177.2K | $2.2M | $462.4K |
| 2016 | $296.6K | $236.6K | $90.2K | $2.2M | $316K |
| 2015 | $5,508 | $2.3M | $117.3K | $2.1M | $69.7K |
| 2014 | $334.2K | $134.2K | $152.7K | $4.3M | $181.4K |
| 2013 | $259.9K | $9,119 | $282.1K | $4.3M | $0 |
| 2012 | $489K | $456.6K | $466.8K | $4.3M | $22.2K |
| 2022 | 990 | Data |
| 2021 | 990 | Data |
| 2020 | 990 | Data |
| 2019 | 990 | Data |
| 2018 | 990 | Data |
| 2017 | 990 | Data |
| 2016 | 990 | Data |
| 2015 | 990 | Data |
| 2014 | 990 | Data |
| 2013 | 990 | Data |
| 2012 | 990 | Data |
| 2011 | 990 | — |
| 2010 | 990 | — |