Project Title

High-resolution mapping of thermospheric wind and temperature fields near the equatorward edge of the Antarctic polar cap

Summary

Event Number:
A-343-M/S
NSF/OPP Award 1341545

Program Manager:
Dr. Robert Moore

ASC POC/Implementer:
John Rand / Elizabeth Kauffman / Paul Sullivan / Sheryl Seagraves

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Mark Gerard Conde
mgconde@alaska.edu
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Physics Department
Fairbanks, Alaska

Project Web Site:
http://sdi_server.gi.alaska.edu/sdiweb/index.asp

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station, South Pole Station
Research Locations: Arrival Heights, Near Field, B2 Laboratory

Description

This project operates and maintains all-sky imaging Fabry-Perot spectrometers at McMurdo Station and South Pole Station to map the wind and temperature fields that occur in the thermosphere above Antarctica. Data collected from these instruments will be used to test the hypothesis that the thermosphere’s most dynamic weather occurs in latitudes just poleward of the boundary between the auroral oval and the polar cap.

Field Season Overview

The instrumentation for this project is located in the Arrival Heights Lab at McMurdo Station and on the B2 Lab mezzanine at South Pole. The systems run continuously during the dark periods of winter, essentially autonomously, with only limited intervention required by personnel onsite and by the researchers via the internet. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic impacts, no participants will deploy to service the equipment this season. An onsite Research Associate will put the equipment into operation during the winter months, take them out of operation in the Spring, and provide monitoring, troubleshooting, and the collection and forwarding of data as needed throughout the year.

Deploying Team Members